Ed Stahl (left), owner of Travel Advisors of Los Gatos, became the oldest person to visit the North Pole in August 2022. He is pictured with former Los Gatos city employee Marlin Rasmussen at the North Pole marker. Stahl, now 92, says he has no plans to close the downtown travel agency he founded in 1961. (Photo provided)
After more than 60 years as a travel agent, Ed Stahl is still talking. Stahl, 92, who founded Travel Advisors of Los Gatos in 1961, recently became the oldest person to visit the North Pole, earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for his trip.
Despite the internet threatening to make travel agencies obsolete and the pandemic shutting down the travel industry for months, Stahl has kept his long-time business open by being ready for new adventures. It has continued. Travel Advisors has had the same location at 56 N. Santa Cruz Ave. since it opened, and Stahl has no plans to close it anytime soon.
“I like it here, I enjoy it here, and I'll be here until something radical happens,” Stahl said.
Some would argue that COVID-19 has brought fundamental changes to the travel industry. Dorothy Burke, a travel agent with Travel Advisors for more than 20 years, said when the pandemic first hit in 2020, her office was flooded with cancellations of trips booked for clients that year. She added that her agency is still working to help customers get refunds for trips canceled due to COVID-19.
But as the pandemic progressed, Burke said customers began coming to the company for help navigating complex travel restrictions, from passports to visas to vaccine requirements. There has also been an increase in requests for domestic travel by people who are not interested in having government agencies handle everything and dealing with these restrictions, she added.
“So even if things were better, it was just a hassle to get on a plane anywhere internationally,” she said.
Agent Mike Eggleston said the Internet has made it easier for people to book travel plans without the help of an agent, but most of Travel Advisors' customers are based on Los Gatos' own demographic. The company says it maintains its customer base because of the consistency. Many of our repeat customers are elderly people or busy working professionals who don't have time to plan their own trips.
“It's easy to find something to book, but you don't know who to trust,” Eggleston said.
To this end, Travel Advisors has built relationships with other organizations in the industry to help them navigate the changing landscape.
Looking ahead, the agency has been considering how artificial intelligence will impact the travel industry.
“When different things come out, we're usually in the hotbed where they first come out,” Stahl said. “So it definitely takes time for us to understand them ourselves as well.”
