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Peeks Travel • Pflugerville

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Written by Jessica Sinn Tuesday, 18 March 2008

When Karen Duncan returned from a business trip in Hawaii, she found herself longing for stretches of white sand beaches, lavish hotel room service and swaying coconut palms. After unpacking her bags, she decided to end her career as a real estate agent and renew her passion for travel.

Now, 13 years later, Duncan, owner of PEEKS Travel, is busily arranging dream vacations, girlfriend getaways and cruise line packages via her Web-based travel agency, located in her Pflugerville home office.

Duncan said having a home-based business enabled her to raise her children. So, she named her business PEEKS, an acronym created using the first letter of her family members’ names.

“I enjoy people having fun,” said Duncan, who is a certified travel agent from the Travel Institute. “So, that’s why I wanted to be a premiere planner of vacations and leisure activities for a world that’s getting really busy. People need more down time. They need to be able to balance life, family and work, and I want to be that solution.”

Duncan has been able to keep her business open during hard times because of the extra effort she makes to build solid foundations with her clients and vendors. She conducts personal consultations with each client, which helps her better understand their personalities and preferences.

“It’s important to show them that you are a real person and that you are credible and have their best interests at heart,” Duncan said. “I would rather have a few good customers who trust me, than a million customers who will only use me one time.”

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Duncan said her phone stopped ringing for more than 75 days. Because PEEKS Travel was her family’s main source for income, she had to take on another job as an associate professor at Austin Community College. Although business has picked up, she continues to teach the travel and tourism program, and is providing internship opportunities for her students.

Early in her new career, Duncan said she extended her services to booking airline tickets and arranging worldwide destinations. When the travel industry was adversely affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Duncan realized she couldn’t provide all of those services and decided to focus on her area of expertise: island destinations. She is currently in the process of training destination expert agents who can cover the globe.

In addition to booking island vacations, Duncan said she wants to promote the local tourism economy by arranging weekend vacations in Central Texas. She said she also wants to plan romantic getaways for empty-nesters who need to rediscover themselves and their relationships.

“One of my missions is to broaden my perspective of what’s available locally,” Duncan said. “There are so many people with limited budgets who just want to get away for the weekend, and there are so many vacation destinations right here in Central Texas.”

FREE SERVICES

Most travel agencies, including PEEKS Travel, do not charge a commission fee because vacation package vendors pay the agents for promoting their services.