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travelnews: Ambassador Travel
I want to thank everyone who gave me their feedback about Ambassador
Travel a few weeks ago and assure you that the information was used in
a generic manner. Nobody's name or department name was revealed during my
meeting with Ambassador. Following is an e-mail that the manager from
Ambassador has sent out to campus today. She received a lot of rejected
e-mails for address problems and has asked that I forward it to my list.
So if you get this twice I appologize.
DATE: April 25, 2005
MEMO: TO ALL UNIVERSITY OF OREGON TRAVEL COORDINATORS AND AUTHORIZORS
FROM: VIVIENNE KOUBA, CEO, JOURNEYS BY AMBASSADOR (FORMERLY AMBASSADOR
TRAVEL)
RE: SERVICE REVIEW
There is nothing more sobering than presuming you are doing a good job,
only to find out you are not delivering what you promised. I met with
Carolyn Wooley last week and learned that our services were, in many
instances, not meeting customer expectations. It was a very difficult,
but necessary, meeting.
I am responsible for the fulfillment of this contract with the
University of Oregon, and service, timeliness, responsiveness and cost
control are at the very heart of this agreement. I want to apologize to
all U of O travelers and travel arrangers who have had a bad experience
with our company and want to emphasize to you that we will not accept
poor service performance.
Journeys by Ambassador (JBA) is still one of the University's
contract-awarded travel agencies from now until December '06. Here are
the steps we are taking to ensure that our service drastically improves
during the remaining period.
1. We will designate a full time travel agent to do only U of O
travel. Her name is Karin Almeida. Karin has over ten years
experience processing high volume corporate and government travel
arrangements. She worked on a VIP travel desk for many of those years
because of her excellent knowledge and service record. She is very
skilled at finding the best fares, both domestic and international, and
she understands the importance of quick turn around and clear
communication. Karin will be available from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
2. We will designate 2 other travel agents to serve as back up for
Karin. Their job will be to prioritize overflow calls from the
University. Jamie Olian and Caroline Johnson will be available any time
Karin is not. Both Jamie and Caroline will be available 8:30 am to 5:30
pm.
3. We will return emails within one hour, or send a message if we
are not able to process your request within that time.
4. We will return phone calls within 2 hours, or send a message if
we are not able to process your request within that time.
If you have an existing relationship with one of our agents and are
satisfied with the service and products you are receiving, please feel
free to continue that relationship. We don't need to break something
that's not broken. For those of you who have stopped using Journeys by
Ambassador or have yet to use JBA, if you would like to work with us,
here are the contact numbers and email addresses for our U of O agents:
Karin Almeida 541 685-2623 kalmeida@jbatravel.com
Jamie Olian 800 544-2395
jolian@jbatravel.com <mailto:jolian@jbatravel.com>
Caroline Johnson: 800 848-5775 cjohnson@jbatravel.com
<mailto:cjohnson@jbatravel.com>
Karin is ready and waiting to help you with any travel arrangements, and
is looking forward to working with travelers and travel arrangers at the
University of Oregon.
Finally, for any issues or concerns in the future, please feel to call
my direct line, 541 685-2600, or email me at vkouba@jbatravel.com
<mailto:vkouba@jbatravel.com>
Thank you for your feedback. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to
try again.
Sincerely,
Vivienne T. Kouba, CTC, CEO
Journeys by Ambassador
A Virtuoso Member Agency
541 685-2600 (direct)
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