Margie Jordan
CCRA Travel Solutions (CCRA) on Sept. 28 said it would completely rebrand OSSN, including it under the CCRA umbrella and eliminating the OSSN name, and that it had named agency owner Margie Jordan vice president of membership services. Senior Editor Jamie Biesiada talked to Jordan about her new role and how her social media background comes into play.
Q: CEO Dic Marxen said the rebranding of OSSN is the biggest thing to happen to CCRA in the past 10 years. What do you think about the move?
A: With CCRA coming in, there are lots of opportunities for growth. We've already identified many areas that have some opportunities to increase the benefits to the membership. ... I'm extremely excited about it and looking forward to getting some new things going for the agents.
Q: Do you think it's possible to govern a trade association in an unbiased way when it's owned by a hotel aggregator that sells to its members?
A: I do think it's possible. I know that this is a different model than most people are used to, especially in this industry. You're either one or the other; you don't see both. But they've been doing it quite successfully. ... Our agents have options, and I think every agent knows that. They all have options in where they want to book a hotel or what they want to do, but we've developed one that we think is pretty amazing.
Q: What is the most important thing the industry should know about the changes at CCRA?
A: This is brand-spanking new. All of the changes are new, and I know that the industry is curious about where we're headed. But our biggest concern is making sure that our members are well taken care of, that they have the best benefits and that they have opportunities to grow their business. So that's our goal.
Q: You're a high-profile social media consultant in the industry. How has that visibility elevated your career?
A: I didn't really ever start out to be a social media person or speaker or anything. I'm just a really techy girl who knows a lot about techy things, and I had a door open for me. ... This really grew. Now I absolutely love having that opportunity to interact with my peers because my goal really was just to help everybody. I feel like there's enough business to go around that we can share this, and we can learn and grow from each other. That was always my goal, and I'm just grateful I have a bigger platform to try to do it.
Q: One of your longer-term goals is to attract more members to CCRA. Will social media play a part in that?
A: Social media is important in that respect. Travel agents are socially active, and they're communicating in many ways. I don't know how familiar people are with what really goes on in the social media channels, but travel agents are talking, networking [and] helping each other behind the scenes, and I'm already a part of that. We definitely will use our social media pages to communicate our benefits and ... [what] we can offer [agents].
Q: Were you an OSSN member prior to this?
A: I've been affiliated with OSSN for a very long time. ... I've been a member, I've been a speaker, I've hosted their webinars, and now I get to do more on an even bigger platform.