Booking Travel for People With Disabilities

“Once I’ve got them, I’ve got them.”

These words from Debra Kerper represent the confidence and tenacity that won her the TravelAge West Trendsetter Award for Best Group Booking Sales Effort. In fact, her expertise and dedication to her demographic have secured her a faithful client base — so faithful, in fact, that many refuse to travel without her.

Kerper, an independent franchise owner for Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel representative, specializes in creating trips for disabled and mature clientele. Her desire to work with people who have special needs is based on her personal experience with illness and being an amputee.

“I had lupus and I was bored,” she said. “I went to Coastline Community College in Fountain Valley, Calif., and I took this class where everyone wanted to be a travel agent. A lightbulb went off in my head and I thought, ‘I can do this!’”


Read more at TravelAge West.