INDIANAPOLIS (CBS4) — It may be a travel agency for the wealthy, but Arrow Travel Agency in Indianapolis is known as a travel hub.
The Indiana native is the owner and CEO of Arrow Travel.
His father is an award-winning travel agent and his mother is an entrepreneur.
“I think the word has come to define Arrow Travel, because it’s very popular,” said Paul Daley, Arrow Travel’s senior director of communications.
“Arrow Travel is an iconic name in Indianapolis, and I think that’s very important.”
Arrow Travel was founded in 1998, and has been the most visited travel agency in the state of Indiana since its launch.
“We think that it is important to bring in new talent, and that’s what we’re doing,” Daley said.
“It’s a brand that has been around for a long time.
It’s a name that people associate with a lot of things in Indianapolis.”
Arrow was also the subject of an Indianapolis IndyStar investigation.
The investigation found Arrow Travel agents have made $9 million in salary, travel and hospitality commissions over the past three years, making more than $300,000 in profit and receiving more than 5,500 citations.
In 2014, Arrow paid nearly $4 million in fines to the state and federal governments.
Arrow Travel says it will not be closing, but will be closing in 2018.
The company has faced a number of challenges in recent years.
In December, the state’s highest court ruled that it was in violation of a law banning discrimination based on race and gender, with the Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that the law should be struck down.
A federal judge in September ruled that Indiana had not been harmed by the state laws, which were enacted in 2016.
Arrow did not respond to CBS4’s requests for comment.
Daley says the company has hired new employees, but he says the business has to continue to grow.
“The biggest challenge is we’ve got so many customers, and we’ve just got to keep adding new customers,” Dary said.
Arrow’s business model is unique.
The airline, which operates more than 600 flights a day and has more than 50,000 passengers on its network, charges $100 to $200 to book an overnight trip.
Travelers can book a trip for as little as $20 for an overnight flight, and as much as $150 for an all-day trip.
Arrow charges a fee for airport and hotel bookings and has a 30-day return policy.
Dary says Arrow Travel charges about $60 to $100 for hotel and flights, and he says it costs more than Arrow to operate because of its higher costs.
Arrow has been open for nearly 20 years and has about 1,200 employees, Daley estimates.
“When I was starting Arrow, we were operating out of the basement of a church, and now we’re operating out into a very big building, and it’s more than doubled in size,” Dery said.
He said the company is hiring more people, but it’s not easy to keep up with demand.
“You don’t want to be doing a lot and then suddenly have to close up shop,” Dily said.
When Arrow opened its doors in 2000, it had just two full-time employees and had just five employees on the ground.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport Authority (IMAG) is now Arrow’s largest customer.
The agency says it has seen an increase in business in the last three years and expects to grow by about 20 percent in the coming years.
“In the last 30 years, Arrow has grown by more than 300 percent,” IMAG spokesman Steve Smith said.
IMAG has been working with Arrow Travel to expand its business and to attract more business.
Arrow recently hired two people to work at the airport and plans to open a second location in the next year, he said.
But Daley believes Arrow is on the right track and says it can stay open.
“They’ve been very good at what they’re doing, and they’ve done a great job growing the business,” Daly said.
Daly says he believes Arrow Travel is doing a good job of growing and will remain open.
But he says there is room for improvement.
“I don’t think we’re seeing the growth that we would like, but I think we can be successful,” Dyer said.
