Month: August 2019

CHICAGO—Aug. 6, 2019—With 83% of female business travelers facing safety concerns, according to GBTA research findings, Christopherson Business Travel has heavily invested in data-rich technology to provide safety tools for their clients’ travelers.

“Because traveler safety is a top priority, we have enhanced our duty-of-care tool, SecurityLogic™ with a powerful Safety Check™ feature,” said Mike Cameron, CEO at Christopherson Business Travel. “With Safety Check, travel managers can quickly verify their travelers’ safety.

“When the traveler receives a Safety Check, they can respond from their digital device with, ‘I’m safe,’ or ‘I need assistance.’

“If they click, ‘I need assistance,’ they can detail their needs and exact location, and we provide instant options for additional communication so the travel manager can provide immediate help.”

Christopherson’s university clients frequently use Safety Check for students traveling abroad to verify their location.

As Brenda Rivers, founder and strategic consultant at Andavo Meetings & Incentives, a division of Christopherson Business Travel, attests, potential dangers can happen at the most unexpected times.

“When 200 travelers were en route to Baltimore, Hurricane Sandy unexpectedly slammed into downtown Baltimore with category 4 winds and severe rain, which caused power outages and endangered our travelers,” said Rivers. “SecurityLogic is a tool that allows travel managers to pinpoint travelers’ exact locations, use Safety Check to determine their safety and communicate instructions to stay or to re-route them.”

Providing travel safety, especially for women, begins with the corporate travel manager, according to Rivers, who has 27 years in the travel business.

“Travel managers should track travel data, provide pre-travel event information and list destination details for high-risk areas,” she said. “A manual alone doesn’t suffice anymore. You have to walk travelers through role-play scenarios so they know more clearly what to do if they face danger. Even table-talk simulations are effective.”

Duty of care is the travel communities’ moral and legal obligation to take more serious responsibility for the safety of travelers, according to Cameron.

“Safety is always an issue for women everywhere, but it is amplified when we travel,” said Krista Erçin-Maurer, manager of marketing at Christopherson Business Travel. “Studies show women are assaulted more than men, signifying that safety has to be part of every company’s duty of care plan.”

The National Survey of Family Growth found that 25 percent of women are raped by age 44, whereas only eight percent of men say they have been raped by that same age.

“We’re often in new locations and out of our comfort zone. When traveling abroad, navigating foreign languages and different cultures add another safety-risk dimension,” said Erçin-Maurer. “In addition to utilizing technology like SecurityLogic, companies need to institute travel policies and risk management safety training. We recommend the following tips:

1. Partner with properties that have female-friendly rooms designated for safety, which are rooms on the third level or higher, close to the elevator, not at the end of the hallway, and are never near fire escapes or exterior entrances;
2. Avoid booking late meetings for female travelers that require them to return to the hotel after dark;
3. Use a car service and secure transport between all locations;
4. Provide safety training before trips, particularly when your female travelers are headed to areas of the world that are more dangerous for women;
5. Add communication requirements to your duty of care and risk management plans. Make sure female travelers know what to do and whom to contact if a safety incident occurs; and
6. Provide reliable communication methods, e.g., cell phones and cell service, wherever a woman is traveling in the world.”

Overall, companies should review safety issues women face, talk to their female employees, understand their worries, provide SecurityLogic technology, and update policies to today’s needs.

For more information on SecurityLogic and updated travel safety policies for women, contact Christopherson Business Travel at cbtravel.com.

Christopherson Business Travel, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is the independently owned leader in business travel management, digital travel tools, and business travel resources. As the twelfth largest business travel agency in the United States, with more than 480 team members and 5 full-service locations across the country, Christopherson supports more than $682 million in annual travel bookings. Christopherson provides intelligent travel management to more than 1,000 successful companies and organizations, and is an affiliate of BCD Travel. To learn more about Christopherson Business Travel, visit cbtravel.com.

 

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Media Contact:

Krista Ercin-Maurer

303-694-8770; krista.ercin-maurer@cbtravel.com

CHICAGO—Aug. 5, 2019—Christopherson Business Travel has reinvented how travel management companies approach the customer experience, delivering elevated human interaction in a world inundated with high-tech.

“Customer expectations are shaped by the most dynamic consumer experiences they encounter in other industries,” said Mike Cameron, CEO at Christopherson Business Travel. “While it may seem counter-intuitive in this tech-focused world, being customer-centric requires much more than providing the latest and greatest in technology.”

By focusing on specific consumer touchpoints and the individual needs present at those touchpoints, Christopherson has developed an approach that allows them to not only lead with their robust technology platform, but leverage the depth of their team’s experience and expertise for the benefit of clients.

“We’ll never stop innovating new technology to get data into the hands of those who need it, when and where they need it,” Cameron said. “But we’re also working to shift the customer experience with an elevated layer of consultative and personalized experiences.”

Is Christopherson’s investment working?

“Absolutely, it works,” said Jennifer Phan, senior program manager at University of Southern California’s American Film Showcase. “Technology is essential, but with the travel complexities I manage, I definitely need a travel advisor who is knowledgeable, accessible, and dependable. For me, that person is my travel advisor at Christopherson.”

The more complex the demands, the more important it is for the digital, consultative, and personalized experiences to connect in a symbiotic way. The result is a customer-centric experience that pays in dividends for the client, Cameron said.

“Frequently, travel planning is so complicated that my advisor and I have to get on the phone,” said Phan, who manages 50 programs traveling to 50 countries. “Six months ago, she saved us by providing solutions with a series of international flights. She even worked through her Thanksgiving holiday to arrange very complex flight plans with our people who were traveling and had complicated issues.”

In order to deliver on its promise of customer-centricity, Christopherson has implemented new trainings and technology so travel advisors, account managers, and online support teams have a deep, integrated knowledge of the client, their specific needs and processes, and a personal relationship with them.

“My advisor knows my system—she knows me!” Phan said. “I can count on her to the point that it would be impossible to do my job without her. She’s flexible, understands our needs, is intuitive, has a sense of humor, and follows up. Those qualities have saved me and have made my trust in a travel agent partner, such as Christopherson, locked in solid.”

Christopherson Business Travel, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is the independently owned leader in business travel management, online travel tools, and business travel resources. As the twelfth largest business travel agency in the United States, with more than 480 team members and 5 full-service locations across the country, Christopherson supports more than $682 million in annual travel bookings. Christopherson provides intelligent travel management to more than 1,000 successful companies and organizations, and is an affiliate of BCD Travel. To learn more about Christopherson Business Travel, visit cbtravel.com.

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Media Contact:

Krista Ercin-Maurer

303-694-8770

krista.ercin-maurer@cbtravel.com