About Us
For more information or to get a personalized travel quote, call us at 1-800-451-4321 or email travel@siemerhand.com
Our History
When we first opened our doors
back in 1959, we were communicating around the world by telex and hand writing
tickets for airlines and cruise ships, the names of which have long since been
forgotten. We joined other high-end
retail agencies in San Francisco to form a guild, called the Carriage Trade Association. We were charter members of this professional
organization, to which we still belong.
We built a thriving business serving the vacation traveler and the corporate
traveler. Back in the days of paper
tickets our volume was such that we employed a full-time delivery person to
distribute tickets to the law firms, public relations firms and other clients
in San Francisco’s financial district.
The Birth of
Educational Travel
About 30 years ago Siemer & Hand began creating custom-designed itineraries for local museums, alumni associations, and foundations,
making us among the pioneers in developing the concept of educational travel as
a member benefit for non-profit organizations. We worked with curators of
the California Academy of Sciences and with leaders at the World Affairs Council, and
others, to create worldwide itineraries providing an enriching travel
experience in the name of the sponsoring organization. Our current president, Robert Roy, joined the
company in 1995 bringing more than 20 years experience working with
university alumni associations and museums all across the country.
Evolution of the
Industry
When the airlines stopped paying commissions to the agencies
that did their ticketing, the travel industry was forever changed. While continuing to serve our Carriage Trade vacation
traveler, we expanded our educational group client base by creating
international trips for the alumni associations of Harvard, Princeton,
Columbia, Brown, Smith, Vassar, UC Berkeley and many others, as well as many natural history and fine art museums. Our most recent evolution involved
creating a new market of domestic travel. Staying within our core competency of
developing educational programs for non-profit organizations, we have become
Elderhostel’s provider for San Francisco.
Today
Our goal has never been to be the biggest, but rather to be
the best in providing advice, logistical arrangements, and service. We consider ourselves to be a boutique provider
of a quality product delivered to individual and group travelers, by an experienced
and service-oriented team, averaging over 12 years employment with the company.
