HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESPONSE - RFP - P687 TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICESY
u
Response to
Request for Proposal
Proposal No. P-687
r- presented to:
The City of Fort Collins
July 23, 1998
u
Professional Travel Corporation
Managing Travel As You Manage Business
References
Sue Little
Executive Assistant
Platte River Power Authority
Phone: (970) 229-5201
Rick Furrow
President
Colorado Machinery
Phone: (970) 482-7154
Dean Brown
Dean of Education
Colorado State University
(970)491-6869 or482-0566
Marilyn Heidiger
Executive Administrative Assistant
Quebecor Printing
Phone (970) 962-5111
Debbie Strode
Executive Assistant
Neenan Company
(970) 416-3524
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No. P687 June 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Section 3.0: Scope of Work
3.1 Contractor Requirements
Contractors must have as a minimum, the capabilities listed below. Proposals must
address the bulleted topics contained within this section. Contractors must be currently,
and remain, authorized to provide travel service under the State of Colorado Statewide
Travel Management Program.
1. Contractors shall be equipped with necessary office and automated reservation
equipment, computer systems and related items necessary to conduct operations
to fulfill the contract requirements.
Further, contractors must have a system of direct interface between the reservation,
ticketing, and accounting elements capable of issuing passenger reports and
summary data automatically generated from point -of -sale information.
♦ Describe your companys demonstrated ability to provide automated reservation and
ticketing services. Provide your company's average response time to requests
placed via telephone, fax, and electronic mail. Detail the company's system interface
and reporting capabilities.
RESERVATIONS
City of Fort Collins' travelers will be assured of personal, professional service for all air, rail,
car and hotel reservations. Professional Travel uses Apollo Focalpoint reservations system
in providing direct access to all major airlines. In addition, we also have on-line access to
Southwest Airlines through our software program called Southwest Direct. Apollo provides
last -seat availability on 36 major carriers, more than any other CRS system. As a company
of Navigant International, we also have access to all other reservation systems as Sabre,
Worldspan, etc.
Focalpoint features IBM PS/2 Model 50 technology. The unique Focalpoint Scriptwriter and
Travel Screen modules enable Professional Travel to develop and use a personalized
reservation service, and scripts that can be tailored to satisfy City of Fort Collins
requirements. Our technology provides several quality control mechanisms to ensure that
each reservation accurately reflects mandated entries in compliance with your company
policy.
Other Focalpoint features include:
Profiles
Professional Travel builds each profile in Apollo Focalpoint. Once profiles are built,
each one is printed and reviewed for accuracy. Our reservations systems feature
the PRO -FILE system, a computer file that stores up to 128 lines of information on
each traveler. In this file, we retain a permanent record of airline seating
preferences, special meal requirements, common accounting numbers, billing
information, and any other necessary information. On the same file we store your
company's travel policy. These profiles provide a point of reference for the agent
taking your calls. Furthermore, these profiles are accessible via security link to our
Professional Travel t The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
24-hour emergency service. See Attachment 2 for a sample of our profile form.
Profile Exchange
The Profile Exchange product is a state-of-the-art off-line profile storage and
retrieval system. The system stores all traveler information in an industry standard
database (SQUServer). These profiles are uploaded to the CRS system. Travelers
can access, print and change their own profiles from their desktops. An optional
module allows profile changes via the Internet. Links to the popular HR systems are
another feature of the Profile Exchange product. Charges for Profile Exchange are
assessed at the rate of $0.10 per profile per year.
The profiles in the Profile Exchange product are automatically uploaded and
downloaded with the CRS profiles. Any changes in the CRS profiles are reflected
in the database and changes in the off-line database are automatically posted in the
CRS profiles.
Client/Server
A Windows95/NT user interface to the off-line profiles is included with the product.
Travelers can update, query and print their profiles from their PC -based desktop.
Travel Screen is an exclusive feature incorporating corporate travel policies as well
as travelers' preferences, by applying them to each reservation.
Scripting allows a travel counselor to be more productive by conveniently
automating and customizing the booking process. Scripts can be designed to your
company's specific needs.
ResFAX allows a travel counselor to fax critical travel data to your employees in
seconds of your traveler's request. Once a reservation is in place, the agent can
then fax an itinerary confirming all of the specifics. This product has proven to be
an effective tool in time management for our customers. See Attachment 3.
Electronic Mail allows your travelers to send, via PC modem, reservation requests
and general inquiries.
Domestic and International Automated Fare Quotes --Apollo Focalpoint has more
than 4.5 million fares that are updated daily.
RoomMaster -- Apollo Focalpoint's RoomMaster has access to over 119 hotel
chains and over 23,000 hotel properties worldwide.
CarMaster-- This feature provides information and reservation access to 40 rental
car companies.
Spectrum Hotel Directory -- This provides up-to-date information on the
exact location of hotels including convenient street maps and points of interest.
Our reservation products incorporate quality control software that supports your policies,
and allows us to automatically transfer significant data. Our combination of systems and
Professional Travel 2 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESGRPTION OF SERVICES
highly skilled staff guarantees the lowest possible airfare, hotel rates and ground
transportation.
On -Line Booking
Professional Travel acts as a systems integrator for many of the emerging booking tools
being made available to customers. We have watched our competitors embark on a mission
to develop proprietary software products — only to abandon the project and adopt off the
shelf products. Today, with the speed of change it is difficult to develop in house unless it
is a core business. Therefore, we made a conscious decision to support quality packages
that will work for you. Our experts can help you select the right application for your
business needs. Some of the systems with which we have experience are:
E Travel
The centerpiece of the E-Travel system is the Traveler module, which is a series of web
pages accessed by each corporate traveler or travel arranger using a web browser. The
traveler begins the booking process by providing travel planning information, such as origin,
destination, dates and times of departure, arrival and return, etc. Based upon the
information collected from the user, the software queries the global distribution system
(GDS) for the available inventory of airlines, hotels and car rental companies. The response
from the GDS is compared with the preferred suppliers listed in the E-Travel database
server, which has been created by the travel agency or corporate travel manager using the
Travel Manager Module. The appropriate flight, car and hotel information is then presented
to the traveler in the order prescribed by the travel manager or agency. The GDS is not
dependent upon an airline owned system. This eliminates the possibility of bias toward
owners.
The Supervisor/Ticket Administrator module of E Travel displays all details of employee
trips for pre -trip approval. It provides a comparison of actual trip cost to median equivalent
for the same destination. Further, it enables review of trip justification and exceptions to
policy. If a supervisor chooses not to approve a trip, he/she can attach an explanation to
the request for retrieval by the traveler, and/or change the ticketing dates to within fare
requirements.
BTS
The SABRE BTS software applications interact with a relational database and the SABRE
computer reservation system to access information on availability and fares, as well as
corporate travel policies and preferred suppliers. SABRE BTS is the complete, integrated
product for total travel management, backed by SABRE's more than 20-year heritage as
the industry's leader in travel management technology. SABRE was originally developed
by American Airlines who retains primary interest in the company. SABRE has a proven
track record of providing value to customers in the travel industry.
An easy -to -use real-time booking product, BTS's Travel Planner puts control and flexibility
into business travelers' hands. Booking a trip is as easy as using a daily planner. The
convenient calendar displays all planned trips at a glance. Travelers manage their own
travel planning on their PC and, therefore, save time by avoiding long phone calls, callbacks
and miscommunications. Some key features include:
Drag and Book - Simply drag the air, car or hotel icons to the calendar and drop on the
Professional Travel 3 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23 1998
N OF SERVICES
desired date to quickly book travel.
Frequent Trip - For those trips that you take on a regular basis. Frequent Trip allows users
to instantaneously book similar trips with a simple point and click, completing the
transaction in less than a minute.
BTS includes travel management modules that provide a complete corporate management
system. Q /�
ITN /-TC Aesnlf offee, a- -7 /"
Since May of 1995, over 3 million Internet users have registered with ITN. ITN provides
online travel technology solutions to other top online travel companies including the some
of the world's leading travel agencies, major corporations and web sites.
ITN was the very first web site on the net to develop a web -based travel reservation
system. Gallileo recently announced a partnership with ITN to support Apollo making the
first fully authorized World Wide Web interface to a national reservation system. Real-time
airline, car rental and hotel reservations make the technology very easy to use for the
purpose of trip planning, whether for business or for leisure.
Some of the benefits include:
• The ability to shop for fares on over 300 air carriers internationally
• Access to reservations at 33,000 hotel locations around the world
• Book car rentals with any one of 50 car rental companies
• All pricing and availability is real-time information
• Corporate customers are encouraged to maintain their business relationship with their
chosen travel management companies
• Low Fare Search helps to ensure the lowest fare
• Access to destination information usually found in guidebooks
Users can build and book their travel plans for ticketing by ITN member agencies. Because
ITN is on the Internet, it is accessible by a large population of online users, including those
on America Online, Microsoft Network and Prodigy.
SERVICE LEVELS
Professional Travel uses several methods of evaluation to guarantee our service delivery
including telephone monitoring and annual reviews, to evaluate, and reward the
performance of our front-line employees, as well as the behind -the -scenes staff. Annual
reviews are used to assess an employee's progress over the past year, and track long-term
career goals, while telephone monitoring enables our trainers to assess via computer and
telephone, the performance of every agent and provide immediate positive feedback on the
session and review for those areas that apply. The experience and tenure of our travel
counselors and Professional Travel's methods of evaluation are outlined in this section.
SERVICE GUARANTEES
I. We guarantee the lowest available airfare at time of ticketing or PTC will pay the
difference.
Professional Travel 4 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal - No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
2. We guarantee that we will answer 90% of your calls within 30 seconds.
3. We guarantee to respond to your callback requests within 30 minutes.
4. We guarantee notification to you or your travel arranger of any non- preferred seat
assignment and we will continue checking for your preferred seating until day of
departure.
5. We guarantee notification to you or your travel arranger of flight schedule changes and
delays received in our reservation system.
6. We guarantee any car and hotel reservation confirmation on your itinerary and if on
arrival there is not a record of the reservation, PTC will reimburse your expenses.
7. We guarantee that when we issue an electronic ticket we will provide you with a
confirmation number. If the airline shows no record of the electronic ticket, we will pay
for the replacement ticket.
Industry Experience
We are proud of our retention rate. As of year-end 1997, 25% of Professional Travel's
employees have been with us for 5 years or longer. Our domestic travel counselors
average 8 years of industry experience, with international travel counselors averaging 15
years.
Before being hired by Professional Travel, an applicant for our corporate travel team must
have at least two years experience in handling high volume corporate travel and an Apollo
Focalpoint background. International counselors must have at least five years travel
industry experience and a minimum of two years international travel background.
Professional Travel also gives added consideration to degree applicants, applicants with
CTC and CMP certification, and applicants fluent in second languages. It is important that
we attract a well-rounded and diverse workforce to mirror the varied corporate cultures of
our clients. Additionally, we look for individuals with a strong customer service orientation.
Because of the quality of prospective employees we are able to attract, the majority of our
counselors bring experience to the job considerably beyond the minimum requirements.
Professional Travel's agent turnover rate in 1997 was approximately 24%. The industry
average is slightly higher. We define turnover as any employee separation from
Professional Travel. The majority of our employee attrition is a result of relocation, industry
change, retirement and continuing education (many entry level employees, i.e. couriers,
accounting and administrative employees return to college). Our goal is to reduce overall
turnover to 10% or less and to reduce agent turnover to 5% or less.
Professional Travel monitors and evaluates the quality of our travel counselors service
delivery through the following methods:
Mystery Caller
Our Mystery Caller program measures our counselors' phone skills and quality of customer
Professional Travel 5 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
service. We have a contract with the Service Alliance Corporation to make quarterly calls
on randomly selected counselors at our headquarters, branches and on -site offices. Each
quarter, at least 50 counselors are called. Counselors who receive a perfect evaluation
receive an on -the -spot cash bonus and instant (and often noisy) recognition by their peers
and supervisors. We modify this form periodically to ensure that timely topics are covered.
Take Action Forms
We also use Take Action Forms (TAF's) to resolve our client inquiries, concerns and
complaints. We issue monthly reports to identify problem areas and then take proactive
measures to correct these areas. Additionally, we are particularly proud of our "Never Say
No" program. All Professional Travel employees are empowered to provide the highest
quality customer service. We pride ourselves on focusing on the solution rather than the
problem.
It's Plane to Sea
We designed this incentive program to promote teamwork and internal customer service.
Anyone who goes "above and beyond" to help out another employee receives a coupon
that can be redeemed for movie passes zoo, tickets, or gift certificates for popular
restaurants. This allows a fellow staff employee or a supervisor the chance to give a
special thank you to someone who cares about Professional Travel. At our customer's
request, Professional Travel provides a quarterly report on the results of this program.
