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A newsletter published by theished by the
International Association of Reservation Executives
Issue 31, July 2006
New President and Board
Take The Helm
At IARE
The IARE Board of
Directors recently appointed Michele
Rowan President at the Annual Conference held
recently in Chicago, Ill.
Rowan is currently Vice
President of International Contact Centers for the Hilton Hotel
Corporation, based in London, England. Her previous positions with
Hilton include leading contact center operations in Europe and
Africa and managing the company’s Tampa, Florida contact center
location.
Rowan currently manages five contact centers outside
of the United States. Among other things, she is responsible for
reservations revenue, Web site navigational support, back office
functions and managing all Hilton branded hotels outside of the
United States, which include over 400 hotels in 80 countries.
Rowan said it will be important for the association
to keep up with shifts in technology that continue to change the
face of the contact center industry.
“Global integration of
technology and distribution is changing the travel industry contact
center environment in the travel industry with lightning speed,”
Rowan said. “Now, more than ever, we need to build strong
relationships with technology and distribution experts and increase
our speed of learning and adaptation. I am delighted to chair an
organization involved in such an important and robust function.”
Contact center executives from across the globe will make up the board
for the IARE. In addition to electing a new president, the
association appointed a new Vice President/President Elect, Secretary
and Treasurer.
Vice President/President Elect Ronda Trog, who
served as IARE's Secretary last year, is currently
the Director of Reservations for Best Western International based in
Phoenix, Arizona. Trog, who has worked with Best Western
International for the past 30 years, articulated a number of goals
for the association, including improving the Annual Conference,
increasing mid-year opportunities for networking and boosting
membership.
Secretary Leesa Williams is the Senior
Director of Reservation Services for Accor North America based in
Columbus, Ohio. Williams has worked in the contact center industry
for more than 24 years and has been instrumental with the
implementation of cutting edge technologies, including a PBX switch
with Symposium ACD, call routing, VoIP, Aspect WFM and Witness
Monitoring System.
Newly appointed Treasurer
Tracy Gaudette is the Director of Reservation Services for Coast
Hotels & Resorts, where she is responsible for the contact center in
Vancouver, Canada. Gaudette has worked at Coast Hotels & Resorts for
17 years and has been in the industry for 23 years. She said she
plans to continue the growth IARE has achieved over the last two
years and ensure the organization continues to be financially
stable.
IARE's current board of
directors also includes:
Immediate Past President: Dan Hoesing; Director of
Reservations and Customer Service; Carlson Hospitality Worldwide;
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Director: Tim Gallagher; Director of Strategic Accounts;
Nuance Communications; Addison, Texas, USA
Director: Denise Pullen; Assistant Director of Operations;
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts; Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Director: Patricia Wisehart; Director of Reservations; The
Hertz Corporation; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Director: Scott Wright; Sales Executive; Voxify, Inc.;
Alameda, California, USA
Board Affiliate: Sonia Bertulio; Manager; Best Western
International, Italy; Milan, Italy
Board Affiliate: Phyllis M. Burckhart; Senior Director of
Call Center; Choice Hotels International
Board Affiliate: Jenifer Gibson; Director of Springfield
Contact Center; Accor North America; Springfield, Ohio, USA
Board Affiliate: Jon-Roger Maranda; Senior Director; Amtrak;
Washington DC, USA
Board Affiliate:
Amanda Wu; Reservation Sales Manager; Hilton Reservations
Worldwide; Streator, Illinois, USA
Don’t Let
Hurricanes Catch Your Contact Center Off-Guard
By
Ronda Trog, Director,
North
American Reservations, Best Western International, Phoenix, Ariz.
Hurricane
season starts June 1. Being prepared for the season applies not
only to those who live in the target area of a storm but also to
those who have businesses in the target area. Review your plans now
and be prepared to weather the storm.
Prior
to the storm making landfall, we identify the hotels we have in
the area and build a spreadsheet in a shared drive so many
departments can review the information and update the
information if they speak with one of the hotels.
We
contact the hotels in the area via phone and fax to remind them
to close out availability before the storm hits or they evacuate
and make sure they have phone numbers with them to reach us
after the storm. We also try to collect alternate phone numbers
for their management staff.
Once
the storm makes landfall, we begin calling each of the hotels,
trying twice each day to reach them.
When
we reach them we update a central reference file with the hotel
damage report. We also reconfirm their room availability and
offer to contact guests with future arrivals if they will not be
able to accommodate them due to damage or working with relief
agencies and local authorities to house evacuees.
