Meet Laurie and Brad Bellendir | Travel Agents

We had the good fortune of connecting with Laurie and Brad Bellendir and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Laurie and Brad, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We have always been very fond of vacations. I mean, who isn’t, right? However, we realized after one of our family vacations that we wanted to turn our hobby into a career.

To give a little bit of a background into our situation…. we are a blended family of 8 (now 11 with spouses and grandchild), yep just like those crazy Brady’s! And it was after a family trip to Puerto Rico in 2015 when we had the thought… ‘if we can plan a very extensive trip for our family of 8, why not do this for others?’

To give you an idea of what planning that vacation to Puerto Rico looked like: Flights for 8, 2 rental cars, 2 rooms, a day trip planned each day (beaches, rain forest, Old san Juan etc.), meals for 6 days/nights as we weren’t at an all-inclusive, and activities to keep all the kiddos (ages 10-20) happy! I even had a pretty detailed spreadsheet; and the best part? It was actually fun planning it all!

Our goal was/is to give others the same type of experiences through travel without the headache of all the planning. Let’s face it, the best part of a vacation is actually going on the vacation. Research, planning, and booking are very time-consuming, and can be very stressful at times. That’s where we come in!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a full service travel agency. Simply put; we will research, plan, and book our client’s vacation based off of their needs/wants. We also have wonderful relationships and connections with the hotels, resorts, and travel service companies for each destination. This is a nice benefit for our clients as we always reach out and coordinate with the resort/hotel to ensure that their vacation is perfect. And in many cases, we are able to get them special perks during their stay.

We are also available when our clients need us the most… while on their vacation! I’ll give you a couple of scenarios where we were able to assist our clients during their trip: We had clients contact us while on the beach in Hawaii. They had a change of heart over booking a rental car, and decided that they did in fact want one. We were able to reserve them a car at their nearest location for pick up, and they didn’t even have to take their toes out of the sand. Another time, we had clients at a 5 star resort in the Riviera Maya, MX. They were having some issues at the resort. They had contacted us while enjoying a cocktail by the pool. I called the resort and spoke to the concierge, and the problem was resolved within minutes.

Nothing makes us more proud than when our clients come back raving about the vacation that we planned and booked for them. We love to hear their stories, and see their beautiful vacation photos. This right here is why we do it.

“we treat all of our client’s vacations with same care and attention as our own”

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We are located in Parker, so we may be a little biased. We would definitely take them to both Tailgate Tavern and Wild Goose Saloon for great food, live music, and a wonderful sense of community. We would do some great hikes: Castlewood Canyon, Lookout Mountain, and Red Rocks. And of course no visit is complete without visiting a couple of hot springs. We love Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs and Strawberry Park in Steamboat. If they’re interested in visiting small mountain towns, we recommend Manitou Springs, Morrison, and of course Estes Park!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Starting our own travel agency was definitely a first for us. There were a lot of “can we do this?” moments in the beginning. First and foremost, we couldn’t have persevered without the encouragement from our family and friends. We took an online travel agent certification program from The Travel Institute, which was a great starting point. We were always searching for ways to learn and grow, which brought us to the Las Vegas Travel agent Forum two years in a row. Those trainings were spectacular, and always gave us great new information to bring back home with us.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention our amazing host travel agency: Leisure Travel Alliance based out of Houston, TX. Through their trainings, both online and in person, we were lucky enough to meet the most amazing travel agents who we now are fortunate enough to call our friends. We are in constant communication with them as they are such a great resource!

Website: www.fyatravel.fun

Instagram: @fyatravel

Facebook: @fyatravel

Image Credits
Chloe Nichole with Chloe Nichole Photography