Vacation Gogo

[Dionisio Sechser]

TheU.S. wholesaler, which offered packaged vacations for travel agencies from tour operator partners to destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and Tahiti, for example, was a storied U.S. brand in the travel agency community, having been founded in New Jersey in 1951. Flight Centre acquired Gogo, along with Liberty Travel, in 2007.

As the Flight Centre Group sunsets its Gogo Vacations brand and offers best wishes to departing Gogo staff members, we are witnessing the closing act of one of the creators of the modern packaged travel industry, a company that ruled the segment for more than a generation.

Before he died in 2007, Fred Kassner told me how he and his partner innovated and built what became Gogo. Although escorted tours had existed in the American market for some time, developed by operators such as Collette, which started in 1918, and Tauck, which started in 1925, Kassner gave credit to Liberty/Gogo for the innovation of the independent vacation package as it came to exist.

Like its sister company, Gogo opened storefronts around the country, at one point building up 87 local offices nationwide. The company built the chain with a non-hierarchical management structure that gave its branches a lot of independence, using economic incentives that encouraged sales managers to exercise their entrepreneurial capacities to grow business for themselves, as well as for the company.

Gogo held onto its leadership in the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida for many years against the stiff competition of companies such as the Mark Travel Corp., Apple Vacations, Pleasant Holidays and Classic Vacations, all of which had built their own powerful niches in the segment by emulating what Gogo had started.

Under her leadership, the company worked to upgrade the technology of the company to give it the power it would need to face the formidable rising competition of not only sharp operators in the wholesale segment, but even moreso to hold out against the rising tide of Online Travel Agencies.

However, in spite of its efforts, in the 2000s Gogo was losing ground and market share, and the owners made the decision to sell to an international company that had a technological infrastructure that could be strong enough go head-to-head against the growing muscle of the OTAs.

After being purchased by Australia-based Flight Centre in 2007, Gogo went through many changes. Flight Centre expanded the product line to include its international destinations, rolling them out bit by bit, including Australia and New Zealand, then Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Egypt, followed by Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, then Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Bali, and by the end of 2009, South America, Africa, India and China. But then in June of 2011, it changed course and broke out the international brands, returning Gogo to its original core market, the Caribbean, Mexico and the USA.

David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.

Situated in the heart of Port Charlotte, our 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom (sleeps 6) waterfront vacation rental is your gateway to adventure and relaxation. Discover the beauty of the water with activities like kayaking and boating. Nearby attractions offer opportunities for golfing, shopping, and fine dining, ensuring a diverse range of experiences.

After a day of exploration, return to your private sanctuary to indulge in the heated spa, melting away the day's stress. Take a refreshing dip in the pool or gather around the outdoor seating area for al fresco dining with your loved ones, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Important: We are committed to protecting our properties and keeping up-to-date with short-term rental regulations, which is why you will be asked to complete our independent verification.

Please note: Before your booking begins, you will need to verify your details with us to complete your booking. You will be contacted via email and/or text to complete the verification.

Flight Centre Travel Group, which just today launched a brand new brand for independent travel advisors, has shut down GOGO Vacations, effective immediately. No new bookings will be accepted but all current bookings will be honored and serviced throughout the lifecycle of the booking. There is no need to cancel existing bookings, the company said.

Among the changes Flight Centre Travel Group has made in line with its new focus on luxury is bringing Scott Dunn to the U.S. The brand now has an office in New York and recently added two new execs to its U.S. leadership team.

For instance, FIT bookings that previously did not require a deposit now require a deposit of $100 per adult on all confirmed bookings. The deposit must be applied to all current bookings where no payments have been received no later than March 15. Failure to make a deposit by this date will result in cancellation of the booking.

All FIT bookings can continue to be maintained or canceled in Helio. For additional support, advisors can chat through Helio Knowledge Hub, email online...@gogowwv.com, or call (888) 567-0600 and select prompt 2.

