Meet Our Travel Advisors

So we got back last night from Amsterdam/ Ireland and want to thank you ….everything was wonderful. Flights all worked out and our combo chauffeur/self drive was great! Carl did great with the driving, inhaling deeply on some of those narrow roads but we made it, still speaking!!! And the accommodations were mostly all fabulous…Merrion, Ashford, Ballynahinch were terrific! Arbutus was local flavor, clean, and the people were wonderful, but a bit of a comedown after the previous 3…got us ready for home…gradual comedown!!! We appreciate all your efforts on our behalf and look forward to working with you again.

Carl & Gail — Trip to Amsterdam & Ireland

Thank you sooooooooo very much!!! We are so glad we have you as our "partner" on this, and for that matter, any of our travels!!!!! You look out for our best, always have our back, are an awesome person and go above and beyond. The world needs more Colleen's.

Bob — 

Our ship is about to depart from Ushuaia for Antarctica! The pre-trip was great. Everything went very smoothly. Thank you for all your work to set this up!  Merry Christmas!

Jon S — 

Dear Petra and Elizabeth,

Thanks so much for your help in arranging my trip with Andrew to Hong Kong and Osaka/Tokyo. We had an amazing time and thanks to an ex-pat friend living in Tokyo enjoyed some amazing meals there. Truly extraordinary. I also thought you might like to know that we had a terrific time at all four of the hotels we stayed at: the Conrad in Hong Kong, the Intercontinental in Osaka (truly amazing), the Osaka Hilton and the Tokyo Hilton. I would recommend all of them to your clients, depending on the price points they are looking for. Our experiences at each one was excellent. Also, it’s clear that Premium Economy is the way to go. We had an excellent if somewhat long (15:35) flight to Hong Kong on Cathay and then my flight back on JAL to JFK was terrific. Incidentally, JAL is flying the new 787-800 Dreamliner on this route. It’s an amazing plane, so much roomier inside, much more quiet, and the seats were quite comfortable. I was very pleasantly surprised at the JAL service - it is every bit as good as Cathay and the food was better.

Thanks again for all of your help - I look forward to working with you again on future journeys.

Harlan — Trip to Hong Kong, Osaka & Tokyo

Just wanted to let you know everything went great, people were all at the right place at the right time, and were all wonderful. Barcelona was really a interesting place. Can't wait to go back!. We really saw a lot and the boys seemed to really enjoy the trip. Their favorite was the volcano tour, and Monte Carlo, the driver there was very nice.

Tina — Trip to Italy

Letter Received by Cindie's Manager:

I just wanted to commend your employee, Cindie Powell, for her delightful and most knowledgeable assistance in booking a complicated trip to Nepal for me. We travel a great deal but I generally do my own bookings. Something told me to go through American Express for this, and I am so glad I did.She thought of everything; was patient, personable and, most important, knew her business. I will most definitely use Amex travel again and again.She's a pleasure,

Karen — Trip to India

Amsterdam was marvelous hotel was wonderful car — super nice. The walking tour was great about walked our legs off, Danes can really walk! Hotel in Naples was very high tech beautiful place but in a very poor neighborhood close to ferry so that was very convenient had us coming the day before but was no problem. I would recommend both hotels. Thanks for all your help! It's been a fantastic trip.

Tina — Trip to Europe

Thank you so much for helping us plan the Estrella Foothills High School Wolves Robotics Team trip to the Asia Pacific Invitational Competition.  Our trip to Sydney, Australia was amazing. The students had a great time exploring Sydney as well as competing in the Asia Pacific Invitational. The tournament consisted of 33 teams, only 10 from the US, and was a great international experience.  Overall, the team had an outstanding tournament finishing third, losing only to the tournament champions, Romania, in the semi-finals. The students had fun competing with teams from different countries and learned a lot about other cultures. We also won the Promote Award for our 60 second PSA for FIRST following a given prompt. You can find this on YouTube here; it is a Blender movie. Blender is a 30 modeling software, so this is an amazing video with high production value. For the team's last competition we had an outstanding tournament and the students are very happy with their performance.

As for exploring Sydney, we climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, explored downtown Sydney, and saw their famous Opera House. The students were excited to try a "Coat of Arms" pizza, half kangaroo meat and half emu meat. It was definitely different with some interesting flavors. Our last day there was spent sight-seeing in the Blue Mountains. We saw the Three Sisters rock formation and rode on an old mining track that was at a 52° incline. Our last stop was at a wildlife preserve where we were able to feed and pet kangaroos. It was fun to see the "Joeys" hop out of their mother's pouch and take off. There were also wallabies, Tasmanian devils, emu, and of course koala bears. Even though every day was go, go, go ... we had an amazing time and thank you again for your support of our team!

