Sarap Mag Biyahe (SMB) Travel and Tours is an accredited Travel agency by the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Philippine Tour Operators Association (PHILTOA) and a proud member of NAITAS. SMB Travel has been operating for 7 years and is now an wholesaler of Cebu Pacific and Skyjet. SMB Travel is an accredited agent of Philippine Airlines, Airasia, Jetstar and Scoot one of the top wholesalers for Asia and Philippine Tour Packages. We have assisted more than 6,000 clients to Asian Destinations and more than P8,000 clients to Philippine Destinations for the past two years (2016-2017).
SMB TRAVEL MISSION: Travel made E.A.S.Y (Excellent Service, Affordable Prices and Secured travel for You and your family.)
SMB TRAVEL VISION: To be the number 1 travel agency in the Philippines by 2021.
SMB Travel was founded by Albert Salvador and his wife Kathrina Salvador in March 2011. Even though its quite unbelievable, they were able to establish a home-based travel agency with only P8,000 capital. It was a perfect part-time business for them because 1.) its very manageable even if both are working full time 2.) very low investment 3.) since it’s just home-based they don’t need to worry on operational expenses like rental, utilities, business lines etc.
The business turns out to be a big success because in just 3 months of promoting to Friends, Relatives and colleagues they were able to earn a total of P50,000. Six months after they were able to put a small office and in the following year their own commercial establishment. The employees grew from 1 to 4 and with the help of online marketing: social media, group buying sites, buy and sell sites the business is already earning up to P70,000 a month.
SMB Travel is doing good because a big portion of the company’s income are invested to visit new destinations like Malaysia, Japan, Korea, China etc to look for new partnerships/suppliers. In this way, SMB travel can continuously offer new products and services to their customers.
However, as with any other business there will be unexpected challenges. It was November 2013, when Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines and left many Filipinos devastated. For the next three months, nobody is traveling, everyone is busy trying to help the victims of the super typhoon. With no sales and continuous operational costs, SMB Travel went to a financial crisis. It was a heart-breaking experience for Albert and Kat to the point that they are considering to close the business. Luckily, they didn’t give up. They took a loan and decided take the risk. They spent a lot of time planning, learning new things, revisiting their packages and in the midst of hardship they were able to create a new opportunity. A new package was made -> a 3-Day Ilocos Land Trip where travelers are joined together on a fix schedule. It was a big hit. In just 2 months, the sales were able to surpassed the losses from the previous months and Albert and Kat was able to pay-off their loan ahead of time. -> The biggest learning is to always prepare for the unexpected because there are things that can happen beyond our control.
Albert and Kat improved their financial standing and business operations. They look for new opportunities to lower down costs and invest on partnership with Airlines. Soon, SMB travel became an official partner of Air Asia and Cebu Pacific making their airline ticket rates very competitive. SMB travel started receiving awards and was recognized by many award giving bodies like the Golden Globe Business Excellence Award and National Consumers Choice Awards as an Outstanding Travel and Tour Provider in Metro Manila.
SMB travel’s continued success paved the idea of sharing your blessings to others which started SMB Travel’s “JOURNEY TO SUCCESS” Seminar and “SMB Travel Affiliates Program”. SMB’s goal is to help and guide aspiring travelpreneurs in starting their own profitable travel agency business. To date, SMB travel have already helped more than 2,000+ travelpreneurs making SMB Travel Affiliates Program the biggest and the most successful in the country. With the guidance of the SMB Team, many start-up business owners are now enjoying the huge earning potential of having your travel agency.