Corporate Travelers

We approach travel planning differently than other travel agents. We begin and end with respect. Respect for you, your time and your budget. That's why we offer personalized service to get you the kind of seat assignments, airline meals and hotel rooms you prefer. And that's why we don't force you to endure complex phone trees and on-hold pauses when you need to reach us to change your itinerary. In other words, we approach travel as you would. We think like you do.

We also bring years of experience mastering the complexities of arranging business travel so that you can benefit from our expertise. We know the airline connections that seldom connect on time as well as the hotels undergoing renovations, for instance. And we know how to use a variety of sources to find you the best airfares and rates while still providing you quality service.

We apply sophisticated technology to book your travel and track your company's travel activities so that efficiencies can be gained, but we also recognize the limitations of today's technology and apply seasoned, commonsense expertise to make sure that we make travel arrangements that serve your exact needs.

Of course, we encourage you to use our online booking service, but you can rest assured that even when you make your own arrangements, we will review your bookings and alert you if we can find alternatives that you might prefer. You also will be able to focus your time on your job or whatever else you want to do rather than hopping from website to website in search of the lowest airfare.

While we have special expertise in uncovering low-cost business travel options, we also have extensive experience arranging executive-level travel. Our close relationships with airlines, hotels, car services and others, combined with our personal approach to travel planning, add up to truly first-class executive-level travel. In fact, we continuously strive to surpass your expectations with our exceptional attention to detail, e.g. to make sure your flights have been upgraded, or your favorite Boston-based driver meets you when you arrive at Logan airport.

Our travel planning services offer a one-stop source for finding and booking complete travel arrangements-from air travel to hotels and ground transportation-and then deliver tickets directly to you. You can call us or use our online travel request form (accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) to have us arrange your travel. We research and make reservations on major and non-major carriers (such as Southwest Airlines, JetBlue or Sun Country, which many travel agencies refuse to book). Or, if you prefer, you can use our online reservation service to book your flights directly. Regardless of which service you use, we help you manage your frequent flier programs, and assist you with international travel matters such as passports and visas. And when your travel plans change, we're available to help you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Executive Travel Consultants provides a one-stop source for finding and booking complete travel arrangements-from air travel to hotels and ground transportation-and then delivers tickets directly to your company. Our job is to handle your travel planning so you save both time and money, while gaining peace of mind. The following services are offered to all of our customers:

Customer Service

• Support by phone, voice mail, fax or email
• Refunds on unused e-tickets
• After-hours emergency service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Extensive quality control to ensure accuracy
• Ongoing management support

Airline Reservations

• Reservations on tertiary and non-ARC carriers, such as Southwest Airlines
• Use of promotional coupons and fares, as well as consolidator tickets, when available
• Negotiated airfare rates through industry associations and programs
• Enrollment and management of frequent flyer mileage, air club and credit card programs

Hotel & Rental Car Reservations

• Negotiated corporate discount rates
• Use of promotional coupons when available
• Arranging for special needs or requirements

Ground Transportation

• Negotiated airport parking rates at select locations
• Arranging for limousine and specialized ground transportation

International Travel

• Assistance applying for or renewing a Passport, including expedited processing
• Assistance with Visa applications
• VAT recovery support

If your company is not using Executive Travel Consultants, we encourage you to try us. We think you'll immediately see the difference. Just contact us by phone at 425.453.8200, or by email at [email protected].

You (or your travel manager, if you have one) will be able to access a variety of useful reports to track travel expenditures. We also can customize reports to meet your company's particular needs and even help consult on the development of travel policies based on your company's goals and experiences, plus negotiate rates for high-volume accounts.

Our Account Management services help you manage your travel with minimal pain and maximum gain. You will have the satisfaction of knowing that all travel planning we handle for you is in compliance with your corporate travel policy. No more wondering about surprises at the last minute because we've handled all arrangements in advance. Your only worries will be checking in for your flight and taking care of your business matters.

Reporting
We use iBank to generate sophisticated reports to meet your needs. These reports are fully accessible online and may also be emailed directly to you as your needs dictate.

• Reports are tailored to customer requirements; many reports can be self-tailored online
• Cost savings analysis generated for every trip booked
• Service level reporting for all trips booked

Contract Negotiation
In addition to using any corporate rates you may have already established, ETC will work with you to negotiate the best possible contract rate for your corporate needs.

• Negotiated airfare, hotel and rental car savings
• Vendor review, recommendation and selection
• On-going review of all existing rates for potential cost-savings

Quality Control
We pride ourselves on the services we provide and our ability to continually save you money through our comprehensive quality control process. Specific quality controls include:

• Compliance with your corporate travel policy
• Advance invoice and itinerary including flight information, hotel, car and seat assignments
• VAT recovery support
• Recovery and refunds on unused e-tickets
• Post-travel audits to determine trends and potential future savings

International Travel
If you are planning international travel, we have an excellent international travel rate desk and can assist you with a variety of international travel matters including:

• Assistance applying for or renewing a Passport, including expedited processing
• Assistance with Visa applications
• Managing all international transfers
• My Travel Wallet currency exchange rates

Our approach to operations and technology automation centers on making sure that no matter how complex your travel plans are, you will be guaranteed an exceptional level of service supported by state-of-the-art back-office systems. And because technology is changing, we are continuously evaluating and implementing new technologies and systems to support your needs. The result? A powerful infrastructure to serve you as you want to be served.

