“There’s a Huge Opportunity to be a Trusted Partner to the Travel Agency Community”

Travel agents seek hotels with ABC Global Services’ seal of approval. The program guarantees trust in guest experience.

When Pablo Cruz’s customers need to book a hotel, he looks no further than ABC Global Services.

The Director of Operations at Continental Travel Group knows his guests will get the best experience. Many travelers book through popular platforms like Expedia, Priceline, and Booking.com.

What they don’t realize: Hotels occasionally overbook. When that happens, guests booking through those third-party platforms are ranked at the bottom of their list, Cruz says.

“Partnerships like ABC guarantee a certain number of rates and a certain type of clientele. So that means that my customer is going to have a better experience at a hotel booked at an ABC rate,” explains Cruz. “Because if they walk an ABC customer, they’re going to answer to that team.”

The ABC seal of approval

ABC Global Services is the largest hotel consortia program in the world. It provides a service to hotels the way restaurant associations do local restaurants.

Where a restaurant association guarantees better delivery times, local supplies, and discounts on glasses and stemware – ABC Global Services guarantees amenities, benefits, higher commissions and rates to travel agencies.

Most importantly, by offering all the above to travel agencies, hotel guests get the best services and experiences. That’s because hoteliers pay for access to the travel agency community through ABC Global Services.

“Customers who use a travel agent tend to be more loyal, they tend to take the advice of the travel agency of the travel agents,” says Eric Altschul, CEO of ABC Global Services. “They want the services of a travel agent – and that they’re putting them into a trusted hotel that delivers what they say they’re going to deliver.”

Altschul has helped build ABC Global Services to a network of 56,000 hotels – and growing.

A relationship that carries weight

That network of hotels matters to travel agents like Cruz.

He’s led operations at Continental Travel Group since 1990. ABC Global Services gives him peace of mind when booking for his customers.

Cruz is based in South Florida. During his three decades with the travel agency, Cruz has experienced hurricanes frequently during seasons – and has had to shut down operations as a result.

But has done so without fear or stress because “the team at ABC has our back.”

“The after-hours service is a key component to our success,” Cruz says. “They are our voice when we’re not available. Whether it be because it’s three o’clock in the morning, or because a hurricane is coming – which happens at least once a year in Florida – they’re always here to fill any gaps that might exist in our abilities to assist our customers.”

Cruz expounds that can be something as simple as a small token when guests arrive. His guests may learn they’ll have free breakfast, Wi-Fi, or even a room upgrade. It all contributes to a greater guest experience.

“There are millions of hotels all around the world – it’s very hard as an individual travel agent to know all of them, and have a relationship with them,” Cruz says. “That doesn’t mean ABC has a literal relationship with everybody at every hotel, but it carries weight. And that weight means that you find support there for your guests.”