Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas And Catherine Hampton.
Hi Thomas and Catherine, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
This is really a WE story. My wife and I have always been hard-working and a bit ambitious. We met in college and you know the story. Boy meets girl, girl likes boy and before you know it, they’re married.
We graduated from college and began searching for what comes next. He had an accounting degree, and I had a degree in liberal arts. Thomas worked at other jobs before accounting became his main focus. Once he zeroed in on his accounting career, he worked for NJ Transit for 25 years. I, on the other hand had a passion for teaching and the arts. I taught at two different private schools for seven years before taking the leap into public education. I taught various subjects and age groups for 32 years.
Although we enjoyed our jobs, we had other interests as well. Thomas was the president of the local New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants (NJNABA). He went on to become the Regional Vice President of NABA. Loving arts the way I do, I began taking traditional West African dance classes. I visited Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to study dance. I eventually became a principal dancer with the Maimouna Keita West African Dance Company based in Brooklyn, NY. I was with the company for about 20 years.
Our journey into travel was a precarious one. We didn’t know anything about the business; except we loved to travel. So, Thomas took some continuing education travel courses at the local two-year college. Next, he found himself as an outside agent at a traditional brick and mortar travel agency not far from his office. He was the most successful agent in the agency. The agency closed because online booking had become very popular and clients began booking their own travel.
A NJ Transit co-worker’s brother introduced Thomas to an online travel host agency that allowed seasoned travel agents to have their own travel websites. You could say it was destiny. Thomas taught me all that he had learned about travel and booking travel for clients. We were now on our way. He still had his “Rolodex” of clients from the previous agency, and he began informing them that he was still in business.
To be a good travel agent you must learn the products, travel yourself and build excellent relationships with your vendors, as well as your clients. Trust and great customer service are invaluable to our business. We started Group 22 Travel & Cruises December of 2007. These past 19 years have gone by quickly. The years have gone by quickly because we’ve worked hard and have had a lot of fun along the way.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For the most part the road has been relatively smooth. Our biggest struggle came during the Covid pandemic. There weren’t many people traveling and we had to do some pivoting and had Zoom meetings with clients and discussed past travels and how travel might look going forward after the pandemic. We emailed newsletters to clients to keep them abreast of what was going on with various vendors and believe it or not, rock bottom travel deals were available during that time. Some clients were very reluctant to travel during that time, which was understandable, so we also discussed health precautions they could take if they decided to travel.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Group 22 Travel and Cruises?
We are accredited IATAN travel advisors and have certifications with Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) as Accredited Cruise Counselors (ACC) and Master Cruise Counselors (MCC) and an Elite Cruise Counselor (ECC) certification. We are also certified as Commodore on Princess Cruise Lines. We have certifications with MSC Cruiseline and Carnival Cruise Line. We are most proud that we definitely know cruising. I guess you could say it’s our specialty.
We have always had a passion for traveling. This passion led us to own Group 22 Travel & Cruises, which is a full service travel agency. We are avid cruisers, but we also love the opportunity to stick our feet in the sand at a resort and enjoy a good book. When we aren’t traveling, we love helping others create loving travel memories of their own. We love group travel: cruises, reunions, professional organizations, civic organizations, fraternities/sororities, and other groups. We also enjoy working with 501(c)(3) organizations that are looking to raise revenue for their activities and projects, which they can do through travel.
We often tell people we meet that if they have any travel needs, let us be their personal travel concierge because we would love the opportunity to help them create fantastic memories from their travels. We inform any future clients that we can curate vacations to all 50 states, Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, as well as Europe. We believe customer service is paramount for any business. Our customer service is excellent. The client has always been number one with us and that’s what sets us apart.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.group22travel.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/group22travel
- Other: group22travelfl@gmail.com
