| Corporate
Partner of the Month
&
Diamond
Sponsor
Visit Our Sponsor
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Neda Nazem, LABTA board advisor, was recently named
business development manager for
Vaustralia Airlines.
Do you have news you'd like to share with your fellow LABTA members? A
new job? A promotion? An award or recognition? Please send your news and photo
to
Jeff Sewalson at
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Welcome
New
Members
The following new members joined LABTA in February.
Welcome!
DIRECT
Kathy Pratt
Manager, Facilities Management
Edison Mission Energy
Senior Vice President BCD Travel
Vice President
BCD Travel
Karina Amparan
Business Travel Sales Manager
Westin South Coast Plaza
Clyde Siao-Frankera Business Travel Sales Manager
Hilton Universal City
General Manager
Mosaic Global Transportation
Director of Business Develoment
American Express
Account Manager
Avis Budget
Group
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April 8:
USA Today Travel Writer to Speak at LABTA
The April meeting will feature David Grossman, travel writer for
USAToday.com. He will discuss the business travel outlook for 2009 and will
give us insight from his perspective as a travel writer. The program begins at
6:45 p.m. at the Hilton Pasadena.
This program is supported by April's Corporate Partner of the Month -
Mexicana Airlines. Click here for additional details and to
register. | |
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Tell DC:
Don't Cripple the
Travel Industry!
By Frank Dolce
LABTA Director of Legislative Affairs As you may know, recent
negative media reports about a few over-the-top incentive trips and other
corporate events have resulted in legislative efforts to ban TARP companies from
holding meetings unless they have been granted a waiver by the Treasury
Department. These efforts have had an unintended spillover effect and are viewed
by many in the industry as excessive as the incidents that inspired them. Many
hotels and resorts are seeing mass cancellations by companies and associations
with no connection to the affected industries. In fact
(and I have personally verified this), one Southern California resort has seen
the cancellation of over 16,000 room nights representing nearly $6
million by clients wishing to avoid negative perceptions with their
shareholders and the public. We all know meetings are crucial to a company's
success and that the industry generates hundreds of thousands of jobs and
billions in revenue... we need to let Congress know. If you believe legislative
efforts are a blunt instrument and could actually increase
unemployment, especially in the ranks of hourly workers and mid level
employees (such as us) please take action by clicking this link. It will take you to the
relevant NBTA page so you may add your voice to the growing chorus asking
Congress to reconsider and/or refine its actions. We are the
middle class our new administration wishes to help and yet we would
disproportionately bear the brunt of these misguided efforts. Take
action today! Please join me in petitioning our government for redress of
grievances by clicking this link - it only takes a
minute. For a recent article on the issue, please click here. |
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 Spotlight on
Board Committees
Corporate Social Responsibility
By harnessing the resources of the LABTA, CSR aims to deliver a mix of
volunteerism, charity and education engaging members in support of our community
and planet. Given the current global economic crisis, if there was ever a time
to give back to our community, this is it!
The LABTA is organizing two volunteer events in 2009 giving you an
opportunity to make a difference in your community alongside your fellow LABTA
colleagues and friends.
The first event on Saturday, May 9, is the REVLON 5K Run/Walk for
Women. At least 25 sign-ups are needed to qualify as an official team
and together we will walk as one in the fight against women's cancers.
In September 2009, volunteers will be asked to pitch in and help with
sorting at an LA Food Bank distribution center. Each year more
than 42 million pounds of food are sorted to over 1,000 partner agencies serving
the hungriest Los Angelinos. To find out how you can get involved,
contact LABTA CSR Director Kjarsten Philipsen kphilipsen@egencia.com.
Meet LABTA's CSR Director
Kjarsten has more than 10 years
experience working in the travel and technology industries. He currently
works for Egencia, an Expedia Inc. Company, where he has held the  position of district sales manager for approximately three
years covering Greater Los Angeles. Prior to Egencia, Kjarsten worked in both
sales and marketing roles for British Airways in Miami and New York, and then
moved back to Miami to joined LAN Airlines. Kjarsten also worked for three
years in Sydney, Australia for a technology supplier to the retail industry. He
holds a BBA in marketing from Eastern Michigan Universtiy while also attending
the University of Copehagen, Denmark.
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Save $95 on the NBTA Financial Forum
in NYC courtesy of our colleagues at Egencia!
Click here now to register and save
$95. Use Coupon Code 09FFENA
*Promotional Code
may be used by multiple registrants from the same
organization.
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Travel
FOCus Program Provides
Practical Solutions
Nearly 100 business travel professionals joined presenter Bryan Holmes,
Broadcom's global travel manager, at the FOCus Outreach program at the Hilton in
Costa Mesa on March 5.
Bryan reviewed travel program procedural shortcomings with standard search
and reporting processes. He outlined pragmatic steps to address the
shortcomings that immediately impact a travel program's bottom line. He relayed
his personal journey addressing his management's challenge to reconstruct
Broadcom's air program, which led to his innovative approach to recreate
Broadcom's airfare search, communication, and reporting process delivering
substantial savings. Bryan's presentation was targeted for anyone involved in
influencing corporate airfare purchases to include administrative personnel
frequently overseeing arranging travel to veteran global travel
managers.
"I really appreciated Bryan sharing a "real world" story on
how to manage lowest airfare options, said Susan Lyster, regional director of
sales at Egencia. "All companies are looking for ways to manage the 'lowest
logical airfare' and obviously Broadcom has got it right down to a science. By
steering travelers towards the best airfare choices, significant cost-savings
can be obtained. Bryan took what could possibly be a very dry, technical topic
and made it interesting and even fun."
Laurie Libby, district sales
manager at FCm Travel Solutions echoed Lyster's praise. "Bryan Holmes is a
refreshing and innovative contributor to Travel Management, both regionally,
nationally and soon globally," she said. "His 'search sense' concept single
handily changed the behavior of travelers and allowed for substantial savings
in airline costs for Broadcom. No longer does a company have to rely on the
assumptions that a traveler is choosing the lowest logical airfares and is
within policy guidelines."
About Travel FOCus
Travel FOCus is an outreach program of the Los Angeles Business Travel
Association (LABTA). The program is designed to bring LABTA content to Orange
County and through its members expand the resources available to Orange County
business travel buyers and suppliers. Click here for more
info. |
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Win a
$100 Gift Card!
We could live with calling this publication LABTA News
Bytes, but we thought it would be more fun to ask our members for
their ideas. So, if you have an idea for a catchy name for our new eNewsletter,
send it our way. The creative mind that wins will receive a $100 gift card to
his/her favorite restaurant.
Send submissions to Frank Dolce at
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March
23-24:
CCTE Accredited Green Travel Summit
The first annual Green Travel Summit will focus on exploring green travel
strategies and their impact on business travel and corporate meetings. Join
thought leaders, industry peers and progressive travel service providers who
will converge under one roof to share information on the risks and rewards of
building a sustainable travel and meetings strategy.
This conference is two full days, and CCTE candidates and graduates can get
a special discount - $349 conference registration for attending one day plus
$125 for one elective credit, or $499 conference registration for both days plus
$250 for two elective credits. Please send an e-mail to education@nbta.org for the
discount code.SPECIAL
NOTE: If you would like to register without CCTE credits, you can
still save 10% off the prevailing regular rate with Promo code: NBTALA
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