I learned that the world is a much more significant and vast place then I ever imagined. Thank you for this opportunity to live life. - Kamron

I was able to explore the cultural differences of Australia all the while learning about their history. There are some things you just can't teach in a classroom. Thank you for this opportunity. - Lexi

I experienced how strong teamwork can be successful, not only in competition, but also in many other aspects like fund raising. Thanks! - Zack

I got to see friendship and cooperation through people that were different in every way. This was a great experience and I thank you for this opportunity. - Andrew

I've learned so much from this trip and experienced what I could do for the world of tomorrow. This opportunity has made me realize and appreciate all the things I could do with my life and I will never forget this. - Daniel

I would like to thank the sponsors for allowing me to collaborate with other FTC members, likely future engineers, in a friendly competition. - Brian

Thank you for this great experience, being able to travel across the world seeing a different environment and meeting new people. All because of the thing I love, robotics. -Damontae

Estrella Foothills High School — Trip to Australia

We would like to thank Colleen for booking our trip. We were in a beautiful resort! We stayed at the Grande Bahia Principale. We had excellent service from beginning to end. This was truly a stress free vacation from beginning to end with Colleen doing all the hard work. If you ever are in need of a travel agent, I highly recommend Colleen. We will be using her for our future trips. Thank you again Colleen for your awesome service my friend!

Kristine — Trip to Jamaica

I just wanted to take a moment to thank both you and Colleen for going the extra mile and making this a great first experience with your company.  The end result shows that when people care about their customers feelings and do what it takes to make sure that they are taken care of great relationships can be formed.  Please let me know if I can share this with any of your supervisors or senior managers who would like to hear some great feedback as I know in customer service we too often hear the negative stories, it is rare and sometime appreciated hearing the “wins”.

Mitchell — 

You are the ‘best’ travel agent Tommie!! You are a travel agent that companies want to work with. You are professional in every aspect of the word. To top it off, your cheerfulness & friendliness make speaking with you such a pleasure and every time I speak with you I ‘know’ you are smiling. That’s what you want the person you’re speaking to, to sense. It comes across clearly. Keep up the good work my friend!!

Dianne — 

Last month I called Amex Employee Vacation Programs and got Tommie. Tommie was extremely enthusiastic and professional. He listened to what I wanted and understood what I was looking for. The hotel that I was interested in was not in your system and Tommie went through a lot of efforts to get the booking I wanted. He kept me informed throughout the entire process and ended up booking exactly what I wanted. Tommie gave me the type of customer service that I expect from American Express. I would like to recognize Tommy for efforts and let you know that he did an outstanding job.

Donna — Trip to Austin, TX

I rarely do this - but I had such a great experience with Tommie recently that I wanted to send you a note. Tommie was competent, helpful, fast, and focused on helping me solve the problem / get the booking I needed. This is so rare in today's world (a person focused on solving a customer problem rather than just going through the motions / doing only the most basic things...) that it shocked me. In a good way. Usually when I try to book flights or change car rentals or manage my bank account, I get explained the policy again and again. And therefore why what I need to achieve as an outcome isn't possible. It can be frustrating and I am sure you have experienced this. I also know that the policies are real and the person telling me the policy is just the messenger - so no point in getting frustrated with the messenger. Tommie approached our call totally differently - "What are you trying to get done today?" I had a situation - I had previously booked a car under my wife's name and then we made a decision to have me pick up the car. So needed to change to my name. Tommie (a) immediately understood what I wanted to do and (b) said "I can do this and that - let me get that done and then call you back." He then called back and we looked at the invoice and voila it was done. SO REFRESHING. No really - refreshing. Just wanted to pass along my positive experience. Thanks so much.

John — 

Tommie talked me off the edge of a cliff when I was just about to jump. The outgoing flight for my vacation was transformed into a Greek tragedy hat just sent me sideways. Tommie responded to my frantic phone message for help and immediately reached out to assure me the issue was indeed unusual, but emphasized it was easily resolved.Tommie’s empathy for my dilemma, and to use a Bostonian reference, wicked awesome skills, made short work of correcting the circumstance to my complete satisfaction.His passion for his work is truly evident in every way. By the way, his description of your office and the community where you’re located makes me want to immediately move there and work with you! What a joy to work with people that have such a passion for their career and in such a wonderful environment in and out of the office.

