New Travel Mgr. Takes Level One To The Next Level

<B> New Travel Mgr. Takes Level One To The Next Level</B>

By Maria P. Vallejo

<I>Sacramento</I> - On its way to a comprehensive corporate travel program, Level One has rolled out companywide airline, car and card programs within just six months of hiring its first travel manager.

The growing telecommunications company hired Bill Amaral to reduce its unquantified travel costs, which were being handled by about a dozen agencies, a variety of credit cards and numerous vendors. Amaral was faced with the daunting task of negotiating with vendors with virtually no consolidated travel information to back him up.

"It was almost like birthing a new baby," he said. "There was not much information and it was all splintered and fragmented."

But Amaral, the former travel program administrator for the State of California, was no stranger to travel negotiations. Within his first 45 days, he quadrupled the number of Amex cardholders to about 350, giving cards to employees who spent $1,000 or traveled twice a year. To further enhance data collection, Level One mandated that expense reports be turned in within 14 days. Credit card data is transferred monthly to the host travel agency, The Travel Store of Brentwood, Calif., which compiles reports.

Amaral next plans to move agents onsite. "We don't want allegiance to anybody except the company," he said. By the end of this quarter, all domestic travel will come through the onsite, and international travel will begin shifting there by next quarter.

Despite the limited data he had to work with, Amaral has signed airline agreements with American, America West, TWA and United, and one with Air France for travel between Paris and San Francisco. The deals will become global by mid-1999.

Travelers can fly business class on trips of more than eight hours, or receive a percentage back if they downgrade. "We're trying to encourage participation," Amaral said. "We're trying to sell program rates and service that are second to none.