70 | World Travel Service

T1004WORLDTRAVEL_350 [Credit: World Travel]
2023 sales: $113.3 million
Previous ranking: 60
Employees: 67 full-time, 3 part-time

110 S. Hartford Ave., Suite 300
Tulsa, OK 74120
Phone: (918) 743-8856
Website

Executives

PRESIDENT/MAJORITY OWNER: Alexander Eaton
EVP, CORPORATE CLIENT SERVICES AND DEVELOPMENT: Matt King
VP, OPERATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY: Janel Chaffee
VP, VACATION AND GROUP TRAVEL: Debbie Taylor
VP, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE: Sandra Eastin

COMPANY FACTS

* Privately held company.

* Sells travel products directly to corporations and consumers.

* Works with 15 independent contractors.

* Sales: 70% business, 25% leisure, 5% other.

* A BCD Travel joint venture partner, and a part of Signature Travel Network.

2023 DEVELOPMENTS

* Implemented NDC booking capability.

* Recruited technology partners to track and report off-channel bookings for clients.

* Launched consolidated group travel products and added Cvent meetings software integrations to client service offerings.

* Restructured corporate client services client classifications to better address their post-pandemic needs.

* Expanded the virtual employee management program to team members in 18 states.

LOOKING AHEAD

* Enhancing agent and support capabilities using AI copilots and through internal training and change-management resources.

* Expanding cybersecurity awareness training and fine-tuning policies and procedures for mitigating incidents.

* Expanding its vacation travel department to leverage accelerating market segments such as events-based travel and year-round river cruising.

* Company again anticipates turbulence in 2024. Among the issues: high interest rates; financial system uncertainty; geopolitical unrest; persistent inflation pressure; the remaining specter of a recession; continued flight-scheduling and mechanical disruptions; hotel-staffing issues; and the uncertainty that rapid NDC deployment has had on the TMC space.

* Believes corporate travel's already-significant recovery will continue and vacation travel booking will continue at 2023 levels.

Comments

BACK TO POWER LIST


JDS Travel News JDS Viewpoints JDS Africa/MI