Extra Steps Professionally
This is our program that commends employees for superior performance. This program
encourages clients to relay positive experiences they have had with Professional Travel
employees to our President, Gina Keating. After review by Ms. Keating and the entire
management staff, the "Extra Steps Professionally" reports are prominently posted in the
Reservation Center and routed to all branches and on -site locations for display. Our "Extra
Steps Professionally" has proven to be a great morale booster for Professional Travel
employees, and they have a positive influence on our employees' annual reviews by their
supervisors. At our customer's request, Professional Travel provides a quarterly report on
the results of this program.
Telephone Monitoring
Our telephone system has features allowing us to track response times and the number of
calls each agent receives per day. It also gives us reporting and monitoring capabilities. The
special telephone systems, call center and voice processing we use are described in detail
below:
Meridian Option 61 C PBX
A state-of-the-art digital -switching platform for integrated voice, data, and video
communication. High levels of customer service are achieved through sophisticated call
center, messaging, and computer telephony integration applications. System integrity is
maintained through fully redundant memory, storage media, and power through an
uninterrupted power supply.
Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)
Distributes calls in the order of arrival to the first available agent or to the customer who has
been waiting the longest.
Professional Travel 6 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
Meridian MAX
Advanced ACID Management — Provides detailed real-time and historical reporting in order
to monitor and maintain service levels. The Meridian MAX desktop management tool,
Meridian Terminal Emulator, allows supervisors and managers to quickly and dynamically
reconfigure the system as call requirements change. Some examples of available reports
are:
• Average speed of answer
• Average talk time
• Abandon levels
• Calls handled by agent
• Total calls handled through the system
Meridian Voice Mail
A complete voice messaging system with a full line of products and features such as:
Meridian Mail Reporter — 38 standard reports help administrators view information that
is captured by Meridian Mail in order to provide efficient system management.
Voice Forms — Provides a cost-effective way to collect data from our customers whether
it is individual traveler information, meeting registration, or surveys callers respond to
voice prompts to leave the requested information.
Auto Attendant — Builds efficiencies by directing calls to the right place the first time.
Reservation requests are directed to the agents allowing them to maintain high levels
of customer service while other calls are directed to their appropriate destinations.
Direct Extensions
We offer a variety of ways to contact an agent. Not only do we use the Automatic Call
Distribution system we also provide each agent with a private extension so customers can
call him or her directly. If an agent is on the phone, a voice mail message can be left with
a guaranteed call back time of 30 minutes.
Multiple Queue Assignment (MQA)
A Meridan MAX feature that enables agents to simultaneously log into and answer calls in
up to five ACID queues.
Remote Solutions
We continue to research new ways to grow our call center by providing remote solutions
to agents. We have implemented and tested Meridian's Remote Office solution using ISDN
BRI to seamlessly tie a home agent into our switch giving the agent all of the capabilities
our in-house agents have.
See Attachment 4 for samples of our performance measurement programs.
REPORTING CAPABILITIES
Our customers are provided levels of report flexibility and data customization. Professional
Travel believes the key to corporate travel management and reduction of travel expenses
is to have a thorough knowledge of existing travel trends. Professional Travel is committed
to helping our customers identify their travel patterns. Professional Travel's MIS staff is
Professional Travel 7 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
responsible for design and production of management reports. For the last ten years, we
have provided customers with reports from our proprietary software called TRECmate.
TRECmate, in tandem with our accounting system MAX, provides more than fifty pre-
programmed reports. Our CRS interfaces with our reporting system that is described in
detail on Pages 27 and 28.
2. The Contractors shall provide a full-time site manager and other personnel with
experience in arranging transportation via all modes and are familiar with lodging
establishments and vehicle rental firms.
♦ Provide resume'F of three or more employees designated for potential assignment
to the City. Describe the professional and personal qualifications in the delivery of
volume travel services. Include professional membership designations and
certification achievements. Outline employee selection process, company training
programs, and continuing education opportunities.
The following employees will handle the travel account for the City of Fort Collins:
Carolyn Welson, Branch Manager
Karen Mohrer, Corporate Agent
Gina Oswald, Corporate Agent
Please refer to Attachment 5 for resumes on the above employees.
We have outlined our professional delivery of travel services under reservations and service
levels as beginning on Pages 1 and 2. The requirements of our agents and managers are
described in the following paragraphs.
Agent Credentials
Professional Travel's corporate travel agents are extensively trained on an on -going basis with
an average of 8 years experience. Before being hired by Professional Travel, an applicant
for our corporate travel team must have at least two years experience in handling high
volume corporate travel and an Apollo Focalpoint background. International agents must
have at least five years travel industry experience and a minimum of two years international
travel background.
Professional Travel also gives added consideration to degree applicants, applicants with
CTC and CMP certification, and applicants fluent in second languages. It is important that
we attract a well-rounded and diverse work force to mirror the varied corporate cultures of
our customers. Additionally, we look for individuals with a strong customer service
orientation. Because of the quality of prospective employees we are able to attract, the
majority of our agents bring experience to the job considerably beyond the minimum
requirements.
Once an agent is hired, our training department implements a two week training process
to ensure Professional Travel's standards are met through the following procedures:
• assessment completed to verify level of Apollo skills
Professional Travel $ The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
• agents requiring further training are sent to an Apollo training course
• orientation to familiarize agent(s) with Professional Travel's operations
• implementation of in-house training course on required customer skills
• agent moves into position with two to three days of management supervision
• monthly in-house training sessions
• quarterly enhancement training session designed and facilitated by Apollo
• specifically for Professional Travel
Professional Travel's agent turnover rate in 1997 was approximately 24%. The industry
average is slightly higher. We define turnover as any employee separation from
Professional Travel. The majority of our employee attrition is a result of relocation, industry
change, retirement and continuing education (many entry level employees, i.e. couriers,
accounting and administrative employees return to college). Our goal is to reduce overall
turnover to 10% or less and to reduce agent turnover to 5% or less.
Manager Credentials
Professional Travel's supervisors participate in the Mountain Sates Employment Council's
Supervisor Certification Program. Supervisors are required to complete the following
curriculum for certification:
• Developing Interpersonal Communication Skills
• Interviewing I: The Basics
• Legal Issues in Management
• Performance Appraisal and Documentation
• Supervisory Skills I and II
• Communication Skills Development
Professional Travel's managerial training involves a dynamic blending of academic and
industry requirements equating to roughly 60 hours of continuing education per year.
Required courses range from internal educational seminars to mandatory outside lectures
and classes covering a myriad of topics which include:
• In-house mentoring programs
• Team building and development
• Travel industry changes and repositioning
• University of Colorado management seminars
• Strategic organization and action plans
Over and above the required classes, managers are encouraged to select from a menu of
extracurricular options. These activities are aimed at nurturing the management style and
overall performance of our team of supervisors.
Fostering the growth of our employees is key to the health of our company. Professional
Travel's tuition reimbursement program covers 100% of the funding for continuing
education for all of our employees. As our most valued resource, Professional Travel
employees are always encouraged to extend their range of competency and expertise.
As described in our previous answer, Professional Travel monitors and evaluates the
quality of our travel counselors service delivery through our performance measurement
Professional Travel 9 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
City of Fort Collins
Administrative Services
Purchasing Division
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
ADDENDUM No. 1
July 14, 1998
SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS
Description of Proposal P-687 Travel Management Services
OPENING DATE: July 23, 1998, 2:30p.m. (Our Clock)
To all prospective bidders under the specifications and contract documents described above, the
following changes are hereby made.
Change opening data from July 23,1998 to August 11,1998, 2:30p.m. (Our Clock)
Change the second sentence of RFP cover letter from: The City anticipates negotiation with a
maximum of five (5) contracts with authorized travel agencies/travel management centers for
official, government travel by City Personnel. Change to: The City anticipates negotiating one
or two contracts with authorized travel agencies/travel management centers for official,
government travel by City personnel.
Section 1.0: Proposal Requirements, 1.1 General Description - Change second sentence from:
The City anticipates entering into a maximum of five (5) contracts with authorized travel agencies
for official travel by City Personnel. Change to: The City anticipates negotiating one or two
contracts with authorized travel agencies/travel management centers for official,
government travel by City personnel.
Contact Jim Hume, CPPB, Buyer, at 970-221-6776 if you have questions.
RECEIPT OF THIS ADDENDUM MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGED BY A WRITTEN STATEMENT
ENCLOSED WITH THE BID/QUOTE STATING THAT THIS ADDENDUM HAS BEEN RECEIVED.
256 W. Mountain Avenue • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (970) 221-6775 0 FAX (970) 221-6707
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
programs as Mystery Caller, Take Action Forms, It's Plane To Sea, Extra Steps
Professionally and Telephone Monitoring.
Professional Memberships
Professional Travel is a member of the following professional associations:
Always Buy Colorado
Airline Reporting Corporation (documentation)
Allied Travel Agents Association
Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE)
Boulder Chamber of Commerce
Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry
Colorado Alliance of Business
Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA)
Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce
Crown Travel Group
Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)
Denver Chamber of Commerce
Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau
The Denver Partnership
Ft. Collins Chamber of Commerce
Mile High Traffic Club
National Contract Management Association
National Defense Contract Management Association (NDTA)
Rocky Mountain Business Travel Association
Rocky Mountain Association of Meetings Planners International
Society of Government Meeting Planners
Society of Travel Agents in Government
Travel & Tourism Government Affairs Council
Telecommunications of America
3. At a minimum, the Contractors shall be available to provide service 8:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m., Monday through Friday. Emergency services outside working hours shall be
provided by the Contractors through traveler access to a 24-hour, toll -free telephone
number.
♦ Submit your company's plan for managing the delivery of the travel services.
Describe how you plan to ensure sufficient staffing and project resources for the
timely delivery of travel services.
Professional Travel proposes to service the City of Fort Collins through our branch office
in Fort Collins with back up from our reservation center. We also provide our DIA office to
assist your travelers with last minute ticket pick up and emergency assistance. As
discussed in previous answers, Professional Travel has all the necessary employees;
service levels and vendor programs in place to ensure the delivery of quality travel services.
Professional Travel 10 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
Office
PT's Ft. Collins Office
400 E. Horsetooth, Ste. 200
Ft. Collins, CO 80525
970-225-9880
800-541-8762
PT's Reservation Center
84 Inverness Circle East
Englewood, CO 80112
303-706-0510
800-888-7821
PT's DIA Office
Main Concourse, 6'" Level
303-342-3640
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Days
Monday through Friday
Monday through Friday
Monday through Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Hours
7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
5:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
10:00 a.m.- 3:00 p.m.
9:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m.
Note: Professional Travel is the only travel management company to operate a full service
office at Denver International Airport.
24-Hour Emergency Service
When your travelers require service after hours or during holidays, they can call
Professional Travel's 24 hour toll -free assistance line where experienced reservationists will
assist your travelers with any of their travel needs. These reservationists can be called from
anywhere in the continental U.S. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They will make whatever
changes your travelers need and do so according to your travel policies.
In addition, travelers will have the ability during regular office hours to utilize our toll free
numbers at Professional Travel's Fort Collins branch office and reservation center.
3.2 Services to be Provided by Contractors
1. Fares:
It is the City's intent to obtain the lowest possible fares for authorized official
government travel. The least expensive routing will be obtained by implementing
various routing options and utilizing alternate travel dates and times.
The City is exempt from federal excise taxes, and no payment will be made for any
taxes levied on vendor's employee's wages. The City is exempt from state and local
sales and use taxes on the service supplied pursuant to this contract. In addition,
the City shall not pay additional ticketing fees or charges over and above the cost
of the tickets. It is the responsibility of the contractor to inform travel arranger of
any cancellation or rebooking penalty that may exist on fare. Travel arranger has the
right to refuse offered ticketing based on the cancellation/rebooking penalty policy.
Professional Travel 11 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
♦ Describe your companys background in volume travel service delivery, listing
current and past contracts for all modes of travel, lodging and car rental, and your
experience in negotiating advantageous rates in all designations.
Our business mix has remained relatively unchanged over the past five years, and is as
follows:
Corporate 83% Domestic 85%
Leisure 10% International 15%
Groups/Meeting 7%
Professional Travel's cost savings programs are described in detail in the following
response.
Describe your company's ability to provide cost savings to the City with
consideration to routing options, travel incentives, and departure dates and times.
Include additional enhancements and value-added services contractor will deliver
to the City.
Professional Travel welcomes the opportunity to implement negotiations for discount
programs and value-added services, both domestically and internationally. Because of our
prominence in the marketplace, our ability to negotiate with the airlines, hotel and car
vendors is unmatched.
In this section, we describe our cost reduction programs and show how these programs will
continue to benefit our customers. See Attachment 6 for samples of Professional Travel's
Discount Programs.
Airline Discounts
As your travel management partner, Professional Travel is responsible for clearly
delineating the opportunities for airline discounting. Other agencies bidding for your
business may make broad claims about discount availability and enormous savings. We
prefer to shed light on the real marketplace and discuss what your company and
Professional Travel can do together to obtain discounts. Professional Travel is very
experienced in instituting a bid process for our customers. We will put your company's
entire travel account out for bid to obtain the maximum discount programs available from
industry vendors.
