The transition of Air Jamaica Vacations
from the in-house tour arm of Air Jamaica to a strategic business
unit of The Mark Travel Corp. will be completed and in effect as of
July 1.
Mark Travel will
manage the AJV brand, maintaining its name brand equity and
products in the marketplace.
The new marketing
team will be based in Orlando. Bryan Shilling, vice president and
general manager of the brand, will lead the new marketing team,
along with Brian deMercado, director of marketing.
To ensure a smooth
transition, all bookings will be based on arrival date, regardless
of the date that the reservation was made. All travel with an
arrival date up to and including June 30 will be handled by Air
Jamaica Vacations/Air Jamaica; all travel with an arrival date of
July 1 and later will be handled by Air Jamaica Vacations/The Mark
Travel Corp.
Paul Pennicook,
senior vice president, sales and marketing for Air Jamaica, said
that AJV "will continue to provide excellent customer service in
the destinations it serves. In the future, we look forward to
offering even more services and products."
He said the
transition plan "will be seamless to our travel agent, hotel and
supplier partners, as well as to our customers."
Existing bookings
will be maintained with the same reservation numbers; existing
policies for commission structure, product offerings and booking
options, including the online portal VAX
VacationAccess, will remain in place.
Mark Travel said it
will manage all supplier contracts, honor established AJV
contractual relationships with suppliers and contact suppliers with
any questions on existing contracts, according to
Pennicook.
The contact number
for AJV as of July 1 is (800) 622-3009 for assistance with
reservations, customer service, commissions, documents, accounting
and VAX assistance. For inside sales, the number is (800) 414-0856;
for group sales, the number is (888) 622-3007; for brochure order
assistance, the number is (800) 478-2501.
Res hours are
weekdays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; weekend hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Group sales staffing hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5:30
p.m.
Inquiries through
June 30 go through current contacts at (305) 670-1177.
To
contact reporter Gay Nagle Myers, send e-mail to [email protected].