Classic Vacations™, awarded “Best FIT Tour Operator, Europe” by TravelAge West WAVE Awards for three consecutive years, has a lot to celebrate, and the story behind these wins is a more compelling reason to raise a glass. There is much to be said about the company’s European division, Classic Europe, its founding, and the people who made it into the powerhouse it is today. Of all those who contributed, one name in particular rings loudest, “Iconic Bonty.”
Bonty Escallon, Managing Director of Europe, has won in Europe’s most prestigious leisure tourism landscape for over four decades. This is the story of her dedication to the travel industry and how her efforts, along with Classic’s steadfast team, led to Classic Vacations’ unparalleled success in Europe.
Her Childhood
Bonty was born in the coastal South American city of Cartagena, Colombia, where she lived with her parents and three siblings. Her father was a journalist, diplomat, and politician who owned the city’s oldest newspaper, Diario de la Costa. As a young girl, Bonty attended American International Schools and loved mathematics. She remembers having an amazing childhood: fun in school, plenty of friends, and summertime year-round.
At the age of 15, her parents sent her to Philadelphia to attend a Catholic boarding school. In the United States, far from her family, Bonty became very independent. As an adolescent, she developed an interest in fashion and dreamed of becoming a buyer for high-end department stores like Nordstrom or Saks Fifth Avenue or even a famous clothing brand like Chanel. Her father strongly encouraged her to learn foreign languages, demanding that whatever she studied include language learning.
Upon graduating from high school, she pursued a degree in fashion merchandising at the University of Florence, where she also vigorously studied Italian. Italian became Bonty’s fourth fluent language, along with Spanish, English, and French.
Getting Started in Travel
During summers in Florence, Bonty worked at a local travel agency and started traveling around Italy and surrounding countries. “That’s when I started learning about tourism and travel,” she mentioned. Bonty wanted to remain in Italy, but her parents still supported her financially and gave her two options: move to Germany or return to the U.S.
Passion for Travel
Back in the States, Bonty found a job in the wholesale travel division at American Express Travel Miami, selling outbound group travel to Latin America. “It was a fantastic job and I learned so much there,” she said. During her 7-year career at AMEX Travel, she climbed the corporate ladder from “rock bottom” all the way to director. “I was totally dedicated to my job,” she recalls.
However, what happened next changed her life in a tremendous way.
While on vacation in Greece with her mother, Bonty met the man who would become her future husband. They visited each other back and forth between Miami and Athens over the next year or so, eventually deciding to make things permanent. The couple married in 1984 and bought an apartment in Athens.
Without wasting time, Bonty set her sights on getting to know Greece and continuing her career in tourism. She took an intensive, 9-month Greek language course and found a job at a local destination management company specializing in inbound travel in 1995. Two years later, she and two colleagues launched their own DMC, Diplomatic Travel Services, offering unique stays at luxury villas throughout Greece. Over the next four years, they scouted and inspected hundreds of villas, adding only those that met strict standards, built relationships with property owners, and expanded their clientele base in the U.S. This was a precursor to her work at Classic.
In 1995, while attending the annual ASTA Global Convention in St. Louis, Bonty bumped into an old friend and associate from her time at American Express Travel, Ron Letterman. In those days, Ron was the V.P. of Hawaii and, ironically, as Bonty put it, was still sporting his typical aloha shirt. He shared that he was now the president and co-owner of Classic Custom Vacations, exclusively focused on tailormade, luxury Hawaiian travel. Bonty joked, “You’re still selling Hawaii?” Ron laughed, adding that CCV had gained an extensive network of luxury travel agents across the U.S. She then suggested, “With this huge following, why don’t you expand (to other destinations)?” A couple of months later, she got a call.
The Birth of Classic Europe
It was Ron, of course, asking when they could open business in Europe. Coincidentally, one of Bonty’s clients in Washington D.C. was actively trying to sell her company, a tour operator solely concentrated on outbound leisure travel to Greece and Turkey. Bonty proposed that Ron purchase it as a way to get things rolling across the pond. Soon after, Classic bought Twelve Islands & Beyond and appointed Bonty to oversee its conversion to CCV’s Europe division while still running her luxury villas DMC. In 1996, Bonty accepted the position of Director of Operations, sold her share in Diplomatic Travel Services, and opened a new office in Athens.
The Early Years
Bonty traveled endlessly across Europe to curate a refined hotel and services portfolio. She met with a myriad of hotel managers, ground providers, and private tour companies in each country. How do you earn a partner’s trust and confidence without any history or track record of your own? According to Bonty, you tell them where you’re coming from and back it up with results. She would share that, “We are the #1 tour operator in Hawaii, very well-known in the U.S., and we want to expand into Europe as an innovator in luxury travel.” But above all else, “The trust and integrity were the most important parts. I delivered what I promised, and I always treated everybody fairly.”
The First Luxury Tour Operator
Word spread from hotel to hotel, country to country, and without social media! Bonty would get calls from hoteliers asking to have their property added to the Classic collection. After Italy, we added England, then France, Monaco, Spain, and so on. “We were the first luxury tour operator for Europe,” Bonty proudly stated. When asked how the news spread so quickly, she offered, “They already learned how we work, our integrity, and the loyal customers we have.” Beyond just loyalty, Classic’s travel advisors provided an affluent clientele seeking upscale, luxury trips to Europe. As a result, we became known for bringing high-caliber guests to hotel and ground partners.
As a testament to our outstanding partnerships, Classic Europe now offers 22 countries and more than 350 hand-picked, prestigious hotels throughout Europe. Some of these only Classic can offer, such as Hotel Hassler Roma, Villa D’Este at Lake Como, and Il San Pietro in Positano.
As the sun sets on this story, as it does in the destinations we love, a word of gratitude is in order.
“The success of Europe is a result of teamwork. We are very supportive of each other. The TravelAge West WAVE Award for “Best FIT Tour Operator, Europe” was the best most gratifying recognition after years of hard work and dedication. All of our efforts came together with this accolade.”
We are so honored to have Bonty with us for 28 years, and we are still working tirelessly on our mission to help travel advisors deliver outstanding experiences so they can create and retain loyal customers for life.
Nearly three decades of experience selling luxury Europe travel.
Awarded Best FIT Tour Operator for Europe by TravelAge West for three consecutive years.
Product and Customer Service Team members in Athens and Rome.
Breakfast-inclusive rate plans at top luxury hotels.
Extensive experiential offerings and exclusive offers from luxury partners.
Instant access to real-time rates and availability through direct connectivity.
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