As part of Navigant International, Professional Travel is positioned as well as or better than
most travel management companies to successfully negotiated preferred vendor contracts
for our customers. We are in position to move more market share and we are typically the
first to reap special services and/or discounts from the airlines.
The reality of airline discounting has significantly evolved over the years. We will leverage
Navigant International to increase our national and international presence. At this time,
Professional Travel already has negotiated discount fares with TWA, Lufthansa, American
Airlines, British Airways and other major carriers.
Professional Travel 12 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Most recently, Professional Travel has been negotiating United discounts off any published
fare with supplementary market share incentives. The market share incentive allows
corporate clients to earn extra dollars from United by exceeding usage goals as determined
by United. Admittedly, and unfortunately, these programs are not as aggressive as those
to be found in two -hub cities such as Chicago, New York or the major California markets.
However, they are the reality of our United -dominated marketplace in Denver, Colorado.
Discount opportunities will continue to change quarter by quarter. As market conditions
such as average ticket price and competitive market share evolve, so too, will the potential
for discounting. Professional Travel recognizes this reality and will constantly analyze the
market to ensure our customers get the best discounts.
Hotel Discount Programs
Professional Travel's hotel program has recently been rated the best value in a survey of
major travel agencies hotel programs. The survey, conducted by an independent market
research firm, Travel Marketing Services (TMS), gave this honor based on the terms of our
superior negotiated rates, perks, and block space. We look forward to performing a review
of your travel patterns and hotel usage trends to negotiate further discounts for your
company's travelers.
Our customers will realize significant savings by using the broad base of reduced hotel
rates available through Professional Travel's affiliation with the SYNERGI. Each hotel in
the program is appropriate for the business traveler. Neither convenience nor quality of
service is ever sacrificed because of the reduction of costs. Through SYNERGI, we are
able to secure the lowest rates for our clients at thousands of hotels worldwide. Discounts
available through this program range from 10% to 40% and are reserved up to the last
room available. A sample of SYNERGI Hotel Directory is under separate cover.
Car Rental Discounts
Our customers have full access to Professional Travel's special discount rates with
car -rental vendors. Because of our market position stemming from our high -volume sales,
Professional Travel can offer discount rates to all our customers. We look forward to
performing a review of your car rental programs and usage to negotiate further discounts
for your company's travelers.
We not only regularly book cars from a preferred vendor for a company's travelers, but are
also happy to offer alternate and less expensive car companies when they are available as
long as your travel policy allows alternate car companies. Also, we will request express
services for your travelers who are enrolled in the various express service programs.
Preferred Discount Programs
Professional Travel has successfully guaranteed other customers reduction in travel costs
with negotiated programs by being proactive and responsive to our clients needs. Our
commitment to bring value and superior service to our clients is represented in our actions
of being one of the first in the industry to present a RFP to airlines and hotels for a preferred
discount program on behalf of our customers' needs. Professional Travel managed the
bidding processes, implemented the discount programs and assisted in overseeing the
management of these vendor contracts that resulted in significant savings to our customers
Professional Travel 13 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
Our account managers have considerable experience in assisting clients to negotiate
meaningful contract rates. Through your reporting, Professional Travel will have the travel
data necessary to pursue negotiations. This will reflect all of your travel patterns and
annual volume with airlines, hotels and cars. Based on those results, Professional Travel
will pursue negotiations for your customized discount programs through negotiating with
vendors. Your company will then reap the rewards of our mutual cost containment efforts.
In addition, Professional Travel provides international services and VIP services as
described in the following paragraphs.
VIP SERVICES
Professional Travel provides special services for The City of Fort Collins' executive VIP
personnel. Our program consists of the following ancillary services.
Travel Watch d.1 ° ve w�
Our Professional Travel "Travel Watch" program will monitor reservations for your travelers
designated as VIPs. "Travel Watch" has been specially designed to oversee VIP traveler's
reservations from the time the reservation is made until the traveler returns from their trip.
Our "Travel Watch" counselors personally phone vendors before your traveler arrives to
ensure that all arrangements are correct and to ensure that the vendors understand that
your traveler is a VIP, and to confirm:
• Preferred seat assignment and upgrade availability.
• Special meal requests.
• Car -class upgrades based upon availability.
• Hotel room upgrades based upon availability.
• Hotel room smoking/non-smoking requests.
• Frequent flyer membership number and mileage credit.
• Ticket delivery to your travelers' home in emergency situations.
VIP Emergency Assistance
Professional Travel will provide emergency assistance service at DIA for your executives.
For example, when one of our VIP travelers was running late for a flight, the traveler simply
called our DIA office and a Professional Travel agent met the traveler at Door 604 and
assisted in having the VIP's car parked. Upon return the VIP can picked up the car keys at
our DIA office.
Limousine Service
Professional Travel will provide limousine reservations and follow-up confirmations for
named travelers with your company. Professional Travel has an exclusive arrangement
with Admiral Limousines in Denver and can offer discounts for transportation to and from
DIA. We can also negotiate rates with firms on behalf of your company in other city
destinations. We have been successful in negotiating 30% discounts for other clients and
are happy to extend these discounts to your company.
Meet & Greet Services
We provide meet and greet services for our clients at DIA on a daily basis. In addition,
through our SYNERGI partners, we are able to provide both domestic and international
meet and greet services for your travelers upon request.
Professional Travel 14 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
MEETINGS & EVENTS
Professional Travel's M&E Division provides services that range from total meeting
management to supplemental support. We formed this division in 1984 and have worked
with groups of up to 9,000 attendees. We can work independently for you or we can
supplement your in-house organizations. Whatever the arrangement, we will work in
partnership with you.
Professional Travel's services include:
• Destination research
• Site selection and inspection
• Budget planning
• Program development and implementation
• Procurement of outside vendors to provide meeting services and audio-visual
equipment
• Ground transportation coordination
Professional Travel uses the TTG Meeting Partner System to provide the full range of
meeting services as well as up-to-the-minute financial tracking and budget information.
This system also provides an interface between our CRS systems and our software so that
we can integrate all booking, billing and cost information as well as fully consolidate
operational reports.
Professional Travel's M&E Division offers more flexibility with regard to the restrictions and
deadlines often associated with group and meeting travel because of our airline
relationships. Our staff averages over nine years of experience and our negotiation skills
and technology enables us to provide the most creative, cost effective meetings services
available.
Incentive Travel
Professional Travel's incentive arm, World Travel & Incentives (WTI) is headquartered in
Minneapolis, MN and provides planning, design and execution of incentive travel programs.
An award -winning company, WTI creates incentive programs for groups of all sizes and is
capable of handling all aspects of a group trip or meeting from the initial conceptualization
and reservations to the event management.
♦ Outline your quality control plan for assurance of lowest available fares. Include
• demonstrated ability to negotiate fares, lodging rates, and vehicle rental rates.
Our approach to quality service involves every facet of our organization. Professional Travel
uses a combination of manual and automated systems, described in detail below, to ensure
the accuracy of your reservations and management reports.
CustomCheck
Our point -of -sale quality control product is called CustomCheck. We have programmed it
as an integral part of our Apollo Focalpoint reservation system. CustomCheck requires that
key components to the reservation be completed before the agent is allowed to end the
Professional Travel 15 The City of Fori Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
record and send it to Quality Assurance Department for review. We can personalize
CustomCheck to meet your travel policy requirements. With these manual and automated
checks, your company will be assured of virtually error -free reservations and low cost
travel.
Manual Quality Assurance
After the reservation has been made and cleared our point -of -sale quality control system,
the record goes to our Quality Assurance Department, where one of our specialists
performs a comprehensive manual review of the reservation, checking for travel policy
compliance, accounting codes, exception codes, etc. Our specialist also re -checks the
fares to ensure the lowest available airfare was used. If a lower fare has become available,
our QA specialist will book that fare and send the reservation for ticketing.
AQUA 2000
Developed by AT[ Technology, AQUA 2000 is the premier quality assurance package used
by travel agencies today. The modules include:
• Trip Auditor - checks that items are confirmed according to traveler and corporate
specifications.
• Space Buster- repeatedly request availability for a traveler's preferred flight or a
lower fare that was sold out at the time of booking.
• Fare Buster- searches for lower available fares within a corporate travel policy. The
program keeps checking until just before departure.
• Hotel Auditor- ensures that the negotiated discount rates are applied for the hotel
requested.
• Hotel Buster - goes one step beyond Hotel Auditor by searching for lower
discounted rates at comparable hotels close to the one originally requested.
• Seat Buster- searches airline seat maps to adjust undesirable, incorrect or missing
seat assignments so that travelers preferences are secured.
• Pre -Travel Audit - sends daily reports to corporate travel managers that recap the
previous day's reservations.
• Auto -ticketing - further minimizes error by generating tickets through system
software making a final check for reservation accuracy and lowest fare.
• AQUA E-Mail - automatically makes and verifies reservations transmitted by popular
e-mail programs.
• AQUA Upgrade - automatically processes upgrade to first or business class at the
moment of eligibility.
• Southwest Booker- makes a reservation directly with discounted carrier Southwest
Airlines bypassing busy phone lines.
• Electronic Commerce - works with all electronic reservation programs to ensure that
travelers are complying with policies and booking negotiated rates.
• QualityCheck - performs a back-up review of each reservation. It reviews 250
reservations an hour, 24 hours a day to ensure that each reservation meets your
unique requirements. QualityCheck performs over 29 customized checks for each
reservation, including air, hotel, and car reservation continuity, client -specific
accounting information, delivery address, and form of payment information.
QualityCheck also performs customer -specific verification. For example, if there is
a hotel, airline, or car -rental vendor preference, QualityCheck can search for that
restriction.
Professional Travel 16 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
See Attachment 7 for example of savings provided to our customer through our quality
control program.
Surveyslrraveler Satisfaction
At year-end 1997, Professional Travel hired a third -party research firm to administer a
primary survey of our customers to gain a more in-depth understanding of our customers'
travel behavior and expectations. The survey design mixed questioning to capture scaled
and ranked opinions within Professional Travel's customer set on traveler satisfaction in
relation to travel industry trends including service, priority, growth and longevity. The
results were overwhelmingly positive with customer satisfaction registering 3.62 out of a
perfect 4.00 — better than 90%, for services on average. More importantly, Professional
Travel was able to solicit feedback, and identify customer service concerns or simply make
customers aware of newly offered services or technologies at Professional Travel. The
survey was designed with the intention of re-engaging these customers in the future, at
defined intervals, to address their needs and concerns, and again quantify their satisfaction
with Professional Travel's services.
A. Jenkins and Associates
The results of a private independent audit in January and February 1997 on one of our
customer's travelers' itineraries showed that Professional Travel had obtained the lowest
applicable airfare in accordance with the company's travel policy for 98% of the itineraries.
These cost savings were made possible through Professional Travel's in-house
technologies that include point -of -sale quality control software, and other programs that
provide numerous steps of reservation reevaluation and quality control.
2. Transportation
Contractors must respond to each of the minimum requirements listed below and
may offer enhancements.
a. The Contractors shall make airline reservations as set forth in the State of
Colorado Statewide Travel Management Program. The contractor shall also
make reservations for other modes of transportation such as bus, rail, and
ship. Full coach fares may be used only if no other reduced fares are
available. City travel regulations prohibit the use of first-class fares. To
ensure the lowest available price for the City, off-peak, excursion,
promotional and other types of discount fares must be used if other
negotiated fare contracts are not applicable. If lower in cost, such
promotional fares should be used in preference to negotiated rates.
b. Ticket Delivery: The Contractor shall provide daily delivery of tickets,
itineraries and boarding passes if requested by the client. Tickets shall
routinely be provided not later than 2 days or more than 5 days in advance of
scheduled travel date unless the traveler requests otherwise.
♦ Explain the process used to reserve, issue, and deliver transportation tickets to the
City. Describe your companyt ability to provide emergency ticket delivery. Include
applicable timelines.
Professional Travel 17 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Our reservation process through Apollo Focalpoint is discussed in detail on Pages 1.
Professional Travel provides free delivery of travel documents for all of our customers in
the Fort Collins metro area on a daily basis and more frequently if emergency situations
arrive. To ensure consistent high -quality service on ticket delivery from our branch office
in Fort Collins, Professional Travel has its own dedicated delivery person, Mindy Stephens.
We point out that many airlines are moving to a ticket -less environment. Within two years,
ticket delivery may become insignificant because the airlines may not require an actual
ticket for boarding. Instead, travelers will simply show a photo ID at check -in and be given
boarding passes at that time.
