Amex Launches Fulfillment Reports
American Express announced monthly interactive management reports to help companies maximize savings from e-fulfillment by reporting on the details of agent assistance. "Some trip reservations drop out of the automated process and are queued to travel counselors because of errors, special requests entered by travelers in free-form text fields or difficulties in the availability of special rates, among other reasons," according to an Amex press statement. "Sometimes, reservations require human intervention simply because travelers call to confirm their plans."
"We believe we're the only company that reports on what causes the touch," said Amex vice president and general manager of global interactive travel Rich Miller, but others disagreed. TQ3 Travel Solutions is among the handful of companies that have discussed or presently offer similar reporting. "We use a field in the global distribution system to track reasons for why a traveler made a decision; for example, the preferred hotel was sold out," said Janet Wheatley, TQ3 Travel Solutions vice president of operations. "We try to segment those notes into buckets, and we also track reasons for phone calls, which is key because you want those reservations unassisted."
Whether Amex was first or not, the development was a welcome one for its clients. "It's step two for your road shows and training," said Wendy Nathan, manager of travel services at Johnson & Johnson, which uses Amex's Corporate Travel Online booking tool with its e-fulfillment service in Miami. "I think anyone from Amex would admit their reporting on phone call tracking was a little bit of a weakness in the past. It's not an easy thing to do because everyone interprets things very differently, but they have some new tools now and I'm getting very detailed reports. Now I can talk about how to get touchless higher than the 70s to low 80s and move it forward by communicating with travelers to say, for example, 'Don't request the window seat in the Additional Comments section; instead put it in your profile.' "
TTM Signs Daimler, Readies Data Collection
Troy, Mich.-based Total Travel Management landed DaimlerChrysler's North American business and announced a data consolidation service, called Total Traffic Control, that compiles "global data in multiple currencies and languages, regardless of global distribution system or travel management company," said TTM CEO, president and majority owner Linda Garback. She said DaimlerChrysler's goal is to consolidate travel management for nearly all of its North American divisions by Oct. 1 with TTM, the nation's ninth largest corporate agency. At last check, TTM's largest account, General Motors, had not concluded its agency selection process.
WorldTravel Adds To Affiliates Program
WorldTravel Affiliates late last month announced it added more than $219 million in sales volume with five new agencies, including Austin Travel of Melville, N.Y., which claims $105 million in ARC volume. WorldTravel said its affiliates program now totals $1 billion in gross air sales among 45 partners, with an average size of $25 million ranging between $5 million and $120 million. Three-quarters of their business is corporate, WorldTravel said. Three of the new WorldTravel agencies had been Hickory Travel Systems members.
Tzell Shuffles Owners
The Tzell Travel Group, the 16th largest corporate agency in the nation, last month said a partnership with European online hotel distributor CnG Hotels included mutual equity stakes. "As part of the restructuring, longtime Tzell executives Jerry Behrens, vice president, and David Buda, executive vice president, have been named minority partners/principals of The Tzell Travel Group," the company said. Barry Liben remains president and CEO.