Case Study Abercrombie & Kent Travels the World to Give ...

Case Study
Abercrombie & Kent Travels the
World to Give Adventurous Customers
that “Once in a Lifetime” Experience
About Abercrombie & Kent
Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) is internationally recognized as the original
luxury travel company. It was founded in 1962 by Colonel John Kent,
his wife Valerie and their son Geoffrey to provide exotic safaris through
East and Central Africa. Geoffrey Kent assumed leadership of the
company when his parents retired in 1967 and soon expanded A&K’s
unparalleled tour and travel operations to more than one hundred
countries on all seven continents. Escorted or independent travel with
A&K combines five-star comfort, convenience, service and security of a
U.S.-based company with on-site 24/7 support from a network of 48
destination management companies that ensure the “insider access”
that only a local staff can provide.
Situation
Abercrombie & Kent specializes in matching unique people with unique
places, and in providing the expertise and support that gives them an
authentic travel experience. Travelers who choose Abercrombie & Kent
expect that every aspect of their trip will be superior, whether they are
frequent travelers accustomed to first class accommodations or folks
who saved for years to experience the trip of a lifetime. To create
unforgettable journeys – whether to a lush African jungle or the frigid
tundras of Antarctica – Abercrombie & Kent needs to ensure that every
customer enjoys the custom support that allows them to experience
their destinations fully. Should a change in plans be required, the
company needs the tools in place to execute it flawlessly.
Solution
A&K guarantees the satisfaction of its clients with a unique
combination of local knowledge and global organization, thanks to a
reliable communications infrastructure that reaches across many time
zones and continents, often in extremely remote locations. This robust
voice and data network has helped A&K improve business processes to
connect customers quickly with knowledgeable A&K tour consultants
in the U.S. as they plan their trips. It also makes it easy for the company’s
U.S.-based tour consultants to work with local experts around the
globe to ensure the utmost in customer care for its discriminating
clientele before, during and after their trip.
Connections Keep the Customers Satisfied
Abercrombie & Kent has built a reputation as the premier luxury travel
provider as a result of outstanding customer care. Although many of
its clients have almost unlimited travel budgets – a recent survey
found that half reported annual household incomes of $250,000 or
more – just as many are people who save for years to invest in the trip
of their dreams. “Everything we do ultimately comes back to how well
we are serving our customers,” said Scot Anderson, Abercrombie &
Kent Vice President of Information Technology. Outstanding customer
service is the order of the day whether the customers are first-time
travelers or members of the exclusive Marco Polo Club, A&K’s loyalty
club for people with the interest and ability to travel to the most
remote and exotic corners of the world.
Providing world-class customer service requires timely access to
accurate information from well-placed local experts. “Sharing current
customer information with our 48 destination companies enables us to
give all our customers the best treatment,” Anderson said. “This is a
key business function.”
• Business Needs
Coordinate inspiring travel experiences for clients on all
seven continents
• Networking Solution
An international voice and data network that supports
worldwide enterprise resource planning, communications
and trip coordination
• Business Value
Ability to facilitate unique, five-star travel experiences that cater
to an affluent and active audience of discerning connoisseurs
• Industry Focus
Luxury travel provider
Abercrombie & Kent Facts
• Size
1,800 travel experts in more than 100 countries

