BOSTON -- Passkey.com in Quincy, Mass., said it has signed up
convention and visitors' bureaus -- including those in Atlanta;
Baltimore; Detroit; Kansas City, Mo.; Orlando, and
Providence/Warwick, R.I. -- for its recently announced call center
with McCord Travel Management.
As reported, Passkey last month introduced air and car
reservations services from Sabre and integrated those into a call
center it developed in an alliance with McCord's new group travel
services unit.
Roger Paradis, president and chief executive of Passkey.com,
said the call center is currently handling about 22 events.
The call center is processing reservations for air travel and
rental cars and providing instant fax and electronic mail
confirmation for travelers.
The Chicago-based call center processes hotel reservations for
convention and visitors' bureaus and for meeting planners served by
Passkey.com. The center also handles group travel reservations made
through Sabre.
"We will provide a particular call center experience, which,
coupled with technology from Passkey.com and Sabre, establishes a
single-source product for corporate meeting planners, associations
and CVBs," said Scott Graf, vice president and general manager of
McCord.
McCord expanded its group travel service offerings in 1999
following a restructuring at the Chicago-based travel management
company.
Scott Alvis, senior vice president of associate marketing and
sales at Sabre, said the integrated service helps meeting planners
and group travelers by "simplifying the overall booking
process."
"Sabre has essentially integrated its travel-booking
functionality with Passkey.com's housing-booking capability to
create a unique and compelling product for the group meetings
industry," said Alvis.
Sabre originally entered an alliance with Passkey.com in 1999.
The CRS company made a small equity investment in Passkey.com as
part of the alliance agreement.
The call center is being used in the abovementioned cities as
well as for the annual conference of the American Physical Therapy
Association, among other events, the company said.