Closure of Group Desk? [No, Tour Operator changes only]

[Bob Dylan]

Per a post on trainorders,the Group Desk @ Amtrak has been shut down and the 6 Agents that staffed this operation are being reassigned.

Also, a Full 100% Deposit A YEAR IN ADVANCE will be required to book Group Travel on Amtrak LD Trains.

Another sign of an evil plot to discourage travel on LD Trains, or just more "ignorance is bliss" by Anderson's Airline "Whiz Kids?"(reference Robert McNamaras Pentagon Crew that brought you the Vietnam Debacle in the 1960s)

 

[jebr]

Assuming that post is accurate (which I'm not immediately finding):

The 100% deposit portion upon booking seems somewhat reasonable if they're taking up revenue space, with a refund policy that closely aligns with non-group travel.

Is there any difference between the group desk on the NEC and the LD trains? (There may be differences for state-supported corridors, which for this discussion I'm not concerned about.) Either way, I'm curious why they'd remove group travel specialists entirely while still offering the option. Are some standard CS reps going to be trained on it and take them along with standard customer calls, or will it just be the luck of the draw with what agent you get? If it's just going to standard CS and expecting everyone to remember how to process group travel, that seems overboard. However, if there'll still be select representatives trained in it but only semi-dedicated to it (so they'll get regular calls when group travel isn't busy) that seems like a decent move if group sales are declining.

 

[seat38a]

I don't see anything wrong with 100% deposit. I won the Grand Canyon Phantom Ranch cabin lottery for a stay 13 months from now and had to put down 100% deposit. If its busy and popular, I don't see anything wrong with requesting 100% deposit ahead of time and then charging a penalty for canceling. If the group desk agents were doing nothing but group reservations, than I can see the logic of moving them to the regular reservation pool. Last time I tried to call in to the regular line, I was on hold for 20+ minutes. If the volume of group reservation is A LOT less than regular calls, then yes its better that the group reservation agents be moved where they are needed. Even when I was Select Plus, I've waited 20+ minutes before, so if the group desk is being disbanded and them staff added to the regular call in desk, I have no objections.

Wasn't it just last year there was a post about big groups and travel agencies? If I remember correctly, the forum generally took a dim view of them for jacking up the prices. I guess Amtrak just can't win.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Excellent points,the post is based on a discussion with the leader of "America by Rail" Group on a LD Train, I'm not saying its accurate, just reporting what the OP said.

If Mr Anderson is truly concerned with better Customer Service and Operations @ Amtrak as is claimed, better staffing of the Call Centers and improvement of the On-line Sites is a good start!

I totally agree that long term advanced booking of Rooms on Amtrak LD Trains by Groups and Travel Agencies, without any financial penalties for Cancellation is Long overdue for correction.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Train Jam buys a full train with extra cars. Ask them for 100% up front seem doable now, but when they started not so much.

Financial penalties for cancellations is a correction that is overdue, just not like the non refundable tickets on airplane.

Complete non refundable just cause no shows and empty seats. I recent cancel a airfare on a sold out flight, no refund but 100% certain it left the airport full. After all I canceled it two week out.

 

[the_traveler]

After all, when we (normal) passengers buy a ticket 10 months in advance, we have to put down a 100% deposit (otherwise known as the fare). So why should it be any different for tour operators who purchase rooms or seats?

 

[west point]

It would seem that the group desk could be retained. However when ever 1 or more agents were not taking group bookings then they would automatically switched to regular reservations ? Oh wait probably Amtrak IT cannot fix telephone system to perform that transaction ?

 

[jebr]

I don't have a membership to Train Orders, and I didn't see it on the front page, so I can't see the original post.

That said, given that the information appears to be second or third hand (per Bob Dylan, the poster on Train Orders is relaying what he found out from a conversation with a leader from America By Rail on a train) it's quite possible that Amtrak may have been doing something less drastic than completely ripping out the group desk. Maybe America By Rail no longer has their own rep, and instead has to call into the main group desk every time (though that wouldn't jive with 6 agents being reassigned.) Maybe they're moving it away from a dedicated group to a larger but non-dedicated section of the customer service group, which is my best guess based on what's been relayed. It's also possible that they're just throwing it into the general queue.

Amtrak's website still has a form for group travel, a separate line for group travel, and a separate email address to use. While these could just directly dump into the general queues and inboxes, it's also quite possible that the requests are pulled into a different internal account and call queue but still answered by a specified internal group with additional training that takes both group travel calls and standard calls. This is something that I'd be very surprised to see a call center phone system not be able to do.