For ticket delivery to City of Fort Collins travelers, we will use one or a combination of the
following methods described below:
• E-Ticketing
• Express or Overnight Mail
• Certified Mail
• SYNERGI
Electronic Ticketing
We remind Company Name that electronic ticketing is already available through United
Airlines, Delta and many other major airlines and is expected to become the norm in the
next 18-24 months. Ticket delivery is becoming insignificant because many airlines will not
require an actual ticket for boarding. Instead, travelers will simply show a photo ID at the
check -in gate and will be given boarding passes at that time.
The growth of electronic ticketing is significant since most major airlines are advocates of
the ticket -less environment. Electronic ticketing is the most cost-effective delivery system.
This ticket -less environment will automatically reduce your ticket delivery needs.
Certified and Overnight Mail
For those travelers located outside City of Fort Collins corporate headquarter office, we will
use certified mail and overnight mail to deliver travelers their documents. Professional
Travel will pay for all Certified Mail charges. In emergency cases, Professional Travel will
also pay Federal Express charges.
SYNERGI
Global ticket delivery is available through our SYNERGI affiliation. We can offer ticket
delivery within any city where a SYNERGI partner is located. Another unique benefit from
Professional Travel is if for any reason you require a new ticket while en route, we can
arrange for free delivery.
C. The Contractors shall make adjustments for changes in flight, train, bus or
ship schedules. Tickets and billings shall be modified or reissued to reflect
these changes.
Describe your company's process and fees associated with such changes.
Professional Travel 18 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Professional Travel's agents will make the changes that are needed for your travelers by
telephone, fax or email and will do so according to your travel policy.
Service Fee Pricing
The reduction of the air commissions to travel agencies has imposed the structuring of
service fees. Professional Travel has a nominal service fee of $10.00 per airline
transaction. A transaction is defined as an airline ticket with a hotel and car reservation
or an airline ticket exchange. We will charge $10.00 for a car, limousine or hotel
reservation that is not associated with an airline reservation. Keep in mind that Professional
Travel is the only travel agency located at DIA to assist your travelers with travel needs and
we offer many value-added services.
The travel industry continues to grow and change. In 1995, airlines reduced commissions
to travel agencies. The most recent change happened in 4Q97 when, once again, our
commissions were reduced. This time from 10% to 8% on domestic and international sales
with a commission cap of $50 per ticket.
It is our belief that the airlines will continue to transfer the distribution costs from themselves
to you, the customer. Professional Travel wants to be your partner in navigating through
this continual change, while providing value-added services that will help the City of Fort
Collins maximize corporate travel dollars
Reservation Cancellations
Airline reservations are canceled via computer by your travel agent(s). The hotel and car
reservations are also canceled via computer with cancellation numbers to confirm
cancellations. There is no fee for a reservation cancellation.
Refundable Tickets
Our refund procedures are simple: All unused tickets should be clearly marked that a credit
needs to be issued and returned to your account manager. A member of our accounting
staff will immediately send a credit card refund notice to the credit card company. If for any
reason the credit card company still shows a charge on the traveler's statement, just
contact one of our customer service representatives or your account manager and our
Customer Service Department will take over and resolve the matter with the issuing card
company. We are dedicated to providing you with responsive service, as reflected in our
commitment to refunding unused tickets on the day we receive them so that you do not
have to wait long for credits. There is no additional fee for this service.
Non -Refundable Tickets
Professional Travel has created a system to assist travelers with unused non-refundable
tickets. Non refundable tickets are returned to Professional Travel and logged into our
inventory control. We then place them in a fireproof safe. At this time, the individual
traveler profile is flagged to show a non-refundable ticket is on file for future use. For
instance, our AQUA software program allows us to make note that a traveler has an unused
travel credit. Each time the traveler calls to book a ticket, the software will automatically
send a message to the travel counselor that an unused travel credit is on file. The travel
counselor will then research the options available to use the credit and book the new ticket
accordingly. We do not charge an additional fee for this service.
Professional Travel 19 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
- 4
V
ftfiessional Travel Corporation
July 23, 1998
Mr. James B. O'Neill II, CPPO
Director of Purchasing & Risk Management
City of Fort Collins
256 West Mountain Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Dear James:
On behalf of Professional Travel, I want to thank you for the opportunity to present our proposal
of travel management services to the City of Fort Collins. Professional Travel has successfully
grown to emerge as a national leader in our industry. In June 1998, Professional Travel became
the first publicly traded travel management company, Navigant International. Our headquarters
remains in Englewood, Colorado. Our opportunities for growth and the benefits to our customers
are unlimited. We have grown from a $23 million company into the fifth largest travel
management company in the world with annual sales of $1.4 billion.
Our proposal ensures that the City of Fort Collins will optimize its spending leverage, while
maintaining a consistently high level of service for all travelers. Specifically our proposal offers
the City of Fort Collins the following:
• only full service travel office at DIA
• direct access to our executive management
• dedicated, proactive account management
• dedicated agent (s) and back up support
• local branch office to handle travel services tailored to your specific requirements
• e-mail, internet, PC based software reservation capabilities
• MIS, customized reports, adhoc reports & desktop reporting
James, my signature on this letter is our authorization that Professional Travel's proposal is
genuine. Our proposal of travel management services corresponds to the City of Fort Collins'
specific needs. As your travel supplier, we will be flexible and ready to structure a travel
operation that will benefit the City of Fort Collins in the best service and cost savings. If you
require any clarification or have any questions, please give me a call.
Sincerely,
A,,, 9,�#aae
Shannon J. Stewart
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
Corporate Headquarters
P.O Box6604
7� Englewood, CO 80155b604
PTC-111 (303)706-0500 FAX(303)706-0505
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Please note that the airlines will not allow us to exchange another agency's ticket if it is over
one year old. In this case, you must either have that agency issue the travel credit with a
new ticket or call the airline directly. Tickets booked within the last year can be exchanged
through Professional Travel only if the new ticket is an even exchange or an additional
collection is required.
Lost Tickets
Should a traveler lose a ticket, he or she may simply call Professional Travel to report the
loss. A Take Action Form (TAF) will be completed and forwarded to a Professional Travel
Customer Service representative who will file a lost ticket application (LTA) on behalf of
your traveler. As a standard part of this procedure, Professional Travel will also notify the
credit card company of the LTA and send them a copy of the LTA form if necessary in order
to protect the credit card account from the charge until the LTA can be processed.
Most airlines take up to 120 days from the date of the claim to check if a refund has been
issued to the traveler's credit card. Professional Travel Customer Service representatives
will periodically contact the airline to check on the status of the application, and to
encourage the airlines' expedient processing of the application. When this process has
been successfully confirmed, the Professional Travel representative will notify the traveler.
The credit will generally be noted on the traveler's statement after notification from the
airline. Please note that the airlines impose a $60-$75 LTA fee, dependent upon the airline,
that will be deducted from the refunded amount.
Describe your company's emergency services including emergency itinerary
changes and notification of airport closings and delayed flights. Include the
company's procedures for providing after-hours service, and emergency 24-hour toll -
free number.
Emergency support is a telephone call away. During office hours, the City of Fort Collins'
travelers can call your agents at our branch office in Fort Collins, Colorado by using the
toll -free 800 number printed on their itineraries. Over the telephone your agent will make
whatever changes are needed and will do so according to your travel policy. In addition,
Professional Travel offers extended service hours from our full service DIA office, where
one of our agents can handle any request, including immediate ticket reissue for next day
departure.
Professional Travel offers your travelers emergency service through a 24-hour 800 number
printed on the travelers' itineraries. Your travelers can call this number from anywhere
within the United States 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including all holidays. The
experienced reservationists will make whatever changes your travelers need and do so
according to the City of Fort Colllins travel policy. Our emergency service is also available
internationally.
The unique feature of Professional Travel's emergency and after-hours service is that it
is managed by our allied agency in Houston, Atlas Travel. Most travel agencies simply
subscribe to independent after-hours services, which have contracts with thousands of
agencies and therefore cannot deliver the same personalized emergency service that
Atlas Travel provides to our customers.
d. Contractors shall provide advance seat assignments, advance -boarding
Professional Travel 20 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
passes, and last seat availability on airlines for which the Contractors can
offer these services.
e. Rental Vehicles: The Contractors shall reserve commercial rental vehicles at
the lowest rate possible. Confirm the rate at which the reservations are made,
and include such information on the traveler's itinerary. Vehicle size and
mileage costs must be consistent with the minimum -size vehicle needed to
achieve traveler's mission and City's interest in economy. The City is self -
insured and additional insurance coverage is not needed on rental vehicles.
Describe your company's method of arranging for rental vehicles, including
availability of government rental rates.
All car reservations are booked through our Apollo CRS system. One of the features of this
system is CarMaster, which provides information and reservation access to 40 rental car
companies. Professional Travel's Fort Collins branch office is experienced in handling
government accounts and offering the government rates to travelers from the car vendors
that extend government rates.
3. International Travel
The Contractors shall arrange for international travel, including reservations and
ticket delivery for air, rail, bus or ship transportation and reservations for lodging
accommodations and for car rental services.
♦ List additional services offered to assist City travelers with information on
intematlonal health requirements, climatic conditions, and regionally based customs
and currency exchange rates.
Professional Travel understands that we will be expected to provide a full range of
international travel services. The following describes how and to what extent the required
services will be provided.
Professional Travel has extensive knowledge of international operations. The primary
function of our InterRES Division (International Reservations and Educational Services) is
to handle international travel arrangements for corporate customers. The services offered
through this division includes cross-cultural seminars, educational resources, and advanced
technologies and software that ease every facet of international travel.
Travel Counselors
Professional Travel's multinational InterRES staff is multilingual and well traveled. The
travel counselors in this department book only corporate international travel; therefore,
leisure travelers planning lengthy vacations do not monopolize their time. Instead, the
focus is on the corporate traveler and all of their immediate needs. With over 96 years
combined experience, extensive equipment, and numerous reference resources, our
international travel counselors thoroughly investigate your international traveler's needs as
well as search for the best fare.
Professional Travel Zt The City of For! Collins
R
esponse to Request for Proposal — No. P687 July 13 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
SYNERGI — An International Travel Network
As we mentioned previously, Professional Travel is a founding member of SYNERGI, a joint
venture of the world's leading regional and national travel management companies.
Through SYNERGI, Professional Travel has a network of over 300 offices worldwide.
SYNERGI Technical Tools, SynRGI
The newest and most innovative technology SYNERGI brings to our customers is SynRGI.
SynRGI is an on-line, interactive communications system that enables SYNERGI partners
and clients to share travel management data, destination information and partner service
profiles for seamless management of multi -national accounts. Professional Travel and the
other partners of SYNERGI are the only agencies who can provide this important service;
even the large chains cannot provide consolidated international management reports.
International Resources
Professional Travel's international counselors are equipped with the following resources at
their disposal to serve your international travelers:
Telephone and Fax
Our international travel counselors fax foreign carriers when necessary. When placing car
and hotel reservations outside major metropolitan areas, our travel counselors frequently
phone the vendors directly to confirm availability and reservations. This department is
multi -lingual --speaking English, French, German and Spanish. We overcome language
barriers, making confirmations with smaller vendors more reliable.
International Library
Our international travel counselors have a sizable library of current publications on
international travel. They have instant access at their workstations to such essential
publications as U.S. Department of State's Travel Advisory Index, U.S. Department of
State's Overseas Security Electronic Bulletin Board, OAG (Official Airline Guides), Travel
Planner. Hotel & Motel Red Book, OHRG (Official Hotel and Resort Guide), Travel
Marketing Magazine, and The Fuller -Weissmann Report.
Professional Travel offers a variety of services to our international travelers:
Health Regulations
We advise travelers on their trips necessary health requirements, including inoculations and
vaccinations required or suggested for their intended destinations.
Foreign Destination Information
We advise on conditions at various foreign destinations, including climatic conditions,
appropriate and essential clothing, time -zones, national and religious holidays, local
customs (e.g., tipping), locations of U. S. embassies and consulates, unsafe carriers,
destinations, do's and don'ts, and customs declarations.
Technical Advice
We offer information about the latest foreign currency exchange rates and transactions, on
auto insurance with foreign car -rental services, on excess baggage requirements and fees,
etc.
Professional Travel 22 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
Passport and Visa Assistance
We assist your travelers in obtaining passports and visas. We provide your international
travelers, with passport photos, free of charge, and the necessary forms and documentation
including visa applications from more than 100 countries.
Passport Monitoring Service
We maintain a computerized listing of all passport numbers for international travelers. This
system automatically alerts us when someone's passport and visa is about to expire. We
then notify the international traveler in writing approximately six months prior to the
expiration.
International Pricing
We issue the return portion of international tickets in foreign currency if doing so will save
your company money. Our travel counselors also check to see if charging a domestic
discount fare for the applicable domestic portion of the itinerary will result in savings.
International Emergency Service
We offer international travelers 24-hour emergency service 7 days a week. Your travelers
are issued a card listing toll -free access codes. Over the phone your travel agent will make
whatever changes are needed and will do so according to your travel policies. The codes
for the countries listed below will connect your travelers with the same travel agents that
handle our domestic emergency services. In areas where toll -free codes are not available,
your travelers may call us collect.