Case Study - Abercrombie & Kent ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2
A&K’s global locations keep customers informed of geographic and
political events that may affect their travel to a region. “There could be
civil unrest in a particular area, or tsunamis or other natural disasters,”
Anderson said. Customers are kept abreast of the latest information,
including assistance with flight delays or cancellations.
In addition, A&K has to stay in continuous touch with its destination
offices; often this is not a simple task, since many of the offices are
located in second- and third-world countries with unreliable
communication networks. Abercrombie & Kent overcame these
communications challenges with a voice and data infrastructure that
maximizes global connectivity, even across extremely different time
zones that don’t overlap U.S business hours.
“Our AT&T voice and data network has been extremely reliable,”
Anderson said. “Internet access, VPN access and e-mail to our other
offices have been very solid, and that's really the critical thing since
much of our communication between offices is done electronically,
via e-mail and data transfer.
“Our networking solution helps us ensure that our company knows
our customers and enables us to share information about them
with our destination companies, assuring that our customers get
the proper service wherever they travel,” he said. “It also helps
families to connect with travelers in remote parts of the world in
case of emergencies.”
It’s a Jungle Out There
Abercrombie & Kent begins learning about its customers the moment
they make their first call to the company. A&K consultants know when
the phone rings if a caller is interested in a safari or a cruise through
European waterways. “Nearly every article and special promotion has a
distinct and dedicated toll-free number,” he said. This includes the 15
or more brochures the company distributes every year, the Marco Polo
Club and the company website, www.abercrombiekent.com.
“Every number has a purpose for either tracking where a call came
from or for routing the caller to the proper individual here at the
office,” Anderson said. “That shows us the frequency of calls generated
by a specific media outlet, so it really does help determine how to
spend our marketing budget.”
Many in the travel industry subcontract their customers to independent
suppliers overseas, but A&K has its own network of offices across the
globe, staffed full time by A&K professionals. In the U.S., 60 highly
educated and experienced tour consultants handle incoming calls at
Abercrombie & Kent’s main contact center in Oak Brook, IL, which
manages all outbound travelers from the Americas. A&K also has
contact centers near London to handle European outbound travelers,
and in Melbourne, Australia to assist Asia Pacific travelers.
“Our consultants all travel to the destinations themselves, so they have
firsthand knowledge and experience with the products they sell,”
Anderson said. The consultants communicate with customers via
phone and email to make sure they have all the information they need
to make informed travel decisions. “Many of the countries that we
serve have unique health requirements, so customers are all well
versed in what's required before they depart.“
A&K’s network provides vital support for the company’s customer care
initiatives. “I believe our business processes have improved because of
the connectivity and the systems we have in place, and we’re constantly
refining them to respond even better to our customers,” he said. “It’s a
very difficult thing to quantify, but it’s obvious that our network helps
us to be much more efficient and provide better quality service.”
“Our networking solution helps us ensure
that our company knows our customers
and enables us to share information about
them with our destination companies,
assuring that our customers get the proper
service wherever they travel.”
– Scot Anderson, Vice President of Information Technology,
Abercrombie & Kent
Multiple Channels Offer a World of Access and Insight
Part of A&K’s continuous improvement initiative involves anticipating
customer needs. The Kent family initially offered junkets through East
and Central Africa, but soon recognized there was a market eager for
international luxury trips outside Africa. In the early 70s Geoffrey Kent
and his wife Jorie Butler Kent extended A&K to the Middle East, Asia
Pacific, Europe, and the Americas.
The company today has evolved to meet the needs of younger and
more affluent generations of travelers, Anderson said. “Many of these
people are more comfortable doing something on the Internet than
they are actually talking to a person,” he said. “We know that the Internet
is a tool that's unlimited in its capability and capacity, so we’ve expanded
our online business and anticipate that it will continue to grow.”
The site provides travelers with a wealth of information on the political
situations and customs requirements of its destinations. However,
because there are so many requirements and restrictions, most
travelers will need more assistance than they can get from a website.
“They will always need somebody to help them through the decisionmaking
processes of where they want to go and how they want to
travel. Even with the Internet, it's still going to require high levels of
value-added customer service,” he said.
In addition, A&K consultants can provide superior local knowledge
that benefits customers in subtle ways. “We have deep roots and
long-established relationships that make it possible to give our
guests a degree of access and insight no other operator can match,”
Anderson said.
A&K tour consultants make extensive use of the telephone to consult
with clients, whether they are individual travelers or travel agents.
“Even if a customer books through our website, we still follow up with
a call to walk them through everything that they purchased and other
options that they may want to consider when they are preparing for
their trips,” Anderson said. “We rely heavily on the voice network to
ensure that everybody's questions are readily answered and that they
know that they can contact us at any time over the phone without
regard to how they booked with us.”

Case Study - Abercrombie & Kent ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3
Launching Personal Journeys of Discovery
Described by the Los Angeles Times as “a highly respected company
dedicated to conservation and environmentally intelligent tourism,”
A&K was voted “World’s Leading Luxury Specialist Tour Operator” by
travel professionals from 80,000 travel agencies in more than 200
countries. The company was also named “World’s Best International
Tour Operator” by readers of Travel Weekly.
Not content to rest on its laurels, Abercrombie & Kent is in the process
of synchronizing several CRM databases to continue to improve the
customer experience. “Our data network has become significantly
more critical to our business, with email and the Internet access that
lets clients and tour consultants research destinations and plan future
trips,” Anderson said. “We know our existing infrastructure will continue
to support this traffic.”
Whether customers explore the mysteries of China’s Forbidden City or
marvel at the wonders of ancient Egypt on a Nile River cruise, A&K can
accommodate them. “We have expanded to every corner of the world,
yet there is so much out there that remains a mystery,” Anderson said.
“Travel is a great way to really learn about other cultures. Our customers
frequently tell us that their trip was a life-changing experience.” Thanks
to its network of 1,800 A&K employee experts worldwide, the company
will continue to offer personal journeys of discovery and life-changing
experiences to more than 100 destinations on seven continents.
For more information contact your AT&T Representative or visit us at www.att.com/business.
10/17/08 AB-1472
© 2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.