 

[jis]

Train Jam buys a full train with extra cars. Ask them for 100% up front seem doable now, but when they started not so much.

Financial penalties for cancellations is a correction that is overdue, just not like the non refundable tickets on airplane.

Complete non refundable just cause no shows and empty seats. I recent cancel a airfare on a sold out flight, no refund but 100% certain it left the airport full. After all I canceled it two week out.

So far I have never faced a truly non-refundable and non-reusable fare. Sometimes the reuse service charge makes it not worthwhile, but on many occasions I have paid the service charge to reuse the fare as it was worthwhile.
I am sure that very often they are able to use a no show seat too given how many standbys they always seem to have to pick from. Unfortunately Amtrak seems not to know how to handle waitlists and standbys at all. Maybe Anderson can fix that.

 

[Acela150]

As for the agents moving out of the Group desk... Trust me they're probably working another desk right now. It's not like they were fired. Amtrak has plenty of options at the Call Center to work.

 

[PVD]

Skillset routing in software allows phone calls to specific numbers and e-mails to be routed to particular agents based on skill/abilities as well as que/wait time algorithms. Those were getting very popular in the years before I retired, we often upgraded older call centers or added these systems to help businesses manage incoming traffic to order depts, service lines, or anything that used to be served by older straight line ACDs. example; you could use different incoming numbers for language, product knowledge, special services (elites or high priority customers) not just firs in first handled. As agents logged in or out, the systems change routing choices as appropriate. I can still route calls to the agents that are best able to deal with them, but they would get regular traffic when they aren't engaged.

 

[seat38a]

Excellent points,the post is based on a discussion with the leader of "America by Rail" Group on a LD Train, I'm not saying its accurate, just reporting what the OP said.

If Mr Anderson is truly concerned with better Customer Service and Operations @ Amtrak as is claimed, better staffing of the Call Centers and improvement of the On-line Sites is a good start!

I totally agree that long term advanced booking of Rooms on Amtrak LD Trains by Groups and Travel Agencies, without any financial penalties for Cancellation is Long overdue for correction.

Might want to quote the parts your quoting. Right now, except for the first line, the rest of the post look like your opinion.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Actually I'm agreeing with other responders on this thread,especially Just- Thinking-51 and the_traveler, but you are correct Sir, I am expressing my opinions, something I rarely do here!

 

[akbrian]

Train Jam buys a full train with extra cars. Ask them for 100% up front seem doable now, but when they started not so much.

Financial penalties for cancellations is a correction that is overdue, just not like the non refundable tickets on airplane.

Complete non refundable just cause no shows and empty seats. I recent cancel a airfare on a sold out flight, no refund but 100% certain it left the airport full. After all I canceled it two week out.

Some airlines allow you to pay the "change fee" for a refund of non-refundable tickets. On Alaska that's $125 for non "elite" class mileage plan travelers. Not too helpful if the flight cost is less than $125.

 

[jis]

Here is an article in Trains on the subject of this thread. An account may be required on the Trains website to gain full access. Though I'd place a pointer here anyway since many here are already Trains subscribers.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/08/01-amtrak-changes-booking-policies-for-tour-operators

The main thing that is different from the usual shrill shouts on trainorder are:

1. Full payment is required 90 days before departure.

2. Cannot hold accommodation on trains on consecutive dates.

3. Specification of maximum number of Sleeping accommodation that can be held on a train by a tour operator.

4. More than one tour operator not allowed to hold accommodation on a train.

All these appear to be changes that should be friendly towards your normal day to day average user of Amtrak.

I cannot see what is there to be upset about this, unless you are a tour operator. The cost of doing business will undoubtedly go up for them. What impact this will have on revenues in general remains to be seen.

Apparently, contrary to what was reported on TO, Group Travel operators have not been removed. What has been removed is a special set of operators who exclusively handled Tour Groups. Now Tour Groups will simply have to do their thing through the standard Group Operators who also handle humble groups of passengers without a tour operator fronting for them.

Mods: Maybe the title of the thread should be modified to reflect the fact that the Group Desk was never really eliminated as alleged. For those married to the TO rumor mill, now there is even a thread there stating so in its title

 

[jebr]

Mods: Maybe the title of the thread should be modified tor effect the fact that the Group Desk was never really eliminated as alleged. For those married to the TO rumor mill, now there is even a thread there stating so in its title

Done.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I was looking for another thread and stumbled on this one. Well, both of these desks were located in Riverside. It will be interesting to see if they reemerge in Philadelphia or will the agents take on this responsibility.