Happy birthday to us!  (posted by Marilyn Murphy)

CTP is 45 years old! Gabriel and the team are anticipating the blow-out celebration event they’ll be planning in five years!

What a legacy – this little company … the one founded by Herb Medrow in 1977 and the one I took over in 1985 as a doubting, insecure, “who, me??” 29-year-old – it’s STILL here! Gabriel Haigazian took the reins two-plus years ago – during the height of COVID – and, with his capable team of Howard Wise and Ellen Gruetzmacher, continues the legacy of customer care with uncommon flair (one of our old marketing slogans).

Reminiscing about our history ….

I joined the company in 1981, after a 15-month stint in my first travel job with an incentive travel company in Dayton, Ohio. Loved the job – but had absolutely NO incentive to stay with them. As I searched for a better position, I would ask trusted suppliers (thank you, John Buschman) for recommendations to “good” companies – because I didn’t want to go from bad to worse. It was a competition between me and another girl in my department – who would get out first?

One afternoon I got a call from a man in California to whom I had sent my resume. California!!! Ahh: Swimming pools … movie stars …

Herb Medrow founded CTP in 1977, after serving as VP of Group Sales for Princess Cruises back in the days of the “Love Boat.” Back in the day when a cruise ship carried less than a thousand passengers. Back in the day when researching a flight involved looking up the from/to city pair in the monthly Official Airline Guide the size of a telephone book (remember those?). Back in the day when we economized by making long-distance phone calls after 5PM.

Herb and me, circa 1982 (40 years ago!)

Herb needed someone to create proposals – which was my favorite thing to do. He and I clicked and I was hired. My fancy title was Director of Planning. My $400/month apartment on Sherman Way in Reseda overlooked a kidney-shaped swimming pool. I spent Sunday afternoons at Venice Beach. I permed my hair and went to discos with girlfriends. It had been a very good move!

In 1982 CTP celebrated its 5-year anniversary with a simple dinner party at the Summer House restaurant in Woodland Hills. Obviously, I didn’t have much creative input about the event because this was the menu, printed on ivory paper:

The very un-fancy menu from CTP’s 5-year anniversary dinner in 1982. It included a prophetic suggestion: “we’re certain we’ll be here again in 1987 for our 10th anniversary!”

Life was good … very good. Everything changed a few years later when Herb proposed that I buy the business. Who, ME?? The company was profitable but he wanted to go fishing in Canada whenever he wanted. I had been blessedly content in the best job ever! Now I was terrified. I didn’t want to own a company. I didn’t know anything about running a business. It was a man’s world, and I wasn’t “man” enough. But I agreed to his offer because he promised to mentor me through the transition. “You can do this,” he said, and I trusted him. Nevertheless, I bought a navy blue suit with big shoulder pads and prepared to do “battle” in the big, bad world of business. 

Fast forward 35 years later – to 2020. The company had survived under my dubious leadership. “Creative Travel Planners” was re-branded as the CTP Group to sound less like a travel agency. And we added the WOW! Travel Club to expand our opportunities. I ultimately attracted (and retained) the perfect employees to my team: Gabriel Haigazian joined CTP in 2000, Howard Wise in 2008 and Ellen Gruetzmacher in 2015. 

We’d known for a number of years that Gabriel would be my successor. He had all the “right stuff.” But I was reluctant to let go of this business I’d grown to love so much. So the timing of the pandemic was perfect. “Here, Gabriel – it’s all yours,” was more or less the conversation when I finally let go.

Gabriel had some tough challenges:

• Closing our physical office space on Topanga Canyon Blvd, where we’d rented since 1980
• Shifting to a “work-from-home” business model
• Watching revenues from our loyal corporate and association programs disappear 
• Wondering when it would be over, and if business would ever be back to “normal”

I’m so very proud of Gabriel and the team. They have survived the worst of it. The WOW! Travel Club programs are popular and as creative as ever. Everyone has adapted to the new workplace arrangement. Customers are happy and coming back – and referring business. Suppliers are eager to do business with CTP and WOW. Destinations on calendar for the WOW! Travel Club include Japan, Cuba, Croatia, Mongolia, Egypt, Peru, Australia, Thailand, and Italy. Wow – what a lineup of fabulous places!

I’ve officially retired, and am adjusting to having ample time to garden, play, do creative projects, and travel for fun and philanthropy. And my long-promised book? It’s coming along! (Can’t use my old excuse of “no time” any longer!)

Thank YOU – our treasured friends. It’s been a challenging couple of years – filled with dread and uncertainty – but for those who yearn to see the world and all its wonders, you can be certain that CTP and the WOW! Travel Club will be there for you!

And – save the date: sometime in October of 2027, CTP will celebrate its FIFTIETH!!

Team photo from our 40th anniversary party in 2017. From left, Howard Wise, Whitney Merritt-Chen, Gabriel, me and Ellen Gruetzmacher.