Critically for AE Ventures, travelers found Gather easy and fast: “Travelers appreciate the autonomy, being able to choose their own flights and book all at once when they register instead of waiting for an Advisor to reach out,” said Leigh. And there were fewer questions and issues with Gather: “I don't think I ever got a single question,” said Leigh. “Nobody was confused about how to use the platform because it was very, very user friendly.”

Partner support every step of the way

AmTrav was ready to help Leigh throughout the process, from setting up the Gather meeting to helping with travelers’ special requests. “I was apprehensive about whether AmTrav would be available to help with random little issues,” remembers Leigh, “but Deb and the team always responded quickly to help with things like flight upgrade requests – I passed those to you and didn’t have to think about them again, which was really helpful.”

And the itinerary data Leigh needed was available in AmTrav’s one connected platform: “the Arrival Manifests showed exactly when everyone was arriving, I cross-checked those with our hotel dates to make sure everyone was booked correctly.”

Leigh also shared an idea to make Gather even better. “If I could change one thing to make Gather perfect it would be the approval rejection and rebooking process,” she said, “letting me not just reject a booking when it’s out of policy but simultaneously send the traveler a new option that they can just approve on their end.” AmTrav is always looking for ways to save our customers time, so thanks to Leigh for pointing out this opportunity to remove two steps in this process.

“Overall it was a great first experience, super user friendly for me and our travelers.” So much so that Leigh and the AE Ventures team are already busy with their second Gather meeting, planning travel to Seattle for their Housing Transformation Summit attendees.