Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Martin Wood [Click to enlarge]

A locked door and a "We've Moved" sign will greet students and faculty looking to book travel plans for reduced rates on campus this fall.

STA Travel, Sacramento State's on-campus travel agency, closed its doors suddenly June 27, citing a need to consolidate their operations in the wake of a weakening economy.

The dark, hastily packed former office of STA Travel, the latest casualty of the U.S. economic downturn, contrasts the bright lights and lively displays of its nearest University Union neighbors, The Box Center and Round Table at The Hive.

In an effort to restructure its business model, STA Travel shut down 48 offices nationwide; twelve of those in California, including Berkeley, Fullerton, Los Angeles, La Jolla (near UC San Diego), Northridge, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, according to an STA Travel press release.

STA Travel also eliminated 200 positions throughout the company, including the corporate offices in Tempe, Ariz. It is unclear how many were laid off from the Sac State office. Offices outside the U.S. were unaffected by closings.

"The student travel industry represents a vibrant niche in the overall U.S. travel market," STA President Scott Hyden said in the press release discussing the closures. "While we regret the impact of this decision on our employees, we are confident that this transformation will support our long-term strategy to provide a richer, multi-channel experience for our customers."

Despite shutting down four-fifths of its retail locations, STA Travel stepped up its online presence to better compete in the student travel marketplace, including trip countdowns, destination weather comparisons, online travel to-do lists, and special online travel offers. STA will continue to assist students with more complex travel needs.

Kristen Celko, vice president of Marketing and e-commerce with STA Travel, said deciding which stores would stay open followed a "strategic criteria" within the company's business plan. Some of the criteria included location, store management's overall experience and local relationships with area businesses.

"It wasn't a matter of one store over the other" in determining which ones were closed, Celko added, referring to the UC Davis and Sac State offices.

STA's sudden closure left Union officials caught off-guard, as they received only one-hour notice before the company closed its doors. The company informed Leslie Davis, executive director of the Union, of the closure the day it occurred.

"They told us: 'STA Travel decided to reduce their operations and focus on their online business'," Davis said. "They closed 70 stores, and ours was one of them."

She added that the notice "was more than an indication" the office was closing. STA closed down that morning, though it met all its contract obligations set forth by the Union. Davis said that she was sorry to see STA Travel leave Sac State.

As the closure had taken place after the end of the spring semester, few students were made aware of it. Union Director Bill Olmsted speculated that once the fall semester starts and as more students traverse the Union's halls, they will start wondering what happened to the travel agency. This leaves him with the task of studying other options to fill what he described as "the most visible piece of vendor real estate we have in this building."

Students often submit suggestions to the Union about vendors and services to be added and improved - or in some cases, removed. Though many comments are directed toward improving current services, no tangible plans are in the works for replacing the travel agency.

"At this point," Olmsted said, "nothing is nailed down to such an extent where we could say, 'Yes, it's going to be a blank and it's going to be open on this day.'"

Although STA's former space has not been specifically identified for a certain purpose, he stressed that any potential tenant would be selected for its ability to most benefit the students, faculty and staff of the Sac State campus. The Union is looking at STA's departure as an opportunity to bring in the next good thing.

"Like with anything else in this building, whatever we put in there, we want it to be a service to students," Olmsted said. "We want it to be something that the students and the campus community find to be of value taking up space in this building."

Benjamin Schilter can be reached at bschilter@statehornet.com

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