Working Practices of American Express Global Business

Travel

This book will include a description of the working practices of American Express- a Global Business Travel Agent.

The working practices include Procedures and Documentation for selling travel products and services, Cost-Saving Techniques, Service Level Agreements, Working to the company and clients profile, Commission levels and Sales targets, Promotional Schemes and GDS(Global Distribution Systems).

Procedures,

Introduction

Procedures and documentation for how to sell travel products and services are the method whereby the travel information is booked through the booking system, contracts agreed and payments options offered in a standardised way and are there to ensure that that no confusion can occur between the customer, the company and the business travel agency and also that everyone follows the same processes.

American Express Corporate travel offers various payment options to the customer this can ensure that the company has enough cash flow to manage invoices in the chain such as paying for suppliers. American Express offers a 30 day payment scheme account or a 60 day payment term account for some larger customers. This is to give the customer greater flexibility to be able to manage their finances.

American Express also offers their customers a non-fixed term contract meaning that the customer does not have a limited time with the contract with American Express in regards to their travel.

American Express Global Business Travel customised the industry-leading Trip Case platform to deliver a up to date mobile and web itinerary management solution for the customers.

Customers are provided with live phone support around-the-clock, 365 days a year.

Online tools simplify the booking process, maximising the customer’s savings. All types of travel from airlines and hotels to railroads and ground transportation can be easily booked online.

Procedures,

Through the on line Portal travellers can access mobile and online booking tools, receive compliance alerts and on the go updates, and tap into time-saving productivity tools which helps the managers.

Service Level Agreements are the level of service that is offered to the clients of American and an agreement which can be measure against

SLA will set a clear framework of measureable service delivery standards and expectations from which travellers, travel bookers, authorisers, managers, and travel company consultants can work within to achieve an effective travel programme. SLAs are aligned to Travel Policy and should be reviewed regularly along with the Travel Policy.

SLA will be individual to the company but samples of what is included are items such as

Service Offer Service Level Agreement Tracking / Reporting Method

Hours of Operation All business services provided by the American Express team are available 24/7/365.

n/a

Out of Hours As per above National Account Director will present the data of utilisation and related costs at quarterly review meetings.

Answering Calls 90% of calls will be answered within 10 seconds and 100% within 20 seconds.

If all Account Executives within the designated team are on the telephone the voicemail system will give the option to leave a message for a member of the team to return your call or to be transferred to an alternative team.

The Account manager will be responsible for monitoring. Calls would be monitored by a combination of the telephone management system and quarterly audits.

Returning Communications

The Account Executives will return calls, acknowledge voicemail messages (where applicable), email and fax messages within a maximum

The phone displays an advice that a

Service Level Agreements

period of 30 minutes.

The Account Executive will either confirm the reservation requested or agree a time period to obtain the information required. Detailed quotes will be provided within 3 hours of receipt.

Working to the company and clients profile is where the company and client provide their details to the business travel agent so that they can provide the right business trip to the right client and company.

American Express understands their customers and companies that they provide business trips for as they offer various service level agreements that are suitable for the customers, simple procedures for the customer to follow.

American Express offers promotions but these are tailored to the customer profile.

Our Global Consulting team are positioned around the world, use Big Data analytics, industry-specific knowledge and real world experience to make the customers’ business travel spending more intelligent, more efficient and more productive.

Commission

Client Specific Service

Commission levels are the amount of extra money American Express receive for the bookings they make with their suppliers and book for their clients. Sales targets are an aim of how many bookings these are personalised with the customer and we must try and aim to meet these.

Examples of American Express Commissions include

Commission on Net vs. Gross: Some vendors pay commission on the net rate (less taxes); some pay on gross.

NCFs: Most cruise lines have NCFs (non-commissionable fees, which are a chunk of fees in addition to the taxes that commission is not paid on)

Airfare may not be commissionable or commissionable at a lower rate Phone vs. Online Bookings: Some vendors may pay different commissions based on

how the booking was made. Destinations: Within the same vendor, different destinations may have different

commissions Price Matches: Some vendors may do price matches. If they do, expect to be paid at

a lower commission level than normal.

Promotional schemes are incentives to encourage business travellers to book with American Express in the future rather than one of American Express competitors our competitors. We must always promote our services and ensure we have loyal customer base.

Commission

Promotional Schemes

American Express provides many different promotional schemes in order to encourage their existing clients and businesses who the clients work for to continue to book their business travel through American Express.

American Express also provides their clients with access to the general promotional schemes that their suppliers e.g. flying blue and Hilton Honours.

American Express also offer their own promotional schemes like their special offers, travel club which provides special holiday deals and a loyalty programme where the clients earn points on each booking the clients make with American Express.

GDS (Global Distribution System) is the booking software that business travel agents use to see the availability of flight seats, hotel rooms and cars for hire so that they do not double-book their clients into the same room/flight seat/car for hire and consequences occur as one of the clients will not have a room/flight seat/car for hire. Examples of GDS’s are Amadeus, Galileo, Apollo and Worldspan.

American Express uses their own as their Global Distribution System for checking availability and booking their clients business travel.

Global Distribution System