Travelport, formerly known as Cendant Travel Distribution Systems, unveiled the formation of an elite team of experienced and creative travel professionals, nicknamed the ‘Rainmakers’. Their role is to…
Travelport, formerly known as Cendant Travel Distribution Systems, unveiled the formation of an elite team of experienced and creative travel professionals, nicknamed the ‘Rainmakers’. Their role is to help augment Travelport’s leadership position in the travel industry in Asia, by creating significant leverage for the customer through the company’s GDS platform, Galileo by Travelport, and powerful synergies with other relevant Travelport business units and products.
According to Marco Gorin Market Development Director in Asia, Travelport recognised the need to play a leadership role in the dynamic Asian travel market and concluded that one of the ways to achieve that objective was to organise a nuclear group of professionals with highly complementary industry skills and the experience and creativity to make a difference.
“We therefore carefully recruited a focused group of seasoned travel industry professionals – the ‘Travelport Rainmakers’ – to create new opportunities for Galileo customers throughout Asia to take advantage of the competitive position Travelport has vis-a-vis the ability to manage changes in the traditional GDS business model while ensuring the relevance of traditional players like travel agencies” Gorin stated.
“We sought professionals from within and outside Travelport who demonstrated the skill, ability and finesse to cut through the bureaucracy, cross the traditional lines of responsibility and see a larger, more integrated GDS picture,” stated Gorin.
He went on to say that “The reason for calling the team the ‘Rainmakers’ was due to the fact that in olden days, a rainmaker was somebody who could create rain during a drought and our team acts in a similar fashion, bringing relief to an often harsh travel industry environment. For example, as agents face today’s high pressure competitive business environment, such as moving toward zero airline commissions, disintermediation and reducing margins, it is the role of the ‘Rainmakers’ to assist them in developing and improving the way they do business with out-of-the-box solutions.”
Led by Gorin, Travelport’s ‘Rainmakers’ group is comprised of:
- Ms. Stephanie Lee, Senior Manager, Market Development, Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Stephanie has over 12 years of experience in the travel industry. Prior to this position, she was the Senior Manager of Sales & Account Management of Galileo Greater China.
- Mr. Alan Liu, Senior Manager, Market Development, Asia. Also based in Hong Kong, Alan joined Travelport after serving as International Development Manager and Head of Asian Airline Solutions, Worldspan, Atlanta, Georgia.
- Ms. Elaine Lee, Senior Manager, Market Development, Asia. Based in Singapore, Elaine joined the team after spending five years as Senior Project Analyst, Content Development and Business Analyst, Emerging Business for Abacus International. She also has an additional eight years of previous travel experience in a variety of roles.
- Mr. Marla Veerabhadra Shastry, Head, Market Development, South Asia, who has broad market development responsibilities for India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Based in India, Marla has over 26 years of experience in Profit Centre Operations, Business Development, Operations Management, and Client Servicing in the travel and tourism industry. Prior to joining Travelport, he worked as Business Head – North, for India Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
According to Gorin, the ‘Rainmakers’ have already made a number of significant contributions to Travelport’s GDS strategy in Asia. With the creation of brand new business models, partner agencies have the opportunity to access new segmentations in the market and generate substantial incremental revenue at a challenging time. The Travelport ‘Rainmakers’ concept is making a remarkable difference in the way Galileo by Travelport does business in Asia and the value the company provides its customer base.
“We are now moving into an interesting phase where we are extremely well positioned to provide traditional travel agents access to brand new business channels they would never be able to access on their own. It’s all about maintaining the future relevance of our traditional customers in a marketplace which is changing very rapidly and where consumers are ready to buy travel through a variety of “shop fronts”. It is imperative that the traditional players find their place in these new models if they are to prosper,” Gorin concluded.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