Best Regards,

Karla Y. — 

I totally forgot about Employee Vacation Programs and I was actually on the evaluation team! Your service has been impeccable and we appreciate everything you have done for us.

Kat — Trip to Italy

This morning, I called with a pretty complicated multi segment trip for one of our Executives. Tommie was INCREDIBLE!!! Not only was he friendly to talk with, but he seemed very knowledgeable about everything he was doing and willing to go the extra mile to make sure I was happy. His customer service skills are beyond exceptional!! Thanks Tommie!

Pam — 

I have to tell you that I am already a loyal customer of yours. I make this choice based entirely on the efforts of one of your employees – Tommie Chavis, who is at your Southern Village branch in Chapel Hill, NC. First of all, Tommie has a wonderful, warm personality. This is complimented by the speed at which he works, not to mention the attention to detail and consistency of accuracy that I have come to know I can count on. Tommie has a code of professionalism that he never fails to adhere to. He is a caring, diligent person who makes your agency the only one I prefer to use. Thank you for choosing such a wonderful person for me to use as my contact for the our travel needs!

Pam — 

Cindie,

This is the best service we’ve ever had!

Gary — Trip to Amsterdam

My wife declares this one of the best telephone interactions she has ever had.  Happy to fill out a survey on your service. 

Steve — Trip to New York

Hi! We literally just got back from Denver. Wow... what a weekend.  Wedding ceremony and reception was beautiful. Very proud and happy for them.  Seriously, and maybe I'm biased, it could not have been a nicer celebration.

In addition to the formal wedding event on Sunday, we hosted several open dinners (Friday and Saturday nights) and a guided tour into the foothills as well as a trip to Boulder for many of the travelers and, of course, they loved Colorado.

The flights were great and the check-in process was extremely easy.  Seriously, people were so excited to be there and appreciated the help we provided with the flights.  Of course that would not have been possible without your professional abilities but also your patience.  You have been wonderful to work with and on behalf of everyone, thank you again for your partnership.

Thanks again.  We'll talk again!

Darren — Wedding in Colorado

So we got back last night from Amsterdam/ Ireland and want to thank you ….everything was wonderful. Flights all worked out and our combo chauffeur/self drive was great! Carl did great with the driving, inhaling deeply on some of those narrow roads but we made it, still speaking!!! And the accommodations were mostly all fabulous…Merrion, Ashford, Ballynahinch were terrific! Arbutus was local flavor, clean, and the people were wonderful, but a bit of a comedown after the previous 3…got us ready for home…gradual comedown!!! We appreciate all your efforts on our behalf and look forward to working with you again.

Carl & Gail — Trip to Amsterdam & Ireland

Thank you sooooooooo very much!!! We are so glad we have you as our "partner" on this, and for that matter, any of our travels!!!!! You look out for our best, always have our back, are an awesome person and go above and beyond. The world needs more Colleen's.

Bob — 

Our ship is about to depart from Ushuaia for Antarctica! The pre-trip was great. Everything went very smoothly. Thank you for all your work to set this up!  Merry Christmas!

Jon S — 

Dear Petra and Elizabeth,

Thanks so much for your help in arranging my trip with Andrew to Hong Kong and Osaka/Tokyo. We had an amazing time and thanks to an ex-pat friend living in Tokyo enjoyed some amazing meals there. Truly extraordinary. I also thought you might like to know that we had a terrific time at all four of the hotels we stayed at: the Conrad in Hong Kong, the Intercontinental in Osaka (truly amazing), the Osaka Hilton and the Tokyo Hilton. I would recommend all of them to your clients, depending on the price points they are looking for. Our experiences at each one was excellent. Also, it’s clear that Premium Economy is the way to go. We had an excellent if somewhat long (15:35) flight to Hong Kong on Cathay and then my flight back on JAL to JFK was terrific. Incidentally, JAL is flying the new 787-800 Dreamliner on this route. It’s an amazing plane, so much roomier inside, much more quiet, and the seats were quite comfortable. I was very pleasantly surprised at the JAL service - it is every bit as good as Cathay and the food was better.

Thanks again for all of your help - I look forward to working with you again on future journeys.

