BY Najah Hersi

Working practices of the business travel agencies

American Express Business Travel

BY Najah Hersi

Context Page:

1. Working practices of the business travel agencies

2. Introduction who is ‘American Express’

3. Procedures and documentation for selling products and services

4. Global distribution system

5. Commission levels and sales targets

6. Cost – saving techniques

7. Promotional Schemes

8. Services level agreements

9. Working to the company and passengers profile

10. Conclusion

BY Najah Hersi

WHO IS AMERICAN EXPRESS?

American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at American Express Home and connect with us on Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

American Express offers premium customer service and 24/7 support for global travel management in more than 140 countries. With over “1,000 employees in all regions of the world”.

BY Najah Hersi

Who does American Express work with?

American Express have join partnerships with numerous international carriers that currently participate in this program including Delta, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Japan Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch, Mexicana, Aero Mexico, Lufthansa, South African, Etihad, Emirates, and others.

BY Najah Hersi

PROCEDURES AND DOCUMENTATION FOR SELLING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

American Express offers a variety of different products and services and a few of the ones they offer are: Travel insurance-credit in the form of charge cards and offer consumers extra value for purchases, protection against accident damage, and Critical illness. Gold cards- cards offer revolving line of credit, meaning that consumers may carry a balance from month to month rather than having to pay the balance in full every month. Customers of American express have all inclusive packages that include the Flight +hotel for business travellers, the serivces is exceptioanl and is also half the price of what other providers are charging. Membership’s rewards -usually earn one or more points for every dollar of purchases. The points may be redeemable for gift cards, electronics, travel, cash and more. American Express also has direct links to pay other bills –pre –paid credit card which automatically pay for payments, no interest’s rates. Which is a conveient services that customers need in advance? Gift cards –earn points for products towards free nights and/or room upgrades at a particular hotel chain, rental car. Business cards -— but also may come with additional features tailored to business needs. Business card users can determine billing arrangements (individual or central billing, for example) and can set spending controls, which limit card use to designated types of merchants or types of charges (such as airfare only.

BY Najah Hersi

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS), owned by Sabre Holdings, is used by more than 350,000 travel agents around the world with more than 400 airlines, 100,000 hotels, 25 car rental brands, 50 rail providers and 14 cruise lines. The Sabre GDS enables companies such as American Airlines, American Express, BCD Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Hogg Robinson Group (HRG), Expedia, Frontier, Holiday Autos, Zuji, Last Minute, JetBlue, GetThere and Travelocity to search, price, book, and ticket travel services provided by airlines, hotels, car rental companies, rail providers and tou operators. Sabre Holdings is a travel technology company serving airlines, hotels, online and offline travel agents and travel buyers. The company is organized into four business units: Travelocity: online travel agency Sabre Travel Network: global distribution system Sabre Airline Solutions: airline technology Sabre Hospitality Solutions: hotel technology solutions The company is headquartered in Southlake, Texas, and has 10,000 employees in 60 locations around the world with data centre in global locations.

BY Najah Hersi

American express have close connection with there suppliers, that is the airline companies, hotels, car hire transfers for bookings. They negotiate costs to be a bit cheaper, then commission levels fall, Business agents such American Express, Carlson Wagon-lit have to compensate for cuts in commission levels by charging customers for their services, as do retail agents. American Express set sales targets by their organisation and will receive bonus payments to any sale reprehensive who reach those targets.

COMMISSION LEVELS AND SALES TARGETS

BY Najah Hersi

COST-SAVING TECHNIQUES

American Express has with airlines, hotels and car rental companies; we are able to offer clients exceptional value that they would not be able to obtain on their own. In fact, our rates are on average 5-12% lower than other travel agencies. There are two ways in which American express deilvers signifcant travel cost savings to CLIENTS, THESE are: Negotiated low rates- Our leveraging power and access to negotiated rates on air, car and hotel bookings can get you better travel rates than any other online travel agency. Travel Savings tools- Our outstanding cutting edge travel savings tools will get you better deals on airfare, hotel rates, car rentals and billing which help you save even more.

BY Najah Hersi

PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES

American Express offers a range of cards with different functions. Some are cash back credit cards ,some offer free flights or vouchers, and some allow you to earn loyalty points for schemes such as Nectar or Avios, which you can then swap for days out, flights or catalogue items. American express offer shopping rewards, leisure, travel just from you saving point on your credit card, quoting promotional code. American express offer great deals with memeberships cards that allow to simply use your original American express card, for every pound of eligible you spend on the card will automatically boost your points onto the card. There are three different cards that suit all customer types. Full terms and conditions are on thier website so checking before applying is vital.

BY Najah Hersi

American Express account management approach is professional and consultative, with a focus on meeting clients’ Individuals needs. We also work with your travel objectives, budgets and business travellers to design a global travel management solution that best suits your business. They offer exclusive VIP service, after hours travellers support to assist customers with emergency duties. American Express Assistance with visa, passport applications. American Express offer world-class service to their consumer, small business, merchant and corporate customers around the world. They focus on achieving best-in-class economics, generating loyalty and doing business with the utmost integrity and attention to detail.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS

BY Najah Hersi

WORKING TO THE COMPANY AND PASSENGER PROFILES

American Express: keep detail of companies regular passengers. This also saves time and errors when making bookings on their behalf as information is on file. In addtion, the agency must be aware of the company’s policy on travel so that they make bookings that conform to policy. For Example, The Company might stipulate that employees only travel in economy, or that they stay within a budget for accommodations. American Express corporate functions and auxiliary businesses,including the company’s enterprise growth group,publishing business and other company operations,are included in corporate &other.American express and its principal operating subsidiary,american express travel related services company,inc.American express range of products and services includes charge and credit card products,expenses management products and service,consumer and business travel services.

BY Najah Hersi

CONCLUSION

In Conclusion my opinion based on the working practice within business travel is that it can be quite demanding travelling on most occasions to different business meeting ,conferences and trade fairs; but it can also be a rewarding job as you are working separately for a specific organisation dealing with business related matters on behalf of the organisation you are working for the benefits are endless, such as going to different locations as a reward from your manager , having access to a range of discounts on a reward membership card. The working practice provides cost savings by reducing the need to travel to work, promotes greater

flexibility and a greater work-life balance.