If we
can't reach them after the storm within 24 hours, we will close
out their availability for five days and continue to try to
reach them twice each day. If we can't reach them after 72
hours, we will close out their status for 30 days.
The greatest benefit of belonging to IARE is being above to network with other professionals in the travel industry and sharing best practices. If you are proud of a specific area of your operation,
feel free to submit an article to
iare@assnoffice.com for inclusion in an upcoming newsletter.
IARE as
A Reward
By
Jon-Roger Maranda, Senior Director Amtrak
One of our internal
recognition programs at Amtrak is to select Sales Excellence
winners from our call centers each year - five agents and two
supervisors from each location. In recent years we held
group events for the winners and their guests, such as dinner at
a winery or lunch and a Broadway show. This year, for something
different and to hopefully stimulate interest in the program,
we invited the
winners and guests to
attend the
IARE conference in Chicago.
Here are some of their comments
about the experience:
"Vendors’ support of
workshops and awareness of top agents and management made
the trip memorable. The vendors were helpful with
presenting their product and the raffle for door prizes was
a nice touch to the program."
"It was a great change
of pace from the past dinner and show. And taking the train
is always great (when you have a sleeper it is really
great)."
"I thought the Team
Building activity on Sunday night was a very good way to
meet other people from the different types of call centers."
"The education sessions
and workshops were OK - A lot of them didn’t have much to do
with my job as an Agent, but were still informative. I
liked the “All You Need Is Love” session a lot."
"The food and people I
met were top rate."
"The IARE conference
really gave me a different outlook towards customer service
in the travel industry. It was a great opportunity to meet
other customer service agents and management and to hear
views from both sides. I learned that everyone actually has
the same agenda, which is to give the customer superior
customer service. It is no different whether or not it is
the airline, car rental, hotel, or any other industry. I
also learned that employers really do care about their
employees and are constantly looking for ways to keep them
motivated and productive, and to promote their products with
positive attitudes. The conference also showed me how
important it was to learn and use whatever customer skills I
could."
"The convention also
provided us with excellent guest speakers. They were all
very professional, yet down to earth at the same time. It
was great to learn that they saw the entire picture from the
employer, employee, and customer point of views."
"One of the best
speakers was Kenneth Moore. I know I walked away from his
lecture feeling more positive about the job I did than I
ever have before."
"I have really learned that when you provide excellent
customer service it makes you feel better and the guest feel
better, and it allows you to feel good about the product
you’re selling."
"Thank you very much for
the opportunity to attend this conference. I only wish
everyone in this office could have had the same experience I
did. I think the benefits from it would have been enormous."
"I enjoyed most
interacting with other Industry representatives i.e.
airline, hotel and rental."
"I was very happy to
attend and felt the entire experience rated an A+.
"It was
well organized and a first class event. I most enjoyed the
technology overview of the Voice Response System, ways of
tracking and monitoring calls and analyzing monitor
feedback."
"I so enjoyed hearing
about the methods different individual companies employed to
keep their employees happy and their customers satisfied.
Everyone was very willing to share and more
importantly,
were very willing
to answer any
questions others may have had. I think we all left there
with a "We’re all in this together" attitude."
"All in all, the
conference was a very positive experience, and well worth
the time and expense entailed to attend. Thank you for the
opportunity."
"The workshops were well
planned and very well organized. Not to mention that the
food was great."
"Based
on this year’s experience, I think we will make every effort to
continue sending some of our people to the IARE conference as a
reward. We, who attend these types of events regularly
sometimes, forget how enlightening and motivating they can be if
you seldom get to attend or especially if it’s your first time.
And I think IARE is the perfect conference for this type of
reward – big enough that you are exposed to the full range of travel
partners, but small enough that you will build relationships and
won’t get lost in the crowd."
Now, while there is still time to get some money in next year’s
budget, I would recommend considering sending some of your top
performers to the next IARE conference as their reward for a job
well done.
Congratulations To Our Award
Winning IARE Members
IARE members –
THANK YOU – for nominating your best!
We received 27 Excellence Award nominations this year. And congratulations
to all who were recognized at our
annual conference in Chicago!
Here is a list of the winners and nominees:
Manager Excellence Award
- Vicky
Willis-Koziol -
Director of Operations – Omni
Hotels Reservation Center
Vicky centralized reservation calls, developed a centralized
Customer Service Department and is developing a National Sales
Office. She also chaired the PAC committee to help provide
recognition and incentive for agents. Vicky's daily duties include
setting daily work schedules for direct reports, acting as a liaison
between corporate and the reservation center for policy decisions
and revisions, coordinating contests and family trips, soliciting
presentations and coordinating schedules for hotel presentations.