Harlan — Trip to Hong Kong, Osaka & Tokyo

Just wanted to let you know everything went great, people were all at the right place at the right time, and were all wonderful. Barcelona was really a interesting place. Can't wait to go back!. We really saw a lot and the boys seemed to really enjoy the trip. Their favorite was the volcano tour, and Monte Carlo, the driver there was very nice.

Tina — Trip to Italy

Letter Received by Cindie's Manager:

I just wanted to commend your employee, Cindie Powell, for her delightful and most knowledgeable assistance in booking a complicated trip to Nepal for me. We travel a great deal but I generally do my own bookings. Something told me to go through American Express for this, and I am so glad I did.She thought of everything; was patient, personable and, most important, knew her business. I will most definitely use Amex travel again and again.She's a pleasure,

Karen — Trip to India

Amsterdam was marvelous hotel was wonderful car — super nice. The walking tour was great about walked our legs off, Danes can really walk! Hotel in Naples was very high tech beautiful place but in a very poor neighborhood close to ferry so that was very convenient had us coming the day before but was no problem. I would recommend both hotels. Thanks for all your help! It's been a fantastic trip.

Tina — Trip to Europe

Thank you so much for helping us plan the Estrella Foothills High School Wolves Robotics Team trip to the Asia Pacific Invitational Competition.  Our trip to Sydney, Australia was amazing. The students had a great time exploring Sydney as well as competing in the Asia Pacific Invitational. The tournament consisted of 33 teams, only 10 from the US, and was a great international experience.  Overall, the team had an outstanding tournament finishing third, losing only to the tournament champions, Romania, in the semi-finals. The students had fun competing with teams from different countries and learned a lot about other cultures. We also won the Promote Award for our 60 second PSA for FIRST following a given prompt. You can find this on YouTube here; it is a Blender movie. Blender is a 30 modeling software, so this is an amazing video with high production value. For the team's last competition we had an outstanding tournament and the students are very happy with their performance.

As for exploring Sydney, we climbed to the top of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, explored downtown Sydney, and saw their famous Opera House. The students were excited to try a "Coat of Arms" pizza, half kangaroo meat and half emu meat. It was definitely different with some interesting flavors. Our last day there was spent sight-seeing in the Blue Mountains. We saw the Three Sisters rock formation and rode on an old mining track that was at a 52° incline. Our last stop was at a wildlife preserve where we were able to feed and pet kangaroos. It was fun to see the "Joeys" hop out of their mother's pouch and take off. There were also wallabies, Tasmanian devils, emu, and of course koala bears. Even though every day was go, go, go ... we had an amazing time and thank you again for your support of our team!

I learned that the world is a much more significant and vast place then I ever imagined. Thank you for this opportunity to live life. - Kamron

I was able to explore the cultural differences of Australia all the while learning about their history. There are some things you just can't teach in a classroom. Thank you for this opportunity. - Lexi

I experienced how strong teamwork can be successful, not only in competition, but also in many other aspects like fund raising. Thanks! - Zack

I got to see friendship and cooperation through people that were different in every way. This was a great experience and I thank you for this opportunity. - Andrew

I've learned so much from this trip and experienced what I could do for the world of tomorrow. This opportunity has made me realize and appreciate all the things I could do with my life and I will never forget this. - Daniel

I would like to thank the sponsors for allowing me to collaborate with other FTC members, likely future engineers, in a friendly competition. - Brian

Thank you for this great experience, being able to travel across the world seeing a different environment and meeting new people. All because of the thing I love, robotics. -Damontae

Estrella Foothills High School — Trip to Australia

We would like to thank Colleen for booking our trip. We were in a beautiful resort! We stayed at the Grande Bahia Principale. We had excellent service from beginning to end. This was truly a stress free vacation from beginning to end with Colleen doing all the hard work. If you ever are in need of a travel agent, I highly recommend Colleen. We will be using her for our future trips. Thank you again Colleen for your awesome service my friend!

Kristine — Trip to Jamaica

I just wanted to take a moment to thank both you and Colleen for going the extra mile and making this a great first experience with your company.  The end result shows that when people care about their customers feelings and do what it takes to make sure that they are taken care of great relationships can be formed.  Please let me know if I can share this with any of your supervisors or senior managers who would like to hear some great feedback as I know in customer service we too often hear the negative stories, it is rare and sometime appreciated hearing the “wins”.