All Group bookings can continue to be maintained in Softrip. For additional assistance, advisors can call (888) 567-0600 and select prompt 4, or email groups...@gogowwv.com for maintenance or groupfin...@gogowwv.com for finalization after final payment.

Advisors do not need to worry about their commissions, the company also said. All commissions will continue to be paid at the time of departure. FIT commissions are paid weekly, and group commissions are paid bi-weekly.

I'm always fascinated to learn popular songs by bands were actually reworked numbers from members' previous outfits -- "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" were from Grace Slick's previous group, the Great Society -- and especially when they are markedly different. Case in point, "Vacation," which would go on to be the second biggest single for the Go-Go's.

In an interview Jane Wiedlin gave to Songfacts, where the journalist keeps (accidentally?) asking her about songs she didn't write(!), she had this to say about it:"Vacation" was Kathy's song, and Kathy was the last Go-Go to join. She joined at the beginning of '81 and she brought that song with her from her band, The Textones. We really loved the song, but it didn't really have a chorus. So Charlotte and I ended up working with Kathy a little bit more on the song, and sort of Go-Go-fying it, basically adding the chorus. But that storyline was one about having a summer romance, thinking that it was all just for fun and games, and then later realizing that you actually love. So that's what that one's about.Although she's right that they fleshed it out a bit, the more stripped down sound of the original almost reminds me of "Goodbye to You" by Scandal. From what I remember on Kathy's priceless Twitter memoir, the line Jane added that significantly moved the rewrite along was changing "A week without you / I should forget / Two weeks without you / And I'm still thinking about the things that you said" into "And I still haven't gotten over you yet," a great line, indeed.

Looking at the lyrics today, however, they're even more substantially different than I initially recall from first hearing the Textones version years ago. Jane's right that they gave the song a more traditional chorus, although the verses -- early version and later -- definitely remain its best part.

"Vacation" (original)

Written by Kathy Valentine

I thought a lot of things about you

I stayed awake just thinking 'bout you

But now I'm away

You had to stay

Tomorrow's a day of mine that you won't be in

I tried to say I was just having fun

But I really knew that you were the one

And now that I'm gone

I see I was wrong

I should have known all along that time would tell

A week without you

I should forget

Two weeks without you

And I'm still thinking about the things that you said.

Vacation

Just another holiday

Vacation

I hope you love me

Vacation

Would you think of me?

I think I'll leave without saying goodbye

I think that you know the reason why

What if I was to stay?

Would things turn out some other way?

I'll never know anyway

Riding high on the success of "Beauty and the Beat," the Go-Go's released a concert video called "Totally Go-Go's," which was recorded Dec. 4, 1981, at Palos Verdes High School near Los Angeles. Because they only had one album out, the gals were already performing other material at their live shows, and Kathy's "Vacation" was clearly already in the band's repertoire. What I find interesting looking back is that the song isn't quite the Textones version, nor is it the finished product that would be the title track from their sophomore album, but sort of a hybrid of the two. Have a listen:

In the end, though, the finished product was probably the best, even if I questioned whether or not the heroine was missing someone she'd met on a vacation or if she went on vacation to forget someone at home. (Kathy straightened me out -- it's the former!). And I'm not the only one who has been tripped up by this song, remember?

And it goes something like this:

Kathy Valentine's Twitter memoir is gone, but in it I seem to recall reading that Jane's contribution to the song was the line, "Can't seem to get my mind off of you." That was apparently a last-minute change, made just before the band recorded it for their album, "Vacation."

KV said at the time that Jane and Charlotte had helped her with the chorus, but in the memoir she revealed that was never true. Kathy and Charlotte worked up the chorus and Jane came up with the first line of the verse.

Maybe I better Googler than I could come up with a cached version of that memoir, but the rest of us will just have to wait until KV publishes her memoir, which apparently she is working on now. It will be epic.

3a8082e126