SEATTLE -- Not long ago, Metropolitan Travel was a corporate agency
doing $20 million in annual sales. That was 1994, the year before
Marka Jenkins was hired as the agency's president.
Today, Metropolitan's gross annual sales come to $160 million,
propelling the agency into Travel Weekly's Top 50 Agencies for the
first time.
According to Jenkins, now the chief executive officer and
co-owner, the embrace of technology and innovation has been a large
factor in the rise of Metropolitan Travel.
Jenkins brought an e-mail innovation to Metropolitan from her
previous job -- managing the Microsoft account for American
Express.
The system linked the CRS terminals of travel agents with
Microsoft's employee network, making communications simpler between
agents and travelers. Agents no longer had to use a different
computer to write an e-mail to a traveler, said Jenkins.
When Jenkins left American Express for Metropolitan Travel,
bringing the e-mail idea with her, she also brought Gary Ferguson,
the information technology expert at Microsoft who headed the
e-mail project. Ferguson led similar e-mail projects for
Metropolitan's corporate clients.
"Corporations were able to get better information," Jenkins
said. "We anticipated this need."
Incepta, a Seattle-based venture capital firm, makes most of its
travel reservations by sending itinerary requests via e-mail to
Metropolitan, said Incepta's travel manager, Jessica Williams.
"The turnaround time [from receiving e-mails to confirming
itineraries] is fast, always less than one hour," said
Williams.
Ferguson also was instrumental in the negotiation of new
technology agreements with Metropolitan's CRS pro-vider,
Galileo.
Metropolitan bought on-site CRS terminals from Galileo because
it was more convenient for its corporate clients, Jenkins said.
When Galileo owned the terminals and there was a technology
problem, corporations sometimes had to wait weeks for the problem
to get fixed, she said.
"We took on our own equipment so we could respond to problems
quickly. It was a huge selling point for Metropolitan at that
time."
Also, Jenkins said Metropolitan was a pioneer in Web reporting
in the mid-1990s, which attracted the attention of corporate travel
managers who had tired of wading through monthly tomes to detect
travel patterns.
Incorporating innovative technology for on-site accounts became
Metropolitan's niche, and word got around, said Jenkins.
Most of Metropolitan's clients are midsize companies, although
the agency has a few large accounts, such as the Nordstrom
department store. Amazon.com is another of Metropolitan's customers.
"We really look for customers that want technological solutions,
travel management value and high customer service, all in
combination," Jenkins said. "We're not the reservations center, and
we're not the lowest bidder. That's not our niche."
Technological innovation continues for Metropolitan in the form
of Highwire, a spin-off owned by Metropolitan and Galileo.
Highwire, which occupies most of Jenkins' time these days, launched
in 2000.
The company sells Travelport, an on-line booking engine for
corporations. The fact that Metropolitan can offer traditional
agent services and its own on-line booking system was a factor in
the agency's winning the Port of Seattle account, said Marty Rose,
the port's capital purchases supervisor.
"Like most organizations, we're looking at cutting costs," said
Rose, whose company runs the Seattle waterfront and facilities at
Seattle-Tacoma Airport. "But there are times when we need an agent
because some of our travel is very complicated. With Metropolitan,
we get the best of both worlds."
Originally, Highwire was to be marketed to midsized companies
like Port of Seattle. However, the company has altered its strategy
to include large corporations.
"There are a lot more transactions in a large-market account,"
Jenkins said.
Highwire already has landed two giant accounts, Microsoft and
Deloitte & Touche.
Jenkins projects that Highwire will be "cash-flow positive" by
second quarter 2002.
Ex-flight attendant soars into CEO role
SEATTLE -- Remember Pacific Southwest Airlines, the carrier with
the smiley face on its planes?
Well, that's where Marka Jenkins, chief executive officer of
Metropolitan Travel, got her start in the travel business -- as a
flight attendant. That was 1986.
It didn't take long for Jenkins to experience industry
consolidation, as US Airways, then USAir, bought PSA in May 1987.
Soon after, Jenkins changed her career path. She was still
intrigued by the airline business but was more interested in
sales.
Luckily, a sales position for the airline opened up in her
native Seattle. Jenkins' customers were travel agencies. One was
Metropolitan Travel. After a couple of years, USAir's presence in
the Pacific Northwest began to diminish. Former PSA routes were
being discontinued.
"If I wanted to grow in a company and stay in the area, I had to
find another job," she recalled. "I saw the writing on the
wall."
Plus, there was the matter of earning more cash.
"Airlines don't pay air reps very much money," she said.
During her years with USAir, Jenkins developed a business
relationship with Jeff Schoenfeld, founder of Metropolitan Travel.
In 1991, he hired Jenkins as an account executive.
Jenkins remained at Metropolitan until 1994, when she took a job
with American Express as operations manager for the Microsoft
account.
Jenkins returned to Metropolitan after six months because
Schoenfeld wanted to pursue other business interests and asked her
to take over the day-to-day operations of the travel agency, she
said.
When she returned, Schoenfeld enabled Jenkins to earn a share of
the business by winning new accounts and increasing profits. She
was named president, then eventually chief executive officer.
Today, Schoenfeld owns 45% of the agency and Jenkins owns 45%.
The other 10% is owned by Gary Ferguson, head of Metropolitan's
information systems.