Goldman Group MD “It’s all about good old-fashioned service”

By Alexandra Coulton

This year the Goldman Group is celebrating 35 years in the Australian travel industry!

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Congrats guys! What a milestone.

The group, which encompasses Goldman Travel Corporation, Travelcall, Travel Phase, SmartFlyer Australia, Quintessentially Travel Australia, and The Cruise Centre, was established in 1983 by Tom Goldman and has evolved into a multi-million dollar and multi-award winning business with 115 employees around Australia!

We had a chat with David Goldman, who shares the role of managing director of Goldman Group with his brother Anthony, to see how the company has held up in the ever-evolving world of travel and what it has learned along the way. Goldman-Travel-Advisor-5

“My brother and I are proudly third generation in travel and in the Australian travel industry we find that’s quite a rare thing,” he told us.

Goldman is part of what he calls a ‘travel family’, being the son and grandson of travel industry veterans Tom and Alf Goldman.

And it’s this culture of family business dynamics that Goldman said sets them aside from the rest of the pack.

Even as we spoke to him, he was interrupted several times by his daughter who had just returned from school.

“Daddy daycare,” he joked.

He told us that with Goldman Group there’s always a dotted line to the owner, be it his brother, his father, or himself.

“It’s family values. We’re big enough to compete, but we’re small enough to care. You just can’t get that online.”

“We’re 35 years in the travel business and we’re stronger than ever.”

According to Goldman, while OTAs have played a big role in changing the way consumers book and plan travel today, Goldman Group believes there are enough travellers now for everyone.

“We don’t see online platforms as a threat at all in the leisure or corporate space,” he said.

“Years ago they said it was the death of a travel agent but we’ve never been busier certainly in the leisure space.”

“Despite the plethora of information out there, clients come to us and say ‘can you just help us get through it all and decipher what this all is.'”

“There’s always a need for travel advisors on the end of the phone and to tap into that industry knowledge and relationship we have with suppliers across the board.”

“We’re adamant that travel advisors will just never be extinct.”

Goldman told us that the group has always tried to be early adopters of technology.

“We’re tapping into itinerary technology where it’s more interactive, we’re trialling one particular product now where our customers can tap into their itineraries and it’ll bring up a whole bunch of interesting areas and interesting facts on where they’re going.”

“It digs a little deeper into their itineraries.”

But above all, its always been about the personal touch and quality agents.

“It’s the relationships that we have, it’s being able to put together itineraries and being able to mix and match to their requirements and giving that personal advice because a lot of our consultants are career consultants and they’re with us for a long time,” he said.

“It’s just something that comes with the DNA of our business, being 35 years, we do have them for a long time so we have a lot of experienced consultants and our clients benefit from that.”

“People want that personal service, they want to have that attention to detail, they want those tight relationships. We’ve had clients who’ve been booking with us for well over 25 years.”
“For us, it’s about good old-fashioned service. You can put all the bells and whistles on it online but what we provide to our clients at the end of the day is all about the service. That’s what clients want.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

david goldman Goldman Group Goldman travel corporation Quintessentially Travel Australia SmartFlyer Australia The Cruise Centre travel agents travel phase Travelcall