Topaz International, a world leader in airfare auditing, has announced a new international benchmarking study that showed that the airline booking system used by Executive Travel consistently finds the lowest available airfares worldwide. Topaz tracked the performance and itinerary pricing results of four of the most prominent low-fare shopping tools in the travel industry. Results revealed that our booking system not only finds lowest fares more often than other products, nearly 60 percent of the time overall, but also generates an average saving of $68.13 per ticket.

Operations

No travel agency in the new millennium can operate without a solid operational foundation and Executive Travel Consultants is no exception. Our operational system is robust and fully tested to ensure you the highest degree of customer satisfaction.

• World-class management, IT, agent, sales and account management staff
• Fully-integrated technology platform
• Industry-approved and recognized software
• Personalized services tailored to companies of all sizes
• Customized scripting for data exchange

Quality Control

We pride ourselves on the services we provide and our ability to continually save you money through our comprehensive quality control process.

• Compliance with your corporate travel policy
• Advance invoice and itinerary including flight information, hotel, car and seat assignments
• VAT recovery support
• Recovery and refunds on unused e-tickets
• Post-travel audits to determine trends and potential future savings
• Long-term account data storage
• Customer surveys

Technology

We work to make technology ubiquitous so that you see the results of our application of technology while not needing to concern yourself with the inner workings of that technology. And you can rest assured that we will continue to research further advances in technology, and implement any that will improve the quality of service we can offer you. Core technologies currently employed include:

If your company is not using Executive Travel Consultants, we encourage you to try us. We think you'll immediately see the difference. Just contact us by phone at 425.453.8200, or by email at [email protected].

• GlobalWare back-office system

  • Automated payment processing
  • Interfaces with iBank travel management reporting
  • ODBC-compliant reporting software applications
  • Full general ledger functionality
• TravelPort
  • Web-based online travel booking engine
  • Fully integrated with Apollo
  • Real-time schedule updates for all major airlines
• iBank online travel management reporting
  • Over 50 pre-defined standard customer reports
  • Able to customize reports tailored to client needs
  • Seamless interface with GDS and all major back-end accounting systems
  • Data warehousing
  • PNR History
  • Built-in broadcast report scheduler
  • Readable in Adobe Acrobat, MS Excel or ODBC-compliant data formats
• My Travel Wallet currency rates and conversion
  • Up to the minute currency rates
  • Order foreign currency online
• Aqua/TravelGamut automation
  • Audits and modifies PNRs for accuracy
  • Processes seat assignments
  • Lowest fare selection for pair cities
  • Waitlist clearance capabilities
  • Secures seat upgrades automatically when allowed by airlines
  • Delivers traveler itineraries via fax, email or posted online
  • Tracks and reports all used and unused e-tickets
• Crystal Reports
  • Native access for all major databases and file formats (ACT!, Clipper, Pervasive, DBASE, FoxPro, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Outlook and Paradox)
  • Native client/server and network data access for all major systems (Oracle 7.x & 8.x, IBM DB2, Informix, Lotus Notes & Domino 4.5 R5 and above, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft IIS, Microsoft SMS, Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase SQL Server 10 & 11)
  • ODBC-compliant (Dbase, IBM DB/2, Informix (Inet 5, 7), Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft FoxPro & Visual FoxPro 3.0, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Paradox & Sybase Server 10 & 11)
  • Report integration, including OLE interfaces and ActiveX controls
  • Multiple report formats, including OLAP, query, conditional, mail-merge and drill-down

We've taken a very simple approach to technology at Executive Travel Consultants. We use technology extensively and intensely. But we don't let technology drive us. Rather, we drive technology by applying it where it makes sense. And using people where people make sense. Sounds simple, but unfortunately, that balanced perspective is missing at most travel agencies, and you end up paying the price in frustration and lost productivity.

For all the advances made in online reservation system technologies, report generators and the like, none are quite perfect. All suffer from weaknesses and limitations, so we apply our human oversight to fill in the gaps. As we apply technology, we never forget the value of human oversight in mastering the complexities of travel planning and management.

Think about it. Ever tried to change a reservation made via an online travel service or airline website? Ever tire of waiting on hold to speak to an actual travel agent who can help you make changes when a flight is cancelled?

We have experienced those exact frustrations, so we use state-of-the-art technology, but we use it to support our personalized attention to your specific travel requirements rather than as a substitute.

At Executive Travel Consultants, we make sure technology is ubiquitous. What matters is that you get low-cost travel arrangements the way you want them along with readily available (or regularly delivered) reports tracking your travel expenditures however you want those expenses tracked.

Specific technologies employed by Executive Travel Consultants include:

• Traversa
• Traversa Demo
• iBank online reporting
• My Travel Wallet currency exchange
• Crystal Reports