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Interview with Deb
Roberts
Q: What is your
history with quilts?
A: My
grandmother planted this seed in my life. She was a prolific quilt maker
and also my care-giver before I started grade school. I have studied quilts and
printed fabrics for many years and worked in the field for over 20 of those
years as a writer, fabric designer, teacher, historian, judge, appraiser,
producer and consultant, I have covered a lot of quilt territory.
Q: How did you
get involved in providing travel?
A: I have
always loved to travel and having a husband who worked as a commercial pilot
gave me many opportunities to see places I may not have otherwise seen. I
have had the travel "bug" since a small child and while that is not the reason I
married Bill, it certainly has been a great benefit. It was on a trip with
my family that I visited my first European textile museum, this visit changed my
personal world in many ways. It became important to me to share the
world's quilt and textile culture with others, and I haven't looked back.
Q: So, would you
consider yourself an expert traveler?
A: I do not
self-proclaim myself to be an expert at anything. I am always seeing and
learning. BUT, I have been to most of the places I take my groups - and I
would never take anyone somewhere that I personally would not want to go, or
that I feel would not provide excellent value. My purpose in this business is to
share what the world has to offer in this area.
Q: Will you sell
travel to people other than quilters?
A: Absolutely,
while I focus on groups for quilt and textile lovers, we are a full service
travel agency offering assistance in all travel related areas. We also
specialize in arranging private tours for individuals, families, clubs, you name
it.
With the quilt
related trips, It isn't
just about the travel, we share a similar interest and this allows me to provide
unique experiences. As a quilt historian I have established contacts with
many of the world's finest and noteworthy museums and textile manufacturers,
this allows me to open doors to my land-tour groups that are not often available to
others.
Q: What do you
like best about leading the groups?
A: I enjoy it
all - but, I do have something I enjoy most. It is the collective "it
takes my breath away" sigh when people with similar passions see something
incredible - like an 18th century Indian Chintz, or a pieced hexagon quilt with
smaller than dime size hexagons. It works just as well with a freshly
blooming field of sunflowers and lavender. I hear this sigh a lot on my
trips, and love it.
Q: Comparably,
your prices are excellent. How do you manage to keep them lower than
others?
A: My goal is to provide value
and I work with
great travel suppliers; I work out the itinerary and they do the rest. My
standards are for the best (superior hotels, luxury coaches, etc.) and they do
not let me down. I find, that travel does not have to be expensive, and
there are many things I can do to keep it affordable. For example - when
they can be beneficial to the group, I love to have professionals in the field
accompany me on trips, they are a lot of fun. However, I will not burden
my travelers with any additional and extraordinary fees to have a known personality accompany my
trips, there are other places where they can do this if they like. I also get
many perks from the industry and I surely will not add these free incentives into my tour prices, that would not be right.
The other thing I do is pass
on rate reductions when I receive them. For instance, if a cruise line
offers a special price on a cruise I am already offering - I will lower my price
as well as allowed by my agreement with the cruise line.
Q: So,
what about your competition?
A: I am
out there like anyone else, but as much as I can, I try to be unique, and I do
want to stay small. I am not out to compete with the big-guys. However, there is only one world and some plans are bound to
be similar. Tours go where tours go, and many companies repeat similar
itineraries. When you think about it, there are 100s of tours
to China, Europe, Africa, all offered by different companies; that is just the
nature of the business. I do take the time to plan unique and personalized
tours to the areas I go. For example, there are lots of tours to China
that take in a Yangtzee River Cruise, for this reason, I won't. I like to
take my groups off the beaten path as much as possible, offering them things
they will not see on most tours. I get my ideas for places when I visit them or,
suggestions from people who know an area well - sometimes citizens who want
to bring others to their country in order to share their own quilt heritage.
My itineraries take me from weeks to months to organize. I hunt for the
best and will not settle for less in terms of places to sleep, eat, visit, see
quilts, shop and explore;
therefore I do claim intellectual property rights to each itinerary - after all
it would be wrong for me to use the quilt or textile related itinerary of someone else, and I expect the same
courtesy.
Again, I do
this for the joy of sharing the world of quilts and textiles with others. I love to travel - and what better way is there to see things than
with others who share similar interests. I am happy to work with groups
who come to me asking to arrange a tour or cruise, yet, I am happy to keep my
business small and groups small enough to be personal.
My clients are very important
to me.
Q: Why did you
come up with the idea for Quilt Cruise for a Cause?
A: I
believe in giving back. In today's economic climate many health related
non-profits are hurting and research money is not what it was even 5 years ago.
Several are on the verge of finding cures. If I can help just a little, by
including specific health related non-profits as a benefactor from a cruise,
then every quilter with me will be blessed. The same goes for many quilt related
non-profit organizations, they are feeling the pinch just like everyone else.
I believe in many of them, they promote scholarship, fiber arts and historic
research and just as any non-profit, they need a boost now and then. Just
the same, it maybe that people would rather donate to another cause, so I give
that option on the annual quilt non-profit trip. It will not always be a cruise every year, but
every year there will be at least one fundraising tour of some type.
Q: What are
your future plans?
A: I will
continue to share my passions for quilts and travel for as long as people want
to go with me. I consider sharing quilt-related travel with others to be a
joy, it makes me happy to share the creative world of textiles and it is something I will do for as long as I can.
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