Australia
Bahrain
Belgium
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Luxembourg
Malaysia
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Singapore
South Korea
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
United Kingdom
Global Ticket Delivery
Through our SYNERGI affiliation, we offer ticket delivery within any city where a SYNERGI
partner is located. If, for any reason, you require a new ticket while en route, we arrange
for free delivery.
Currency Services
We offer travelers checks to all travelers for domestic and international business and
personal travel. We do not charge a fee for this service. We also assist with cash
transactions and check cashing. In addition, we have a proprietary software program that
provides current exchange rates in $1, $5, $10, $25, $50, and $100 increments to assist
your travelers in using foreign currency. We provide this exchange information to your
travelers on a laminated card for ease of use and durability.
Professional Travel 23 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
ON OF SERVICES
Windows to the World
This date -sensitive database allows us to provide our international clients with destination
information highlighting special interests selected by the traveler. We provide travelers with
a unique TripPlan, including information on business services and protocol; practical
information on emergency services, tipping practices, airport information, etc.; and even
information on restaurants, current theater offerings, and nightlife.
See Attachment 8 for examples of international information.
♦ Detail services provided to the City for obtaining passports and visas for foreign
travel.
Professional Travel's InterRES Division is dedicated to handling international travel handling
and supports our branch offices with international reservations. The passport and visa
assistance provided by our InterRES Division is described in detail in our previous answer.
4. Lodaina
The Contractors shall provide lodging reservation services; including initiating and
confirming reservations. Wherever possible, discounted government rates shall be
obtained for City travelers. The traveler will make final selection of
accommodations.
♦ Describe your company's lodging reservation process. Include details of
government and other discount rates that would be available to the City.
Our agents will assist City of Fort Collins' travelers with all hotel reservations. Most hotel
reservations are made directly through our CRS. If the hotel's reservation system is a direct
link with our Apollo system, we guarantee the reservation with the traveler's individual credit
card by sending that information to the hotel immediately.
If the hotel is not in our CRS, the agent will call the hotel to confirm and guarantee the
reservation with the individual traveler's credit card. In either instance, the hotel
confirmation number and rate will appear on the traveler's itinerary.
Our Fort Collins branch office is experienced in handling government accounts and offering
the government rates to travelers from hotel vendors that extend government rates. Every
time the City of Fort Collins requests a hotel reservation, Professional Travel's agent will
research at least three different databases. First, we will identify the government rates and
compare the government rate with our SYNERGI rates and with rates described in our
Focalpoint reservations systems. In some cases the Professional Travel agent will
telephone properties or hotel chains directly to see if any special or promotional rates are
available that may not be listed in the computer systems. Professional Travel will always
offer the lowest of rate.
As discussed in detail in our previous answer, Professional Travel has a strong history in
negotiating beneficial hotel programs for our clients. However, our hotel program
encompasses more than just discounted rates.
Professional Travel 24 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Requestfor Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
We offer a wide selection of both domestic and international hotels. We accept the
responsibility not only to book the lowest fares, but to also search for the features that best
accommodate your travelers' needs. As previously mentioned, our hotel program has
recently been rated the best value in a survey of major travel agency organizations' hotel
programs. The survey, conducted by an independent market research firm, Travel
Marketing Services (TMS), gave this honor based on the terms of our superior negotiated
rates, perks, and block space.
Block Space
Additionally, a portion of our preferred hotels allocate block space to us every day of the
year, so we can confirm a room, even when an entire city is sold -out. Our block space
program has more than 1.3 million room nights a year in cities throughout the world.
5. Traveler's Itineraries
The Contractors shall provide to each traveler and Department or Office a complete
written trip itinerary including, but not limited to, the following:
a. Carrier(s);
b. Flight, train, bus and voyage number(s);
C. Departure and arrival time(s) for each segment of the trip, meals or other
amenities;
d. Ground transportation facilities (e.g., taxi or shuttle bus) at destination(s);
e. Name, phone number and location of hotel/motels and room rates booked by
the Contractors at each destination; and;
f. Name, phone number and location of rental cars and rates booked by the
Contractors at each destination.
g. Company contact name, phone and fax numbers.
Through our International department Professional Travel can provide each traveler or
office a complete written trip itinerary of all the services listed above. For clarification we
have provided you with a sample itinerary for domestic travel.
Please see Attachment 9.
6. Management Reports
The Contractors shall provide management information reports to the City. As a
minimum, the Contractors shall develop and submit the following reports:
a. Itemized, monthly, travel reports for City representatives. These reports
will include, at a minimum, the following:
Professional Travel 25 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
(1) The Travel Authorization number for the travel documented.
(11) The full name of each traveler, ticket number, travel dates, and
transportation charges by mode of travel.
(Ili) Lodging and rental vehicle charges.
(iv) Exceptions to policy, rates, carriers, and lodging refused by
traveler.
b. Official transportation services reserved or purchased with the City's credit
card account must be to included, to the extent possible, in management
information data reports required under this contract. The contractors
must reconcile credit card billing and contractors's billing.
C. Annual usage reports containing a summary of the monthly reporting.
Detail report types offered by your company and methods used in providing
management and billing reports.
Our customers are provided levels of report flexibility and data customization. Professional
Travel believes the key to corporate travel management and reduction of travel expenses
is to have a thorough knowledge of current travel trends. Professional Travel is committed
to helping our customers identify their travel patterns.
Professional Travel offers monthly standard reports, a color graphic reporting package and
ad hoc reporting capabilities. The monthly standard reports listed below are those most
frequently used by our clients to monitor travel policy and travel dollars spent. Each of
these reports can be modified to meet your needs and specifications. For instance, we can
program parameters to include Saturday night stay savings. Our customer's reports can be
customized to meet any criteria you select and delivered in the time frames you request.
See Attachment 10 for examples of the standard reports listed below.
Travel Managers Summary Period Sales Report Destination Analysis
Savings Analysis Advance Purchase Pre -Ticket Audit
Travel Spent by Department Hotel and Car Report Unused E-Tickets
Professional Travel will also work with our customers to develop the customized reporting
needs that are necessary. Professional Travel's fee for customized reports is $125.00 per
hour.
Professional Travel is currently working on a new program that will provide us with the
ability to send all of our reports electronically. We anticipate the implementation to be
completed by 3Q98. At this time, the majority of our reports are available on paper, diskette
or electronic transfer.
Professional Travel's MIS staff is responsible for design and production of management
reports. For the last ten years, we have provided customers with reports from our
Professional Travel 26 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal—No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
proprietary software called TRECmate. TRECmate, in tandem with our accounting system
MAX, provides more than fifty pre-programmed reports.
Professional Travel's TRECmate Reporting System is:
Responsive
All our management reports are written on Professional Travel's proprietary software.
Therefore, we can provide daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports as specified
by your company. This means that Professional Travel can remain responsive to your
needs in designing other reports to help you achieve your travel management goals.
Prompt
Consolidated management reports using the agreed -upon formats for the preceding month
will be in the hands of your company's personnel by the 15th working day of the following
month. The information you receive will still be fresh and valuable for pinpointing trends,
effective cost -saving programs, and new windows of opportunity.
Consolidated
TRECmate allows us to consolidate data from your facilities into one overall report. We can
generate reports by department, by subsidiary, or by any criteria you request.
Graphic
Professional Travel was one of the first travel agencies in the nation to offer graphic
reporting from the AS/400. You can request a graph depicting travel patterns and receive
it within hours.
GLOBAL MAX
Professional Travel's Global MAX accounting system is housed in Professional Travel's IBM
System AS/400. The system's significant features include:
A direct point of sale interface with all reservation systems. Travel data is indefinitely stored
and processed as needed in a variety of formats.
The production of numerous documents to include consolidated management reports,
reconciliation reports, billing statements, customized itineraries/invoices, and ticket reprints.
Information can be downloaded either on disk or from a magnetic tape drive. Data can be
sent to customers electronically or by hard copy.
The programming language is flexible. We are not limited by canned programming
packages. Data is taken from any file in the IBM AS/400 memory and provided to you in
requested formats. This capability allows us to be very responsive to requests for
specialized reports and billing formats.
Global MAX is the system used to consolidate reports from all locations serving your
company. Reports can then be produced at any level — starting at an individual traveler and
rolling up to the entire company.
Professional Travel 27 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
OF SERVICES
VantagePoint (formerly Travel Manager Work Station)
Standard and customized reports are produced with VantagePoint, which was developed
by Prism Group. ATI Technology has a preferred relationship with Prism stemming from
our unique working relationship. As one of the first users (6 years ago) we have participated
in a number of beta -tests. This has given us the opportunity to influence the system's
capabilities.
VantagePoint offers your company the capability of having virtually any report in any media
desired. This includes the manipulation of your company's designated employees' desktop
for report generation. VantagePoint should not be confused with airline sponsored
packages that are limited in flexibility. Reports are generated on an operating platform that
processes information 10 times faster than DOS -based systems. VantagePoint is utilized
by many of the nation's Fortune 500 companies.
From our joint USOP.com web site (Professional Travel's site as well as our national
affiliates), Professional Travel will provide our customers with the ability to submit travel
requests and traveler profile updates. Pre -trip reporting is sourced from the AQUA
application that refreshes its data every 15 minutes. Post -trip reporting is sourced from
Vantage Point, which is updated with transaction activity from MAX once a week. The
ability of our customers to access current information regarding their travelers combined
with the convenience of Internet access would provide the best possible "real time' service
our customers.
Benefits of Vantage Point include:
• More friendly GUI -based user interface
• Support for the NT servertworkstation operation system (rather than OS/2)
• Ability to specify more complex data selection criteria
• Support for e-mail delivery of reports to clients and data transfer to client desktop
analysis tools (such as EXCEL) via viewer module
Pre -Trip
To assist our customers with pre -travel auditing, our MIS department has developed special
management reports called Pre-Tix that report on travelers before they travel. These
reports identify itineraries that could have used lower fares; and for these itineraries, it will
list those travelers who are using discounted fares and those who are not. Because Pre-Tix
reports can be delivered to your company before departures, you can use them to take
corrective action before flight time and save money.
Our most recent results show that Pre-Tix has brought companies savings options of over
23% on itineraries, where the lowest fare has not been accepted. Professional Travel Pre-
Tix can be further programmed to capture whatever data you require.
Pre-Tix can be especially valuable to your in-house meeting planners. With Pre-Tix we can
generate pre -ticket arrival and departure lists so you set up hotel space and ground
transportation efficiently.
Post -Trip
The Combined Savings and Analysis Report is among the monthly reports Professional
Travel generates to keep your company's travel managers aware of their travelers
purchasing habits. This report details every trip made during a specific period, and fare
Professional Travel 28 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal — No.P687 July 23, 1998
DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
chosen compared not only to full coach, but lowest available fare. If the lowest fare was
not chosen, the Combined Savings Analysis Report provides a reason code.
Unused or Partially Used E-Tickets
Professional Travel's commitment to continuously focus on bringing added value services
to benefit our corporate clients is evident in our e-ticket reporting product. We have
developed a program that will monitor New Century Energies' e-ticket usage. Within 24
hours after the e-ticket is not used, it is listed on the e-ticket tracking report. The e-ticket
is then purged off the e-ticket report once it is used. This report can be provided to The City
of Fort Collins to keep travelers informed of partially used e-tickets.
Credit Card Reconciliation
Professional Travel can perform credit card reconciliation on your behalf, if your company
utilizes a central billing system for all airline ticket sales. Professional Travel receives a
monthly magnetic tape from your credit card company, and loads the data into its central
computer system. We then match the credit card data with the data from our system to
reconcile the statement. The reconciliation can be organized by department, division
number, traveler or any method you direct.
Unmatched items, such as airline refunds, are printed on an Unmatched Report. Our
accounting manager then researches these items and once identified, we will provide the
details. This service will save your accounting department many hours of research.
Web Based Reporting
The capabilities and use of online products for travel management are expanding at an
incredible rate. AQUA 2000 responds to this trend through our Web based reporting.
Professional Travel will provide both pre -trip and post -trip reporting capabilities via the
Internet. These reports allow travel managers to ensure travel policy is both being adhered
to and accomplishing the desired results. With pre -trip reporting, problem areas can
frequently be identified before a trip has been taken.
Reporting via the Internet proves to be a valuable tool for travel managers as dynamic
reports are created on the fly and results are seen within seconds. Reports are printable
as is, or we can design them to be imported into your favorite spreadsheet application.
VlNnet T & E Management
Professional Travel and VlNnet have created a strategic partnership, which offers a highly
effective and versatile solution to companies that are focusing on reengineering the T&E
process. With VINnet's travel and expense management software, your company's expense
reporting process is fully automated and streamlined, resulting in greater control and an
opportunity to reduce total T&E expenses. T&E Expense Reporting Automated Travel &
Entertainment program helps you gain control over your company's third largest expense.