Mitchell — 

You are the ‘best’ travel agent Tommie!! You are a travel agent that companies want to work with. You are professional in every aspect of the word. To top it off, your cheerfulness & friendliness make speaking with you such a pleasure and every time I speak with you I ‘know’ you are smiling. That’s what you want the person you’re speaking to, to sense. It comes across clearly. Keep up the good work my friend!!

Dianne — 

Last month I called Amex Employee Vacation Programs and got Tommie. Tommie was extremely enthusiastic and professional. He listened to what I wanted and understood what I was looking for. The hotel that I was interested in was not in your system and Tommie went through a lot of efforts to get the booking I wanted. He kept me informed throughout the entire process and ended up booking exactly what I wanted. Tommie gave me the type of customer service that I expect from American Express. I would like to recognize Tommy for efforts and let you know that he did an outstanding job.

Donna — Trip to Austin, TX

I rarely do this - but I had such a great experience with Tommie recently that I wanted to send you a note. Tommie was competent, helpful, fast, and focused on helping me solve the problem / get the booking I needed. This is so rare in today's world (a person focused on solving a customer problem rather than just going through the motions / doing only the most basic things...) that it shocked me. In a good way. Usually when I try to book flights or change car rentals or manage my bank account, I get explained the policy again and again. And therefore why what I need to achieve as an outcome isn't possible. It can be frustrating and I am sure you have experienced this. I also know that the policies are real and the person telling me the policy is just the messenger - so no point in getting frustrated with the messenger. Tommie approached our call totally differently - "What are you trying to get done today?" I had a situation - I had previously booked a car under my wife's name and then we made a decision to have me pick up the car. So needed to change to my name. Tommie (a) immediately understood what I wanted to do and (b) said "I can do this and that - let me get that done and then call you back." He then called back and we looked at the invoice and voila it was done. SO REFRESHING. No really - refreshing. Just wanted to pass along my positive experience. Thanks so much.

John — 

Tommie talked me off the edge of a cliff when I was just about to jump. The outgoing flight for my vacation was transformed into a Greek tragedy hat just sent me sideways. Tommie responded to my frantic phone message for help and immediately reached out to assure me the issue was indeed unusual, but emphasized it was easily resolved.Tommie’s empathy for my dilemma, and to use a Bostonian reference, wicked awesome skills, made short work of correcting the circumstance to my complete satisfaction.His passion for his work is truly evident in every way. By the way, his description of your office and the community where you’re located makes me want to immediately move there and work with you! What a joy to work with people that have such a passion for their career and in such a wonderful environment in and out of the office.

Best Regards,

Karla Y. — 

I totally forgot about Employee Vacation Programs and I was actually on the evaluation team! Your service has been impeccable and we appreciate everything you have done for us.

Kat — Trip to Italy

This morning, I called with a pretty complicated multi segment trip for one of our Executives. Tommie was INCREDIBLE!!! Not only was he friendly to talk with, but he seemed very knowledgeable about everything he was doing and willing to go the extra mile to make sure I was happy. His customer service skills are beyond exceptional!! Thanks Tommie!

Pam — 

I have to tell you that I am already a loyal customer of yours. I make this choice based entirely on the efforts of one of your employees – Tommie Chavis, who is at your Southern Village branch in Chapel Hill, NC. First of all, Tommie has a wonderful, warm personality. This is complimented by the speed at which he works, not to mention the attention to detail and consistency of accuracy that I have come to know I can count on. Tommie has a code of professionalism that he never fails to adhere to. He is a caring, diligent person who makes your agency the only one I prefer to use. Thank you for choosing such a wonderful person for me to use as my contact for the our travel needs!

Pam — 

Cindie,

This is the best service we’ve ever had!

Gary — Trip to Amsterdam

My wife declares this one of the best telephone interactions she has ever had.  Happy to fill out a survey on your service. 

Steve — Trip to New York

Hi! We literally just got back from Denver. Wow... what a weekend.  Wedding ceremony and reception was beautiful. Very proud and happy for them.  Seriously, and maybe I'm biased, it could not have been a nicer celebration.

In addition to the formal wedding event on Sunday, we hosted several open dinners (Friday and Saturday nights) and a guided tour into the foothills as well as a trip to Boulder for many of the travelers and, of course, they loved Colorado.

The flights were great and the check-in process was extremely easy.  Seriously, people were so excited to be there and appreciated the help we provided with the flights.  Of course that would not have been possible without your professional abilities but also your patience.  You have been wonderful to work with and on behalf of everyone, thank you again for your partnership.

Thanks again.  We'll talk again!

Darren — Wedding in Colorado