Arco's Past Was Prologue

<B> Arco's Past Was Prologue</B>

To set the record straight (<I>BTN</I>, July 19), for years ARCO had a travel council in place that worked in concert to achieve many of the results that your article asserts were accomplished in the past year. In fact, prior to the arrival of the outside consulting firm, A.T. Kearney, this group worked diligently to pool their disparate programs and go out to carriers to effect deeper carrier discounts, despite lack of real executive endorsement. Our next step would have been to go to net fares, an industry best practice of which the council was very much aware.

The travel council put together a hotel and car program on behalf of all operating companies. A web page that included the hotels, cars, travel advisories, a travel newsletter, links to SOS, Kroll and much more were available at corporate headquarters and by link to all of the operating companies for a number of years. There existed a robust traveler education program that included travel seminars and travel fairs for all locations. The travel council, along with members of the procurement council, was well into the selection process for both the charge card and automated expense tool before last year.

The A.T. Kearney study, in fact, sited the work of the travel council as an exemplary model for cooperation between members of all the operating companies. The travel council also hired and worked closely with Caldwell Associates to select its consolidated travel agency, Maritz.

<I>Stephanie Jackson Dillon
Travel Manager
Transamerica Insurance Corp.