Second Day of AmEx Conference Sees Announcements by Travel Impressions, ASTA

 

Steve Gorga, president of American Express Vacations and CEO of Travel Impressions, presents at the 2011 American Express Travel U.S. Representative Network Conference

On day two of Travel Agent's coverage of the ongoing 2011 American Express Travel U.S. Representative Network Conference, Travel Impressions announced it will soon implement a new Automated Replenishment program with regards to hotel inventory while the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) hinted about an upcoming collaboration with Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Steve Gorga, president of American Express Vacations and CEO of Travel Impressions, led the day by warning agents and industry representatives to stay current by reading up on travel trade publications and keeping up with the latest social media opportunities that can lead to more sales, to stick to the basics and to keep up on trends.

Gorga says Travel Impressions will soon implement a new "Automated Replenishment" program, in which the amount of available inventory at the company's hotel partners would be automatically updated upon requests "because we all know how long it can take to do this manually."

Gorga also reminded attendees of the company's new price matching program, in which 49 percent of all price matches were handled "right on the spot," while 99 percent of all price matches were handled as soon as the agent requested it.

During a presentation made by ASTA CEO Tony Gonchar, it was announced that the association would soon be entering a collaboration with CLIA. Although the specifics of that collaboration were not announced, Gonchar told us it would be put into effect by the end of the year and noted that similar agreements would be hopefully made with the National Tour Association (NTA), the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) and the U.S. Travel Association.

"We have members throughout the world," Gonchar says, "and the idea is to work on customs and immigrations issues in order to satisfy the needs of all of our members."

In other news, AmEx announced that Travelink is the 2011 Representative Agency of the Year.

Visit www.travelagentcentral.com for more updates from the conference, which runs through Wednesday.