Congratulations Vicky!
Nominees included:
Hope McCain - Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Sandy Doucet - Travel Click Canada
LeAnne Crocker - Hyatt International Corporation
Supervisor Excellence Award
- Holly Stanley -
Scheduling Supervisor – Best Western International
Holly has been a Scheduling Supervisor for seven years. This past
year has been one like she has never experienced. Her department of
four was reduced to one, while her workload did not lessen. She's
worn many hats and managed to keep everything running smoothly
without a reduction of her duties. Holly managed to motivate others
and was responsible for overseeing the forecasting and reporting
functions of the CRO, as well as creating schedules for all call
center staff. She was able to maintain a tricky balancing act, as
agents counts were slowly dropping in two locations. At the same
time she was providing the new center with data needed to create
schedules and forecasts. Holly definitely has become good at
juggling all of the many duties she has had over the past year and
still managed to be a devoted wife, mother and stay involved in her
church.
Congratulations Holly!
Nominees included:
Cheryl Huntley - Omni Hotels Reservation Center
Flo Cohen - Amtrak
Craig Kawamoto - Disney Resort Travel Sales Center
Donis Gonnella - Amtrak
Tannis Slezak - TravelCLICK Canada
Kim Huston - Carlson Hotels Worldwide
Staff Excellence Award
- Todd Morse -
Operations Analyst – Hyatt
Hotels & Resorts
Todd's reputation has been built around all he has been able to
create, whether a database, excel spreadsheet or a program to make a
current process more efficient. He does this for anyone and everyone
in our organization and never fails to deliver. His productivity,
effectiveness and humility are a unique combination of qualities
that makes him a cornerstone to our success, not only in the Voice
Operations area, but throughout the Reservation Center.
Congratulations Todd!
Nominees included:
Adam Hernandez - LQ Management
Representative Excellence
Award - Gloria Torres -
Reservation Agent -Walt Disney
Travel
Gloria has been a
Reservation Agent for ten years and part of a special group called
"Super User's" and a member of the "AristoCAST" - Welcoming Team!
She is the first contact for new "cast members”" transitioning from
training. Gloria adds value by answering questions,
offering support, encouraging - she’s responsible for making new
members their first day a positive experience. In addition, this
individual is responsible for nearly 10% of guest compliments.
Guests have described their experience with Gloria by saying “she was insightful
and provided great service," "she was nice and patient while
answering all of my questions," "she put my mind at ease," "she is
professional, friendly, and went above and beyond in providing
excellent service." In our organization she always provides over the
top service and loves what she does. You can hear her smile in her
voice.
Congratulations Gloria!
Nominees included:
Lori Simandl - Omni Hotels Reservations Center
Maureen Peterson - Carlson Hotels Worldwide
Marju Nurmsoo - Hilton Reservation Center Worldwide
Lisa Aman - Amtrak
Jamie Stapp - LQ Management LCC
Wayne Parker - Amtrak
Helen Kontos - Choice Hotels
Anne Sands - Choice Hotels
Ina Benoit - Choice Hotels
Janet Manderochio - Carlson Hotels Worldwide
Spirit
Award - Denise Pullen -
Assistant Director of
Operations - Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
Denise
has been a model of organization for IARE. She quickly volunteered
for committees with a goal to grow the organization, but in
particular, make the annual conference one that other call center
executives would flock to. Denise had challenges in accomplishing
this, but very little ever stood in her way. Once she made her mind
up of what she wanted to accomplish and what she wanted the
conference to look like, she worked with what she had with each
passing year. She has improved the event every year and really has
created a current and relevant value proposition for the members.
Congratulations Denise!
About IARE-News
The IARE-News is a
quarterly publication distributed electronically to provide ongoing
communication and information for IARE Members.
The IARE’s Communications & Technology Committee produces IARE-News.
Articles may be submitted via email to
iare@assnoffice.com
and are subject to acceptance and editing by the Communications and
Technology Committee.
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IARE ... The Travel Call Center People
Connecting people in every corner of the world
7400 East Arapahoe Road, Suite 211
Centennial, Colorado 80112 U.S.A.
Phone 303-694-4728
Fax 303-694-4869
iare@assnoffice.com
© 2006 -- International Association of
Reservation Executives -- All rights reserved.
Last edit
07/13/06
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