Travel Leaders Share Visions, Plans, Accomplishments

<B> Travel Leaders Share Visions, Plans, Accomplishments</B>

By David Meyer

<I>Washington, D.C.</I> - Delta CEO Leo Mullin kicked off the Masters Program here last month by telling about 100 top-tier travel industry executives that his priority is to return Delta to the forefront of customer service. The following night, American Airlines chairman Don Carty told them his focus is on the employee.

"What we are embarking on is a cultural revolution within the company," Carty said. "We've been slow to realize that the toll on the employee creates a toll on the customer and a toll on shareholders. Creating a culture where people work and have fun as a team is going to separate winners from losers in the next decade."

According to insiders at American, that transformation already has begun with a general relaxing of the dress code and the elimination of fees for complimentary employee airfare. "Connectivity is not just systems, its people," one said.

But it's systems too. Carty said the Oneworld alliance intends to use technology as a competitive weapon. "Software that we've written for British Airways also works for Quantas, and we're modifying it for Cathay Pacific. We have technical platforms that work well together. Integrated systems will provide a more seamless frequent flyer travel experience."

<B>Internet Influence</B>

Mullin told Masters attendees that the fundamentals of the travel business are changing, particularly because of changes in technology, alliances and governments. The Internet is moving the power of choice to the customer at the same time that advances in technology are creating a high level of expectation, he said.

Carty said Internet use is growing at a pace always ahead of forecasts. Internet- generated revenue, he said, is now at $11 million a day for Dell, the computer company for which Carty serves as a board member. Regarding direct extranet connections with business travel buyers, Carty said, "Even if the supplier isn't pushing, the buyer is pulling."

From Microsoft's perspective, said Richard Barton, general manager of Microsoft's travel business unit, the corporate marketplace requires a longer sales and consideration process than the leisure segment, and a slower rollout. "It's a slower but deeper burn," he noted.

Barton also said the company plans to have other AXI licensees when Microsoft's exclusive deal with American Express expires in a few of months.

Looking at Sato president Mike Premo in the audience, Barton said Sato Travel and other agencies could become distributors of a Microsoft system. Premo later told BTN that while he has not been talking with Microsoft, it's a conversation he would like to have.

"The Masters Program exists to equip leaders," said chairman Jack Alexander, CEO of WorldTravel Partners, at the outset of a two-day agenda that included CEO stories and sessions on globalization, public market financing of travel supplier companies, technology and government affairs.

CEOs Sandy Miller of Budget and John Davis of Pegasus, and Republic Automotive president William Lobeck were among the featured speakers at the seventh annual Masters. Also on the dais were Pfizer Pharmaceuticals corporate travel manager Phil Dunphy, who told the group how he is developing his global travel program, and D.C.-based travel management consultant John Caldwell, who gave an incisive overview of the obstacles and opportunities of the multinational marketplace.

John Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels, reported on progress of the Travel Business Roundtable, which grew out of the Masters Program about five years ago. He said new TBR members include Coca Cola, the American Society of Association Executives, the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus, the Travel Industry Association and USA Today. In a year that has put TBR leaders before key Clinton Administration officials and more than 200 congressmen, "we now are getting credit for our $26 billion contribution to the positive balance of trade," Tisch said.