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Village Travel in Springdale Has A New Home

On March 29, 2023 several members of the Village team gathered for the groundbreaking of a new building in Springdale, Arkansas. The facility upgrade was a much-needed upgrade for this Northwest Arkansas location.

On Thursday, May 24, 2024, we held an open house to celebrate the facility’s completion! The Springdale staff are very enthusiastic about the new indoor wash bay, on-site fueling, driver lounge, training room, and other fantastic amenities at the new facility. Tommy Bagwell, our GM, has expressed how the new facility has genuinely energized our workplace culture, and we are all looking forward to experiencing the positive impact it will have on our day-to-day operations. The Grand Opening luncheon for staff and customers was well attended with many of our top customers and business partners present to celebrate with us!

*Interior Photos of the New Springdale Facility*

The building was thoughtfully designed to accommodate 20 coaches with room for future expansion, reflecting our commitment to growth and progress. It’s worth noting that Northwest Arkansas is ranked as the 18th fastest-growing metro area in the country. The current population of nearly 600,000 people is expected to reach 1 million by 2050, and we are excited to be a part of this thriving community.

We are truly looking forward to this facility becoming a staple in the area for the foreseeable future, and we are eager to continue providing exceptional service to our customers in this rapidly growing region!

Village Travel Acquires Arrow Coach Lines

Little Rock, here we come! As of November 1, 2023, Arrow Coach Lines in Little Rock, Arkansas, was acquired by Village Travel. Arrow Coach Lines has served the Little Rock area since 1944. The Lienhart family owned and operated the company from the beginning, and the second generation of this family business is now ready to retire after a lifelong career in the motorcoach industry. Arrow has left a legacy of high-quality motorcoach service, which we are eager to continue!

Arrow’s fleet consisted of nine Prevost coaches and five Ford Transit vans at the time of the acquisition and they employed approximately 20 staff/drivers. We’re happy to share that almost all Arrow’s drivers and employees have applied and been offered positions as a part of the Village team! We’ll be hard at work over the next several months, getting to know the Arrow employees and customers, implementing our processes, and making necessary fleet adjustments. We’re excited about the potential in Little Rock and believe this location fits nicely into the Village “footprint.”

Thank you to the Lienhart Family for entrusting us to step in and continue in this next phase of service for Arkansas.

Read the article from Bus & Motorcoach News about the acquisition.

Brand new state-of-the-art Prevost Motorcoaches added to our fleet.

We are proud of our long-running partnership with Prevost Coaches, and some of you have already seen that we were lucky enough to be the first to take delivery of the all-new H3-45 motorcoach from Prevost (white coach featured above) in late January. This innovative and luxurious addition to our fleet will provide an unparalleled travel experience for our customers.

“We’ve owned several H3-45s since 1997. We heard the new H3-45 was coming and placed an order in advance because we’re confident when Prevost makes changes, they’re going to be positive,” said Jeff Arensdorf, owner of Village Travel.

Equipped with advanced safety features and designed for passenger comfort, the all-new H3-45 from Prevost aims to provide the ultimate in motorcoach transportation. We’re thrilled to offer our passengers the opportunity to travel in style and comfort with this state-of-the-art motorcoach.

We took delivery of another coach in March, and in the coming months, we are scheduled to receive 11 more of the next-generation H3-45s to add to our fleet.

“The Prevost coaches are well engineered, and the Volvo engine is reliable and has the torque and power we’re looking for,” said Arensdorf. “We are in the middle of the country, so our seated coaches go a long way. Because we travel almost everywhere – from Canada to New York to Las Vegas – reliability and service are extremely important to us.”

To learn more about the H3-45 and its incredible features, read the full article featured on Prevost’s website. Thanks to partners like Prevost, our customers will continue to experience the safety and comfort they’ve come to expect from traveling with Village Travel.

Click here to read the full article from Prevost.

Village Travel Hosts 2023 Travel Expo in Wichita

On April 1st, 2023, we hosted our first-ever “Village Travel Expo” at our Wichita offices! The event was a resounding triumph, with over 2,000 enthusiastic attendees flocking through the doors.

The morning of the expo was filled with nervous excitement as we hoped to attract at least 500 visitors. To our delight, by 11 am, we had already surpassed that number, and the momentum only continued to build! Every 30 minutes, a new speaker took the stage in the departure room, captivating audiences of often more than 150 eager listeners. The expo featured 18 fantastic vendors set up in the departure bays and a “bus petting zoo” in the shop, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with some of our seated and entertainer fleets. The parking lot and the drive to the north of the building were jam-packed with cars throughout the day, a testament to the overwhelming turnout.

Feedback from the vendors was nothing short of glowing, with our Carnival Cruise Lines representative expressing astonishment at the event’s success. “I’ve been doing travel events for 33 years, and this is probably the most attended, well-organized event I’ve ever participated in,” said the representative. “I have never run out of brochures within the first two hours of a show!”

The success of the Village Travel Expo wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of nearly 30 Village People who volunteered their time to make the event a reality. Their hard work and enthusiasm truly made all the difference.

Thanks to the resounding success of this inaugural expo, we are now exploring opportunities to expand it into the other markets where we currently operate tours as we continue to bring the world of travel to our valued customers!

Village Travel celebrates 40 years

Keeping a travel-focused company running for four decades is no easy feat. Jeff Arensdorf, the current owner of Village Travel, credits his tour business success to hiring good people and offering quality service at a fair price.

“That’s what gets good results,” he said. “Also, I’m not risk averse, and I’ll take one if it looks healthy to me.”

Although the actual 40-year-anniversary celebrations for Village Travel won’t take place until next year, the Wichita-based company has already marked the occasion with major changes. A new name, a fresh logo and a state-of-the-art corporate headquarters building contribute to the rebranding of this bus and motorcoach company. Continue Reading…