I'm back in Seattle basking in the glow of a successful NBTA.  Thank you to all of the current and prospective customers who came by to meet us, talk candidly about what's working and where we can continue to improve, and learn more about Expedia Corporate Travel. 

I was somewhat surprised by the amount of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) some of our competitors try to put into the marketplace.  Tip to you marketers out there - if you decide to FUD the competition be sure you are making somewhat credible statements.  For example, a number of customers came up to me to say that a couple of our competitors, who shall remain nameless, were saying that Expedia Corporate Travel has no call centers and no agents.  One current customer corrected a competitor, who went on to say that they heard we only had a small number of agents and they only worked a few hours a day. 

Let me set the record straight.

Expedia Corporate Travel has a dozen call centers in North America, Europe, and Asia.  We have over 200 experienced travel agents who are available 24/7, every day of the year.  Customers tell us that our service levels are some of the best in the industry, and we routinely receive very high recommend scores in post-travel surveys.

We have integrated the offline support function and the online travel management product, an industry first.  When a traveler calls an agent for help that agent sees travel plans the same way that a traveler would, which cuts the time required to understand the incoming request.  Each agent assisted transaction is captured in the data warehouse and becomes part of the travel manager's reports.  Heck, our customer service supervisors participate in quarterly and annual business reviews for a number of our customers. 

To anybody who heard the opposite I invite you to check out what we can do for you at expediacorporate.com.

And again, thank you for making this NBTA a success for Expedia Corporate Travel.

-Stan Sorensen, VP Marketing, Expedia Corporate Travel