VlNnet works with most booking systems. Pre -population from the corporate card company
is analyzed against populated air information requiring the traveler to add only cash
expenses. The expense report is approved and processed by the corporation via e-mail
technologies.
Professional Travel 29 The City of Fort Collins
R
esponse to Request for Proposal —No. P687 July 23, 1998
PROPRIETARY INFORMATION
The information contained herein, along with all data and specifications, as well as the terms of
this proposal, shall be deemed confidential between Professional Travel and City of Fort
Collins. The terms, information, and/or data shall not be used by or disseminated to third parties
without the written approval of Professional Travel.
QESCRIPTION OF SERVICES
Benefits to Customers
• Download expense data from ANY charge card
• Eliminate re -keying of expenses
• Graphic interface makes for easier report preparation
• Reports are routed electronically
• Expense reports are complete, accurate, approved and in compliance with policy
• Faster processing, faster reimbursement
• Easily accessible data for analysis, budgets, forecasting and better vendor negotiations
due to "actual -spend" figures
• Seamlessly integrates with existing and future financial systems, travel systems, e-mail
and operating systems
• Everyone in the organization can use VINnet
Professional Travel 30 The City of Fort Collins
Response to Requestfor Proposal — No. P687 July 23, 1998
Nei
w
a
January 12, 1990
1...0 394
Inside.
visit www.tNnontine.con,
IIEDNA Warns Of Inaccurate CBS Hotel Rates .. . . ...... . ........... . .3
New Tax laws To Drive Up 1998 Travel Costs ........................4
Toshiba Offers Affordable Property Mgmt. System For Smaller Hotels .......5
DOT Hears Comments On US Regulations for A Wired World .............6
Addendum To The BTN 1998 Black Book ...........................9
Special Report: The 25 Most Influential Executives of 1997
...10
y
aims
r
Professional Travel Corporation PTC USE ONLY
Managing Travel As You Manage Business Bar
Par _
Date
INDIVIDUAL TRAVELER PROFILE
.,ompany Delivery address, floor, room #
Traveler
Department Number (statement/invoice info.) Department Name
Business phone
ieating:
Assistant
❑ non-smoking
❑ smoking
ipecial meal requests:
' irline:
❑ bulkhead
❑ exit row
Home phone (emergencies
Phone
❑ aisle
❑ window
Frequent Flyer Numbers:
_airline Ticket Payment:
(list credit card name, number and expiration date)
kny special requests:
Please rank the following services in order of importance:
1 = very important 5= least important
seats delivery
_— phone response time low cost alternatives
❑ other
Return to: 84 Inverness Circle East
Englewood, CO 80112
Phone: 303.706.0500
Fax: 303.706.0505
To: 9,70W W5
� A.
Professional Travel Corporation
P39' 19/ 1 TunC9y, Apnl 15, 1997 7:11.S.
To: � ALE=
irrom
To
Date Time
For: NLAR1 dILL2vL-\\
Denver
Co
pTC
Las Vegas W
19'vfay97 10:00am
15Apr97 i5:09:lo
Las
Vegas 'NV
Denver CO
21.%fay97 2:00pm
ID# 14616 R06KT11
Monday. 19 Denver CO. USA to Las Vegas N`V. USA
De art
arrive
Carrier
Fli ht
✓leak I
I Sto s
I On Time
Duration
A
8:10am DEN
9:01am
LAS
United
2701
737
N O
90°'o
1:51
B
8:55am DEN
9:47am
LAS
Frontier
15
737
NO
C
9:35am DEN 10:24am
LAS
United
2703
737
N0
-
900/0
1:52
1:49
D
10:10am DEN 11:01am
LAS
United
2705
737
N0
909/o
1:51
E
11:05am DEN 11:57am
LAS
Frontier
17
737
N 0
F
9:30am DEN• 10:56am
LAX
United
1247
Brhfst 737
C 0
-
60%
1:52
4:06
11:35am LAX 12:36pm
LAS
United
2156
737
C 0
50%
et Wednesday. �fav 21
Las Vegas NV. USA to Denver CO. USA
De art
arrive
Carrier
Fli ht
Meals JEquip
Stops
On Time
Duration
1
12:00p LAS 2:45pm
DEN
United
2710
737
NO
90%
1:45
2
12:3Op LAS 3:13pm
DEN
Frontier
18
737
NO
3
1:15pm LAS 3:58pm
DEN
United
2712
737
NO
60%
1.4-
1'43
4
2:OOpm LAS 4:43pm
DEN
United
2714
737
N 0
80°0
1:43
5
3:00pm LAS 5:41pm
DEN
United
2716
737
N 0
80%
1:41
6
1:40pm LAS 2:41pm
L.kX
United
2252
737
C 0
80%
4:11
3:40pm LA.Y 6:51pm
DEN
United
346
- 737
C 0
80°0
5
6
1
j 2
3
4
MN Denver
CO, LSA
LAS
Las Vegas
V v, CS
1^, 6.=
j 416=
386=
386=
526
12^_=
.�
king
LAX Los Angeles CA, USA
indicate non refundable
yenalty fares
B
424=
j 361=
424T
424T
474a
375#
C
476a
416=
386,=
386=
526
122=
D
476,
416=
386
386=
526
122a
g
361a
304#
364=
364a 1
414=
315=
F 1463�
408=
313= 1
373=
513=
409=
1Les
subiect
to availabilirnrz
mcNons
at
ime oQ
Plane
M
Sea
M
You're the reason PTC is a winner.
Ifs Plane to See that Is a FTC Winner!
employee name
Date Department
Explain what your winning employee did to further PTCs Mission Statement:
Mcnagefs or Supervisces signature
(((ppp pa�ow
TAKE ACTION FORM
�Trawle
�4
capwaft
ORIGINATOR COMPLETE SECTION BELOW
ATE
YOUR NAME EXT
CUST #
COMPANY
NAME BAR TITLE
PERSON CALLING
PH X
TRAVELERIS) NAME
PH #
DATE OF TRAVEL
FAX!
A18:
❑ DUPLICATE TICKETS
❑
SAB: HOTEL, 260a8Y:
OVERCHARGE ❑ NO SNOW ❑ NOT DELIVERED AS
❑ INCORRECT FOP
❑
NO RESERVATION ❑ OVERCHARGE REQUESTED
❑ LOST TICKET
❑
EXPRESS SERVICE NOT GIVEN ❑ INCORRECT/DATES BOOKED ❑ FED/EX INCORRECTLY
❑ AIR MISC.
❑
MISC. ❑ MISC- ❑ DELIVERY MISC.
BRIEF EXPLANATION:
CUSTOMER RELATIONS COMPLETE SECTION BELOW
SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE
DATE RECEIVED
YPE OF PROBLEM
BKG AGT / CAUSE
INVOICE #
TICKET i
DETAILED RESOLUTION
FOR ACCOUNTING USE ONLY:
SHORT EXPLANATION
iHORT RESOLUTIO
DATE RESOLVED
SIGNED OFF
INPUT
CLOSED MAX
-- -1 wwTF AND vELLOW COPIES TO CUSTOMER, RELATIONS _ PINK COPY TO ORIGINATOR
PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL CORPORATION
EVALUATION BY SERVICE ALLIANCE 4,4100
Date Called: ,'"/"' /4
Time Cared: P//3,4
Agent
Date Reserved/ Attempted:
Name of Traveler/Destination. e�;'b V.'e,,
Reservation info:
/'yam
If on hold, how long? 'c114'
Was agent friendly' (1) No
Was agent knowledgeable' (1) es' No
Comments on Greeting '
ALFS
Didagent ask for reservations? Yes No
es
Did agent offer lowest fare available(5) No
(Mention type of fare quoted, i.e. flight specifi , mettt overn-day, 21-day)
Comments
Did agent offer aonnectionslalternate airports or carriers? Yes
Did agent advise how much a Saturday night stay would save? Yes
Comments on Sales process
CjTST)N c RVI .S
ut
Did agent ask aboseating Preference? (3) Yes No
Did agent recap Form of Payment? (1-USW)
No
Did agent read back vital information? (1) es
No
Did agent offer delivery options? (2)
( i.e UAL E- tickets, DIA) es
No
Did agent offer car/hotel arrangements' (3) es
No
Comments oa Customer Services
Did agent and conversation with Thank You or a positive comment' (1)
No
Did agent use your name during conversation' (1)
/ e No
Conunents _
How long did the reservation process cake'
were there any interruptions' Yes
Comments
a
1 j
PHONE'REVENUE STATISTICS
Week of June 1 - June 5, 1998
Calls answered within:
30 seconds
PHONES
60 seconds
180 seconds
300 seconds
Corporate
95
3
2
0
Federal
91
7
2
0
InterRes
86
9
5
0
US West
90
7
3
0
US West Inc
92
3
1
0
Vacations+
100
0
0
0
Corp. Leisure
100
0
0
0
M$E
96
2
1
0
Sports
9z
2
2
0
TOTAL
941.1
17
1.8
0.0
Total
Total
Total
Total
Percentage
ACO •
Overflow
Calls
Calls
Calls
of ACD Calls
cab
IM
A
Aomsemd
Abandoned
Abandoned
Corporate
1127
0
1127
1083
44
3.9%
Federal
2428
0
2428
2336
92
3.8%
InterRes
303
0
303
293
10
3.3%
US West
1769
0
1769
1692
77
4.4%
US West Inc
404
13
417
401
is
3.8%
Vacations+
131
0
131
131
0
0.0%
Corp. Leisure
136
0
136
136
0
0.0%
M & E
109
0
109
109
0
Q.0%
Sports
69
0
62
65
4
5.8.%
TOTAL
$476
13
SM
92A8
243
3.7%
Average
Average
ACD Delay
Abandoned Delay
Corporate
6
seconds
43
seconds
Federal
13
seconds
42
seconds
Inter tes
12
seconds
38
seconds
US West
11
M -, ,a
41
aeCOfnds
US West Inc.
4
seconds
22
seconds
Vacations+
0
seconds
0
seconds
Corp. Leisure
1
as
0
seconds
M & E
9
seconds
32
seconds
Sports
6
seconds
1
seconds
TOTAL
7
seconds
24
seconds
` ACD refers to calls directly from ACD system
4
Travel Consultant
NAME: Gina Oswald
JOB TITLE: Travel Consultant
YEARS OF INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE:
YEARS WITH PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL:
JOB HISTORY:
Professional Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Fort Collins, CO
Choice Travel
Fort Collins, CO
Loveland Travel
Loveland, CO
Aggie Travel Points
Fort Collins, CO
13
2
1996 — Present
1992 — 1996
1990 — 1992
1988 — 1990
1985— 1988
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
Gina Oswald's travel industry experience as well as her professionalism in serving her
clients qualifies her for making reservations for government employees. Oswald is a part
time instructor at the Travel Trade school in Fort Collins.
EDUCATION:
Associates Business Degree: Travel, Allentown Business School
Allentown, PA
Travel Consultant
NAME: Karen Mohrer
JOB TITLE: Travel Consultant
YEARS OF INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE:
YEARS WITH PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL:
JOB HISTORY:
Professional Travel
American Express
On -Site
Fort Collins, CO
Aggie Travel Points
Fort Collins, CO
14
3
1995 — Present
1994 — 1995
1984 — 1995
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
Karen Mohrer's travel industry experience as well as her professionalism in serving her
clients qualifies her for making reservations for government employees.
EDUCATION:
Travel Trade School
Fort Collins, CO
CTC
Fort Collins, CO
COMPANY HISTORY
COMPANY HISTORY
Recognizing the need to be competitive in the deregulated marketplace, four of
Colorado's leading high -volume business travel agencies merged in June of 1983 to
form Professional Travel. Since then our controlling concept has been to provide
businesses with the best travel management services available to support their
operations. Toward this end, our history has focused on four objectives. First, we have
hired talented people and trained them extensively. Second, we have purchased the
most effective current travel technology. Third, we have created key affiliations
throughout the travel industry. Fourth, we have used our people, our affiliations and our
technology to give our clients service that is custom -fitted to their particular needs.
Pursuing these objectives, Professional Travel has grown from $23 million in annual
sales in 1983 to more than $1 billion in 1998 with 342 travel offices in 45 states
throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Internationally, we are
well represented by our affiliation with Synergi® Global Travel. Professional Travel was a
founding member of Synergi®, which now has offices in 19 countries.
In 1997, Professional Travel became the founding member of U. S. Office Product's
Travel Division (USOP). As president of the division, Ed Adams has successfully
acquired 12 major regional travel management firms to create a company that
represents over $1.4 billion in sales and is the fifth largest global travel management
company. In June 1998, the USOP spin off company, Navigant International, became
the first publicly traded travel management company. As the newly created company's
CEO, Ed Adams' plan is for continued growth through the acquisition of strong regional
travel leaders that will provide us with a major market presence in the top 25 travel
markets in the country. Pursuing regional leaders has provided us with the value of local
relationships and intimate market -specific knowledge that we hold as key to our own
growth and success. This, combined with the aggregate volume that puts us in the
category of "mega" agency, creates a unique position for our company.
