Vantage apparently decided it was time to get what it could in a sale and let new owners step in.
It was a stunning revelation for a company that has been a travel mainstay in Boston for 40 years, prompted by the leak of a purported internal memo saying scheduled trips were suspended “in light of our impending transaction.”
After months of punishing publicity over canceled trips and long-delayed refunds, Vantage Travel, the Boston-based cruise line company, confirmed last week that it was up for sale.
But who would buy such a battered company?
One hint may be found in the short statement the company released under pressure about its ongoing negotiations for a sale.
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“Our primary goal,” it said of the sale, “is to obtain the best outcome for our customers.”
That may seem odd and off-putting from a company that dragged its feet on refunding potentially millions of dollars for trips canceled during the pandemic and since.
But the most valuable thing Vantage may have is the goodwill of loyal customers — or at least what’s left of it, according to marketing experts.
“Yes, it’s a badly tarnished brand at the moment,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a veteran media consultant and professor emeritus at Boston University. “But it has a great customer base that could be extremely valuable to the right buyer.”
Berkovitz said the “number one thing for the buyer to do is to make good on refunds to begin regaining trust. If you don’t do that, there’s no hope.”
A company pledging to pay off the refunds “could sweep in and buy Vantage” at a steep discount, he said.
Vantage declined comment, citing “confidentiality provisions governing our negotiations.”
Besides a loyal customer base, Vantage has other valuable assets, including long-term leases on ships and operational expertise, but its brand, built up over decades, may be the most valuable, according to Andrew Smith, a marketing professor at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Business.
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“While the company’s reputation may have lost some of its gleam, it can be rehabilitated by a new owner who can attribute past failings to the old ownership group,” Smith said.
But to keep existing customers and add new ones would require “consistently high-quality service,” he said.
“If a new owner communicates and demonstrates that the recent issues are in the past, they can earn back customer trust over time,” said.
Theresa Stablewski, pictured with her husband, James, held a Vantage Travel brochure about Africa. The couple waited over a year for $46,000 owed to them by Vantage for a canceled safari. (After the Globe asked questions, on their behalf, Vantage refunded the couples’ money.) David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Typically, in this type of crisis, “customers want apologies, solutions, and explanations,” Smith said. A buyer trying to turn things around “needs the financial and operational capacity” to make the necessary changes, he said.
Andrew Wilson, also a marketing professor at Sawyer Business School, said the Vantage meltdown probably led the current owner to put the company up for sale because continuing damage to its brand could at some point “become beyond repair.”
From a buyer’s point of view, this “is an opportunity to acquire new customers at a discount, and the very fact of the firm changing hands is the beginning of a solution,” he said.
Wilson said competition for customers in the high-end travel market is intense. “Existing relationships with (prospective travelers) is extremely valuable,” he said.
Vantage, founded in 1983 by Hank Lewis, is small in comparison to such industry behemoths as Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which operate enormous ships capable of carrying many thousands of travelers. Vantage’s most popular ships are outfitted for fewer than 180 passengers, and its ocean and river cruises and land expeditions emphasize cultural exploration for “discerning travelers,” according to its website. It also caters to women traveling solo.
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Some Vantage customers have repeatedly traveled with the company for decades, including the Cape Cod woman who contacted the Globe in April to complain that Vantage canceled her European river cruise two days before it was to begin. She said she had frequently traveled with Vantage and always had “a lovely time.”
In late 2021, Vantage marked a hopeful milestone when it celebrated with a champagne christening the launch of the $70 million Ocean Explorer in Boston Harbor. (One year later, it launched Ocean Explorer’s sister ship, Ocean Odyssey. Vantage has long-term leases on the ships.)
But the glitzy launch exposed another side of the Vantage story. It caught the attention of two local couples who had been fighting for about 18 months for $46,000 owed to them by Vantage for a canceled safari to Africa. (After the Globe asked questions, on their behalf, Vantage refunded the couples’ money.)
At about that time, Vantage also caught the attention of Christopher Elliott, whose nationally-syndicated “travel troubleshooting” column appears regularly in the Globe. He called Vantage “one of the most complained-about companies, according to our records.” Last summer, Vantage came under criticism for delayed refunds in the New York Times.
Meanwhile, more than 800 complaints have piled up at the office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. That office has mediated on behalf of about 80 Massachusetts residents, recovering more than $1.2 million in refunds. (The office accepts complaints from out-of-state consumers but urges them to contact their own state’s attorney general for assistance.)
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Most demands for refunds are for $10,000 or more, meaning Vantage likely owes millions of dollars based on the number of complaints filed with the attorney general’s office.
More than a dozen people have complained to the Globe in recent months about last-minute cancellations of trips long-planned and fully paid for.
When first asked about cancellations by the Globe in late April, Vantage disclosed it had experienced a “data security incident” and had hired a “leading national forensic firm” to investigate, though it did not explicitly link the cancellations to the security incident. (It later said no cancellations were linked to the incident.)
That data security incident knocked out the company’s website and call center, leaving many booked travelers unable to confirm their trips. Both were restored about a week later.
But more cancellations continued in May and into June.
The purported internal memo surfaced on June 2 on Consumer Rescue, a consumer advocacy website. Apparently sent to Vantage employees on June 1, it said the company had to postpone departures through the summer and had docked Ocean Explorer and Ocean Odyssey in Caen, France, “until we have a better idea of the timeline for restarting operations.”
Got a problem? Send your consumer issue to sean.murphy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @spmurphyboston.
Why would anyone want to buy Vantage Travel? There are some good reasons.
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