High-End Travel Agent Marks 25 Years of Providing Picture-Perfect Vacations

Photographing the upscale weddings of celebrities at Four Seasons The Biltmore in Montecito was a good gig in the 1980s, but Steven Shulem always found his mind wandering.

When brides-to-be chatted about Hawaiian honeymoon plans or vacations to the Caribbean, Shulem inevitably chimed in, suggesting better hotels or resorts at which he had stayed or read raging reviews about.

The sense of satisfaction in helping a couple plan a perfect getaway was sweet.

Taking pictures, not so much.

“I decided I was more excited about the travel end of it than the photography,” Shulem, 52, told Noozhawk recently, sitting in the downtown Santa Barbara office of his business, Strictly Vacations, which celebrates 25 years in November.

The high-end travel agency specializes in luxury travel, cruises and tours — a portion of the travel business Shulem said is still booming.

Shulem, a 1984 graduate of Brooks Institute, said he never grew up wanting to be a travel agent, or photographer, for that matter.

His family never traveled outside the Los Angeles area, unless you count visiting Palm Springs once each summer.

When a relative gave Shulem a Three Stooges Dark Room Kit as a child, he was smitten. Shortly after, in junior high school, Shulem subscribed to his first travel publication, Travel Leisure Magazine.

He kept taking pictures but also went on his first school trip to Europe and Israel at age 16. A year later, Shulem returned to backpack the same areas.

Owning a photography studio did lead Shulem to the travel business, however.

A bride who couldn’t afford a large portrait paid him by asking her mother, a local travel agent, to teach Shulem the trade.

Strictly Vacations was born shortly after, with Shulem going out to experience every cruise, hotel, destination and means of transportation before sending off his clients, most of whom are from New York and drop at least $10,000 per trip.

Shulem has recommended some luxury places to stay in Santa Barbara, but he can’t get locals to want to travel.

“This town is so pretty they don’t have the same urgency to leave,” he said.

Shulem has been to all seven continents and doesn’t advertise, since 85 percent of his clients are returning customers or referrals.

“I think clients are excited to talk to someone who’s been there,” he said.

Business is still soaring, but travel websites and a younger, tech-savvy generation worry Shulem a bit. In an effort to reach them, he’ll be sponsoring a Santa Barbara Young Professionals event in November.

The Internet can’t offer the same perks and personal touch, Shulem said, since he knows the right people and has been where he sends others.

“Before the Internet, they took the travel agent’s word at value,” he said. “Everyone’s their own travel agent now. People challenge you on everything.

“I’d like to be in business another 20 years, but we’ll have to see.”

— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.