Strengthening this position is the recent acquisition of AT[ Technology, an industry
pioneer in the development, integration and deployment of travel -related software. The
new Professional Travel is bigger and stronger with significant technological
enhancements. Professional Travel is a national leader with multi -regional Navigant
partners. As a systems integrator, we bring value to our customers through providing
options with our on-line booking products, service configurations, and extensive account
management.
What remains unchanged is our commitment to our local community and to Colorado.
Professional Travel is a national leader with our roots planted firmly in Colorado. Our
growth and innovation, and our willingness to work proactively with and for companies
has led to these recent achievements:
• In March 1998, the Denver Business Journal presented Professional Travel with the
Dealmaker of the Year award in the Mergers and Acquisitions category.
Business Travel News recently named, Ed Adams, one of the business travel
industry's 25 Most Influential Executives for 1997. See Attachment 1.
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal No. P687 i July 23, 1998
Branch Manager
NAME: Carolyn Welton
JOB TITLE: Branch Manager
YEARS OF INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE:
YEARS WITH PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL
JOB HISTORY:
Professional Travel
Dillard Travel
Phoenix, AZ
AAA Travel
Rochester, MN
Your Travel Service
Muncie, IN
18
14
1984 — Present
1983 — 1984
1982 — 1983
1980 — 1982
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:
Carolyn Welton has managed the Fort Collins branch of Professional Travel for the last
13 years. As Site Manager under the current PT contract, Welton has extensive
experience in working with the Federal Government agencies using the Fort Collins
office.
Welton oversees the hiring, on -going training and supervision of staff' and day-to-day
operations of the branch office. She handles client concerns and other customer service
matters. Welton acts as the office's liaison with the PT Headquarters on all technical
matters. Her responsibilities include handling all aspects of international and domestic
business travel
EDUCATION:
Ball State University; Muncie, Indiana
Economy
$43
-- $32
Compact
$43
$40
$32
Intermediate
$45
$41
$34
Standard
--
$43
$36
Full -Size
$47
--
--
Premium
$47
5% off retail
5% off retail
Luxury
--
5% off retail
5% off retail
Comments
Rates include unlimited
mileage.
Rates include unlimited
mileage.
Rates include unlimited mileage.
Different rates apply in FL and
NY.
PTC HOTELDISCOUNT
PROGRAM
PTC Negotiated
Corporate
PropertyVVVAOington,r
�'Un. i [(on £Y wan $190 - $210
$270
22% - 3O9b
yan
$134
$/75
23%
Pf .J%ld
$159
$199
2O%
flan
$125
$159
21 %
ni. Siw-P-4XSnt4
$125
$164
24%
e.P/..
$109
$135
249b
1¢h.JLia1
$159
$25
2O9no
• •
Soa(�.we�[�%flon
$99 1
$139 1
29%
w.w ��faza.ldaa�(on aria
$119
$149
2O9b
We(in
$130
$180
28%
P .n... .1
$185
$250
26%
Soa(�. a(e �wers i/etaf
$159
$199
2096
Alan &-?0.
$219
$340
36%
b .aIPJL-44.
$199
$239
17%
Unless otherwise noted, rates are valid through 12/30/98
ADVANCE PURCHASE REPORT COMPARISON
Year To Date - 1997
Total
Invoices
12205
Less Than
7 Days
3237
%
26.52%
Less Than
14 Days
3223
%
26.41%
Less Than
21 Dam
2248
%
18.42%
Over
-- Days _
3447
% _
28.24%
Total
Amount
Paid
$6,453,904.41
Full
Coach
Fare
$14,231,954.01
Savings
$7,778,049.60
% Savings
Off Coach
Fare
54.65%
Company
...__. _
Company 2
Company
Company 4
Company 5
Company 6
..____
Comm pany?
Company
Company
Company10
20798
7850
6124
6000
4135
3949
3750
3732
3608
_ 3288
6251
2080
433
3837
1498
1773
_
1906
1012
1134
919
30.06%
27.19%
7.07%
63.95%
36.23%_
44.90%
_
50.83%
27.12%
31.43%
2795%
6043 _
1986
698
726
1203
1086
803
1112
916
830
2906%
25.96%
11.40%
12 10%
-
29.09%
27 50%
__
21.41%
29.80%
25.39%
2524%
3768
1399
852
342
733
528
- _- ---
345
658
575
576
1812%
18.29%
13.91%
5 70%
- --
17.73%
13 37%
---- - ----
920%
1763%
1594%
1752%
4736
22.77%
28.56%
67.62%
18 25%
--- -
18 95%
$7256811.72
$5,053,985.58
$1,701,315.33
$3 913 361.33
--.
$2 053 283.58
$3,424.988.64
.. __ _...
$2.650.784.54
$1,851,416.30
$1.735.536.27
$1,810,458.64
$21,022,153.42
$9,778,026.12
$3,212.145.19
$5,126,154.91
_ $4,390.623.50
$4,919,237.84
$3,999.879.99
$4,516,262.00
$3,594,520.64
$4,047,109.86
$13,765,341.70
$4,724,040.54
$1,510,829.86
$1,212,793.58
$2,337,339.92
$1,494,249.20
$1,349,095.45
$2,664,845.70
$1.858,984.37
$2,236,651.22
65.48%
48.31%
47.03%
23.66%
53.23%
30.38%
33.73%
59.01%
51.72%
55.27%
2185
4141
1095
-- --
701
562
14.23%
---
696
---
18.56%
25.46%
2725%
2929°k
950
983
963
Worldview TripPlanner Request Form
Destination(s)
Arrival Date
Departure Date
Traveler:
1.
Address:
Z.
3.
Phone: ( )
Fax: ( )
Agency Name:
Date:
Date needed:
Branch:
Phone: (
)
JSA
Salt Lake City
DUTCH LEEWARD ISLANDS
EUROPE
Provence
Ancnorage New
San Antonio
Aruba
Amsterdam
Rome
Albuquerque _
San Diego
Bonaire
Athens
Rhodes 'NEW
atianta
San Francisco
Curacao
Austrian Alps
St. Petersburg
Altantic City
Santa Fe
DUTCH WINDWARD
Barcelona
Salvador `N�EYY '
Austin New
St Lows
ISLANDS
Berlin
Salzburg
3altimore
Seattle
St Maarten/St. Martin
Bann —�W-
Savannah ' �'
30ston
Savannan -NEW- ,
FRENCH WEST INDIES
Brussels
Seville
Branson -
Tampa
Guadeloupe
Bruges , NEw
Stockholm
Cape Cod & Islands NEw
Tucson NEW'
Martinique
Budapest-
Swiss Alps'.
Charleston -
Taos New
St Barthelemy
Burgundy �
Thessaloniki
Chicago
Washington D.C.
JAMAICA
Cambridge —NEW-
The Hague ,, HEWJ;
Cincinnati
CANADA
Kingston
Cologne 41iiwli
The Fjords NEw -
leveland
Montreal
Montego Bay
Copenhagen
Venice
Columbus
Ottawa
Negril
Cork
Vienna
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Quebec City
Ocho Rios
Dresden
York w
Denver
Toronto
PUERTO RICO
Dublin
Zurich
Detroit
Vancouver
Ponce
Dusseldorf New
MIDDLE EAST
Fairbanks NEw
Victoria N w"
San Juan
Edinburgh
Istanbul
Florida Keys �NEw
CARIBBEAN /
TURKS a CAICOS
Florence
Jerusalem
Juneau 'NEVI
BAHAMAS
Grand Turk/Providenciales
Frankfurt
Tel Aviv New
Honolulu
Abaco
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
French Riviera
PACIFIC RIM
Houston
Eleuthera/Harbour Island
St. Croix
French AIDS ( w
AUSTRALW
Indianapolis
Exuma
St John
Geneva �� ��
NEW ZEALAND
Island of Hawaii
Freeport
St Thomas
Galway
Auckland
Kansas City
Nassau/Paradise Island
LATIN AMERICA
Glasgow
Melbourne
Kauai
BERMUDA
ARGENTINA
Greek Islands NE
South Island
Las Vegas
Bermuda Countryside
Buenos Aires
Hamburg
Sydney
Los Angeles
Hamilton
BRAZIL
Heidelderg
CHINA
Maui
BRITISH LEEWARD ISLANDS
Rio de Janeiro
Istanbul
Beijing
Madison NEW
Anguilla
Sao Paulo
Island of Crete NEW
Guangzhou
Memphis
AnfiguaiBarouda
COSTA RICA
Kerry NE
Shanghai
Miami
St. KittsyNevis
San Jose
Lausanne
JAPAN
Milwaukee
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
MEXICO
Lisbon
Kyoto
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Tortola/Virgin Gorda
Acapulco
Loire Valley
Nagoya
Monterey Bay NEw
BRITISH WINDWARD ISLANDS
Cancun/Isla Mujeres
London
Osaka
Napa 3 Sonoma NEw
Barbaccs
Cozumel
Lucerne NEW
Tokyo
Nashville -
Domm!ca
Guadalajara
Madrid - "
YOKonama
New Orleans
Grenaca
Ixtapa/Zihuataneje
Milan
OTHER PACIFIC RIM
New York City
St. Luc:a
Los Cabos
Moscow
DESTINATIONS
Orlando
St. Vincert
Mazatlan
Municn
Bali/Lombok
Paim Scnngs
Tnnicac.7ooagc
Mexico City
Napies NEw
Bangkok
Phiiadeipnia
CAYMAN ISLANDS
Monterrey
Normandy NEW
Hong Kong/Macau
Phcenx
The Cavmars
Oaxaca
Osto -
Maniia
Pitt5p�r7,^,
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Puerto Vallarta
Ox4crr_ .vEw,
Sedw
Poruar_
Santccmingo
VENEZUELA
Parrs -
Singacore
Rero/Tarce
Caracas
Prague
Taipei
jO R L D V I E W
Apnl-97
6
I:_SUING OFFICE:
PROFES:IONAL TRAVEL CORF',
84 INVERNES:_ CR. E
ENGLEWOOD CO 80112
PASSENGER NAME: Acct No. Date Page Invoice 4o.
- I JUN 29 19�i@ 01I 3450734
PASSENGERS MUST RECONFIRM YOUR RESERVATIONS AT -:AS-, He ,,;S
PRIOR TO ALL INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURES T'.S ALSO-„ASASL
OOMESTIC FUGHTS TO RECHECX DEPARTURE TIMES
Taacnon I nrorne� otvn.,•; ORIGINAL TERMS: DUE UPON RECEIPT
Sold To Deliver To
AGENT: DZUHK
PTC MUST BE NOTIFIED OF ANY DISCREPANCIES IN THIS
DOCUMENT WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT
23 •JUL 9S - TUESDAY
AMERICAN 1250 COACH CLASS EQUIP-MD-80 JET
LV: DENVER 310A NONSTOP MILES- 644 CONFIRMED
AR: DALLAS/FT WOR 110oA ELAPSED TIME- 1:50
SNACK
AMERICAN 1216 COACH CLASS EQUIP-MD-80 JET
LV: DALLAS/FT WOR 1234P NONSTOP MILES- 448 CONFIRMED
AR: NEW ORLEANS 211P ELAPSED TIME- 1:37
CAR RENTAL
LOCATION -NEW ORLEANS PICKUP-23 JUL 93 RETURN-30JUL
VENDOR -NATIONAL CAR TYPE-1 INTERMED 2/4 DR
RATE- 57.99 DAILY
M I LEAGE-UNL / M I
CONFIRMATION-1575655228COUNT
HOTEL RESERVATION
DAYS INN NEW ORLEANS
5801 READ BLVD
NEW ORLEANS LA 70127
FAX-504 245-8340
ROOM RATE- 63.00
CONFIRMATION-66105974
CHECK IN-28 JUL 98
PHONE-504 241-2500
CHECK OUT-30JUL 02 NT/'=:
.30 JUL 9=: - THURSDAY
AMERICAN 1054 COACH CLASS EQUIP-MD-80 JET
LV: NEW ORLEANS 251P NONSTOP MILES- 448 CONFIRMED
AR: DALLAS/FT WOR 426P ELAPSED TIME- 1:35
rw
L
A
ISSUING OFFICE:
PROFESSIONAL TRAVEL CORP.
84 INVERNESS: CR. E
ENGLEWOOD CO SIj11'-
PASSENGER NAME: Acct.No. Date Page Invoice No.
