SOUTHLAKE, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 2, 2005–Imagine the
frustration of checking into a hotel on a hot summer day only to find
out that the pool is closed. Or that the room with an ocean view you
thought was reserved instead overlooked the parking lot of the fast
food restaurant across the street. Or even worse, imagine getting to
your hotel and having no room at all.
For the past 18 months, Travelocity(R), in its pursuit to
differentiate itself from all travel providers, has carefully
considered a new way of working with travelers and travel suppliers to
prevent these problems from ever occurring and working to quickly fix
them when they do happen. To achieve this goal, Travelocity has
invested nearly $20 million in technology and training programs aimed
at backing its promise “that everything about a traveler’s booking
will be right or we’ll work with our partners to make it right, right
away.”
As a result of this intensive work, Travelocity today officially
introduces “Customer Championship” in the U.S., a program unlike any
other in the travel industry, backed by each of the company’s 2,300+
employees and one that promises to set new expectations for travelers
in how they deal with any travel provider.
Customer Championship advances Travelocity’s leadership in working
closely with its travel partners in eliminating on-the-road
inconveniences while giving travelers relevant information that helps
ensure that their expectations are met. Some of the tools that have
already been in place include:
-- Technology connecting directly into hotels' reservation
systems that helps avoid lost reservations and allows
customers to select the hotel room best for them;
-- The total price of a rental car;
-- More than 40,000 unbiased reviews of hotels and cruises from
actual travelers;
-- Alerts built into the advanced Flight Navigator shopping
engine that show consumers how many seats are still available
on a flight at a certain price;
-- Expert advice ranging from airport weather delays to the best
"Local Secrets" in all 50 states and Canada.
“It was time for us to build on this foundation and take the
notion of being the customer’s champion to a whole new level,” said
Michelle Peluso, Travelocity president and CEO. “Travelers who use our
site deserve the absolute best in customer care, from pre-trip
shopping and planning through their entire trip to when they return
home and begin sharing memories. We have spent the past 18 months
overhauling every aspect of Travelocity to deliver on that promise for
our customers.”
Customer Championship is Born in the U.S.
Thousands of hours and millions of dollars have been invested in
the technologies, training, processes and policies serving as the
foundation for Customer Championship to identify how Travelocity can
further excel for customers once the trip has been booked. Some of
these areas include:
-- New technology that routes travelers to the best agent for
their situation, in order to try to solve customer issues in a
single call;
-- Adjusting 20 policies including the ability to change or
cancel flights within 24 hours of booking for emergency
situations and follow-up phone calls to hotels to help ensure
all reservations are being held as originally booked;
-- Developing a two-day training course for Travelocity's more
than 1,000 agents that transforms their mindset with customers
from order takers to empowered problem solvers. Agents now
have the ability to make more judgment calls immediately,
further minimizing a customer's time on the phone.
The first set of agents who went through the new training received
immediate and positive customer feedback. Measured by Travelocity’s
internal customer satisfaction survey, it indicated a 22 percent
increase in satisfaction.
“This was very significant for us,” Peluso said. “Customer
Championship boils down to customer satisfaction, and this is only the
beginning. The bottom line is to show customers that on top of great
prices, there is a personal side to Travelocity and that we will stand
behind our customers every step of the way.”
Customer Championship has already had a big impact with
Travelocity employees. Elizabeth Acuna, an agent in Travelocity’s San
Antonio customer care center, said she thinks the Customer
Championship training was a good experience.
“I feel the new policies encourage us to show our customers that
we are willing to go the extra mile for them,” she said. “We now
quickly and efficiently reassure our customers that we will meet their
expectations instead of other, often less-efficient, means of
resolving the situation.”
Most significantly, the positive vibes of Customer Championship
are also being felt by Travelocity’s customers.
“I am so over-the-top, blown-away, impressed with Travelocity,”
wrote Sierra Lesjack, a Travelocity customer from San Francisco, in an
e-mail to the customer care team in March of this year. “For a recent
trip to Hawaii, I felt like a valued customer whom Travelocity was
truly concerned with. That experience was invaluable and I have been
telling everyone I know about how nice Travelocity was in fixing our
problems and providing excellent customer service.”
Being Proactive with Customer Championship – A Real Life Example
In February 2005, a customer accidentally booked a flight with a
return date one month to the day later than they had wanted. When the
customer alerted Travelocity to the situation, the agent resolved the
issue immediately at no additional cost to the customer. And then, in
the spirit of Customer Championship, the agent notified supervisors on
his team, who ran a query to determine if others might have made a
similar error. Travelocity then proactively resolved the same issue
for a number of other customers. Had the problem gone unnoticed, the
customers would have arrived at the airport for their return flight
home one month too early. Since then, Travelocity has continued to
research this and notify customers who may have unintentionally booked
the wrong return date.
The Fruits of Customer Championship
To reinforce Travelocity U.S.’s long-term commitment to Customer
Championship, the company also has introduced the Travelocity Customer
Bill of Rights (www.travelocity.com/billofrights) and The Travelocity
Guarantee (www.travelocity.com/guarantee).
“The Travelocity Guarantee and Bill of Rights is the direct
message to consumers that we are a different kind of company,” Peluso
said. “They are not, however, slick marketing copy weighed down in
fine print. Rather, together, they firmly cast in stone our renewed
focus on delivering the best travel experiences one trip at a time.”
About Travelocity
Travelocity’s industry-leading technology and straight-talking,
honest information help travelers take more rewarding and affordable
trips. With millions of registered users and booking $4.9 billion of
travel in 2004, Travelocity(R) negotiates thousands of low-priced
deals with the world’s most reputable travel providers — top
airlines, hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines, and other
destination attractions and services. Additionally, Travelocity offers
deeply-discounted rates for weekend getaways and dynamic packages
through its Last Minute Deals and TotalTrip(SM) shopping engines, and
provides customer service support over the phone 24 hours a day. Based
in Southlake, Texas, Travelocity also operates Travelocity
Business(SM) for corporate customers, powers international travel Web
sites in eight languages, and has been recognized for its consumer
advocacy and global leadership in online travel. More information
about Travelocity is available at www.travelocity.com. Travelocity is
owned by Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE:TSG), a world leader in
travel commerce. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at
www.sabre-holdings.com.
Cautionary Statement
Statements in this release which are not purely historical facts,
including statements about the expected benefits of the Customer
Championship program to Travelocity or other statements about
anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies
for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information
available to Sabre Holdings Corporation on the date this report was
submitted. Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to
publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or
results described in the forward-looking statements, including risks
or uncertainties related to competition from search engine companies
and other new competitors entering the online travel marketplace; and
Sabre Holdings Corporation’s revenues being highly dependent on the
travel and transportation industries. Sabre Holdings Corporation may
not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information
regarding factors that could affect our financial and other results
can be found in the risk factors section of Sabre Holdings
Corporation’s most recent filing on Form 10-K with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Vollmer Public Relations
Judy Haveson, 212-808-6541
judy@vollmerpr.com
or
Amanda Borichevsky, 972-488-4790
amanda@vollmerpr.com
SOURCE: Travelocity