JUN 29 199 1 02, 3450734
PASSENGERS MUST RECONFIRM YOUR RESERVATICNS AT LEAST 72 HouRS
PRIOR TO ALL INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURES. IT IS ALSO ADVISABLE ON , L'_
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS TO RECHECK DEPARTURE TIMES
P;rrnren I i i"ATfIG: R1 Y,4RS ORIGINAL TERMS: DUE UPON RECE'P—
Sold To Deliver To
0
AGENT: DZUHK
PTC MUST BE NOTIFIED OF ANY DISCREPANCIES IN THIS
DOCUMENT WITHIN 24 HOURS OF RECEIPT
30 JUL 98 — THURSDAY
AMERICAN 729 COACH CLASS EOUIP—MD-80 JET
LV: DALLAS/FT WOR 500P NONSTOP MILE=— 644 CONFIRMED
AR: DENVER 605P ELAPSED TIME— 2:05
AIR TRANSPORTATION 486.24 TAX 59.76 TTL 546.00
SUB TOTAL 546.Oo
AMOUNT DUE 546.00
®"��^ CENTRAL ACCOUNTING, OFFICE PHONE: (3-03) 706-0500 OW,NNI
r
i.:
PTC'S REPORT REQUEST FORM
r Date:
L.,
CCustomer Number:
Date Range:
Person Requesting:
Customer Name:
(CIRCLE ONE) ONCE
CSUMMARY
REPORTS
AIRLINE ANALYSIS
C ❑
Travel Manager's Summary
Current, YTD, Previous YTD
❑
(8-01)
Domestic Only
Also for specific airline
C COMBINED SAVINGS
Air Travel Only w/ Service Fees
rr (8-04)
i� ❑ Air Travel Only by Dept. Code
Also for specific airline or psgr (2-13)
❑ International Only
Also for specific airline
❑ Domestic & Int'I
Also for specific airline
Phone:
WEEKLY MONTHLY QUARTERLY
DETAILED REPORTS
ElFrequent Traveler Summary
(1-10) Available in Freq. or Alpha order (4-02)
❑ Advance Purchase Reports
(5-06) by Dept (5-22) or Alpha (5-09)
❑ Form Of Payment - Detail
(3-20) Available by specific credit card (4-04)
Exception Report by Dept.
CAR & HOTEL REPORTS by Dept (2-17) or Alpha (2-16)
C
! JI Air Travel Only in Alpha Order ❑
Also for specific airline or psgr (2-01)
Detailed Car Report by City
(4-09)
CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS
IJ Air/Car/Hotel by Dept. Code
❑
Detailed Car Report by Car Co.
❑ From/To/To - D & I
Also for specific airline or psgr (5-13)
(4-10)
Airline Analysis -Domestic Only
Air/Car/Hotel in Alpha Order
❑
Detailed Hotel Report
Airline Analysis-D & I
— " Also for specific airline
or psgr (5-23)
Sorts by City (4-11)
The above three reports for:
(Airline Code)
C ❑ Hotel Usage by Nights Booked
DESTINATION ANALYSIS Summary by Chain or Property (72-01)
From/To - Domestic Only
Also for a specific airline
(1-06)
TICKETING REPORTS
❑
From/To - International Only
❑
Exchanged Tickets
L❑
Also for a specific airline
(5-05)
From/To - Domestic & Int'I
❑
Voided Tickets
Also for a specific airline
(3-21)
r ^,
From/TolTo -Domestic Only
Refunded Tickets
L
Also for a specific airline
(7-17)
C
❑
From/To/To - Intl Only
Also for a specific airline
❑
(7-18)
Prepaid Tickets
From/To/To - Domestic & Int'I
❑
Service Fee Report
LFrom/To/To
Also for a specific airline
(4-08)
- D only with Miles ❑
Ordered By
(4-21)
C
Due Date:
PERIOD SALES
Period Sales Report
Domestic & Int'I separate (2-12)
Electronic Ticket Period Sales
(6-07) All Airlines offering E-Tickets (7-10)
❑ Yearly Period Sales
(4-05) By Month / D&I separate (N2-12)
(4-06) GRAPHS
(F2-12) ❑ Savings Analysis
❑ (7-20) Travel Dollars by Department
❑ (4-03) Period Sales by Customer
Completed by:
r I PTC 715
69
COMPANY HISTORY
uh6nkhY.m}&(ii.3aEid.,� a� �nk+6iaEi9r�R�kq� QWrnC�EIrkI: ,L 6I„„uh,i, ri, .:e=.E= � .
• Travel Agent Magazine recently awarded Ed Adams the Person of the Year award in
the corporate travel industry for 1997. The publication also recognized Mr. Adams
for his entrepreneurial spirit specifically related to his travel agency acquisition
strategy on behalf of Professional Travel's parent company, U. S. Office Products.
Professional Travel received Travel Weekly's Best Client Service award three years
in a row. The most recent award was based not only on our relationship with our
customers, but also on our commitments to our employees and the community.
Professional Travel was honored as the Company of the Year for 1995 by the
Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry in the Marketing Innovation
category. This honor is awarded to companies who demonstrate industry leadership
through their customer -oriented focus, company involvement in the community,
diversification of the company's market presence, and unmatched service to their
clients.
• Professional Travel received the 1995 Wednesday's Child Award from the Rocky
Mountain Adoption Exchange. The Exchange annually honors a Colorado
corporation for its outstanding philanthropic contribution to the Denver Community to
help build a better future for children who have been the victims of abuse and
neglect.
• The Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America awarded the 1995
CEO of the Year Award to Ed Adams. This distinguished honor is given to a
Colorado -based company leader who has demonstrated respect for and appreciation
of the function of public relations and actively supported and originated creative,
ethical and community -responsive public relations programming.
• The Minority/Woman Business Enterprises Association awarded Professional Travel
the 1994 Outstanding M/WBE Advocate Award for its alliances with minority- and
women -owned businesses and its commitment and support of M/WBE programs.
• Professional Travel received the 1994 Colorado Business Ethics Award in the
General Ethics category. The University of Denver and the Samaritan Institute grant
this annual award to a company that exhibits excellence in corporate social
responsibility.
The travel industry has changed dramatically since deregulation of the airlines 15 years
ago. The next 2 to 5 years will be ripe with new opportunities and challenges for
corporations, agencies and suppliers. New and improved technologies, corporate
consolidations and changing workforce environments will impact the entire travel
industry. In this increasingly complex environment, designing and implementing creative
solutions for increased profitability and cost reductions for all partners will continue to be
our challenge. Here are some future programs we are tracking and/or developing:
• Commodity -based purchasing on the Internet
• Block inventory purchasing
• Distressed inventory Purchasing
• Airline, hotel and car net fares
• Global agreements and consolidations
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal No. P687 July 23, 1998
HISTORY
As our history proves, Professional Travel is prepared not only to embrace but also to
lead the industry in creating new models that will create benchmarks for the way we
approach travel in the 21't century.
Our business mix has remained relatively unchanged over the past five years, and is as
follows:
Corporate
83%
Leisure
10%
Groups/Meeting
7%
Domestic 85%
International 15%
OUR PHILOSOPHY, VALUES AND CORPORATE CULTURE
Fifteen years ago, our founding partners created a company based on our commitment
to our work force, our customers, and our community. Our mission statement states that
we are committed to each, but to each in a different way. For our employees, we will
provide a good place to work. For our business customers, we will deliver customer -
centered travel services. In our role as corporate citizen, we commit to "returning time
and money to the community." Embodied in our mission statement are many of the
things that differentiate us from our competitors. Our commitment to our employees is
expressed in benefits that are not standard in the industry; for example, we were giving
our employees family leaves that exceeded current legal requirements years before the
laws were established. Our commitment to our customers is to create a value stream for
each, to create customer loyalty instead of just new customers. Professional Travel is a
Colorado -based company with an extensive, award -winning, commitment to community
service. These attributes are not standard.
We continuously apply our values and beliefs in a dynamic way as we learn more about
our ever -changing industry and our customers' need to operate successfully in it. Most
importantly, we apply our learning for the benefit of the day-to-day and long-term
management of our clients' accounts. Doing so benefits our work force as well as the
larger community because we share what we learn.
We believe in education and apply this belief through programs designed to teach our
staff, our customers, and our community about the travel industry. For our staff, we
provide more than just technical training. We focus on human resources training, on
programs to enhance management skills, on departmental retreats to brainstorm ideas
and clarify goals, on executive strategic planning sessions, and on cross-cultural
training. For our customers, Professional Travel has provided learning opportunities by
hosting events such as our TREC Symposium, our seminars on important subjects such
as the airlines' practice of yield management and our annual customer service
conference and trade show.
We value diversity in our workforce as well as in our customers, in our ways of doing
business, and in our community. Professional Travel actively recruits minority
employees. We are also engaged in an extensive M/WBE subcontracting network on
behalf of a Fortune 100 account. Furthermore, through our interactions with our
customers' corporate cultures, we have learned to develop new products and new ways
of doing business in order to respond to the variety of needs our customers express.
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal No. P687 "' July 23, 1998
COMPANY HISTORY
Above all, we believe in and value change. Professional Travel has lived through 15
years of dynamic and often dramatic change in our industry, in our company size,
organization, in our customers, and in our community. We welcome the challenges, we
strive to learn from the setbacks as well as the successes, and we take heart in seeing
our staff members change from entry-level employees to career committed travel
professionals.
OUR PREFERRED SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS
As our history proves, Professional Travel is prepared to not only embrace but lead the
industry in creating new models that will create benchmarks for the way we approach
travel in the 21°' century. Professional Travel's core philosophy revolves around
providing the ultimate in value and service to our customers. Creating preferred supplier
relationships that benefit our entire customer base is key to that philosophy. Professional
Travel's negotiating position is exceptional. Supported by our $1.4 billion market
presence and a 15-year foundation of strong local relationships.
Professional Travel's preferred supplier relationships are extensive and cover all facets
of travel industry vendors including airlines, hotels, cars, automation, credit card
companies, limousine service and meet and greet service.
Because of our size and reputation in the travel industry, our relationships with vendors
are excellent. The major airlines provide us with dedicated liaisons that assist us with
trouble -shooting, clearing waitlists, and waiving advance purchase requirements for us in
some circumstances. Many of our major vendors help us with marketing dollars, and
provide seminars on industry -related topics like yield management and corporate
traveler safety.
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
Professional Travel's account management approach is an influential combination of
strategic planning, integrated information, business communication and superior
relationship management. Account Management is an integral part of our overall service
philosophy. Professional Travel was the first Colorado -based travel agency with a full
service department dedicated solely to customer service/account management. Our
efforts to maximize a company's investment in travel will succeed on the strength of our
working relationship.
Our people in account management are responsible for ensuring your total satisfaction
with Professional Travel's services. Your Account Manager will play a key role in
analyzing the systems and programs that Professional Travel offers and help determine
what elements of our services are of value to your company. Professional Travel
understands that each client's needs are different; therefore, account management must
mirror the needs and expectations of each individual company we serve. The account
manager's role is to ensure your travel management goals are not only consistently met,
but also exceeded.
SUMMARY
In our fifteen -year history Professional Travel has changed and grown, always trying to
keep in sight our major objective: to provide the highest level of service at the lowest
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal No. P687 July 23, 1998
COMPANY HISTORY
cost to our customers. As part of the fifth largest travel management company in the
world, our strategic position with multi -regional offices enables us to provide the best
personalized service, buying clout, corporate travel counsel and state-of-the-art
technology to our customers. Our recent purchase of the premier software integration
company in the travel industry, ATI Technology, will support and enhance this position.
Today's Professional Travel is stronger and larger with much greater technological
resources. With people, systems and procedures in place, we are ready to handle travel
requests for companies as required. Supported by our $1.4 billion market presence and
a 15-year foundation of strong local and national relationships, Professional Travel's
negotiating position is exceptional. Creating preferred supplier relationships that benefit
our entire customer base is key to our service philosophy. Many of our major vendors
help us with marketing dollars, and provide seminars on industry -related topics like yield
management and corporate traveler safety.
Professional Travel is a Colorado -based company. Doing the right thing is an important
part of working at Professional Travel. Giving back to the community where we have
enjoyed so much success is important to us. We actively promote volunteerism in our
developmental goals and Professional Travel people participate in charities ranging from
the SafeHouse for Battered Women to Junior Achievement. We participate in a
company -wide United Way program. As ambassadors of Professional Travel in the non-
profit sector, our employees bring fresh ideas and unique skills to charities and civic
groups.
Together we will go to the next horizon of travel management — automated processes,
expanded access and more sophisticated purchasing through online information and
electronic booking tools. We are uniquely qualified to deliver the very best travel services
to companies. Professional Travel has achieved the current level of excellence through
our focus on our customers' needs, our people and our technology. Both City of Fort
Collins and Professional Travel share the common goals of attaining cost efficiency,
product innovation and aggressive growth. We have a clear vision of the future of the
travel industry and want to share it with you.
Choose Professional Travel and experience the difference we can make in partnership
with City of Fort Collins.
Professional Travel The City of Fort Collins
Response to Request for Proposal No. P687 v July 23, 1998