The University of Michigan has begun a move to Collegiate Travel Planners, replacing Conlin Travel as U-M’s designated travel partner.

Initially, CTP is offering agent-assisted travel reservation services for group travel — parties of five or more — with more services available to the university community at the end of November.

Use of travel services through CTP, as has been the case with Conlin Travel, is not mandatory.

“We selected CTP after a careful review of options against the backdrop of finding a travel partner that could provide enhanced levels of service to the U-M community,” said Tony Burger, director of Procurement Services, the department that manages U-M’s travel program.“CTP specializes in higher education and provides end-to-end travel management services to over 140 colleges and universities across the country.”

The company’s roster of clients includes Cornell University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, and University of Texas, among many others.

CTP offers a variety of new and improved benefits to U-M travelers and travel arrangers, including:

• Full-service travel management with 24/7 customer support.
• A dedicated staff — trained in U-M’s travel policies — that can provide assistance on using CTP’s travel tools.
• A new, convenient booking tool with a travel portal for easy access to itineraries, receipts for expense reporting and unused tickets.
• Discounted pricing on air, hotel and car reservations.

Burger, who has presented information about the transition to CTP at a number of Budget Administrator Group meetings and other stakeholder groups over the last several weeks, said U-M travelers will be able to continue to use Concur for expense reporting, as well as accrue points from frequent flyer and travel loyalty programs.

Procurement Services has contacted employees who arrange or manage group travel for their units with details on how to work with CTP to handle their group travel needs. In addition, virtual informational sessions are being conducted for employees who make group travel arrangements so they can learn more about the new group travel model from CTP and Procurement Services.

Procurement Services also has reached out to employees and their managers, advising them to contact Conlin Travel about unused airline tickets purchased at Conlin, strongly encouraging them to use their ticket credits toward purchasing new airline tickets by Nov. 30.

While U-M and CTP will partner to try to obtain refunds for unused ticket credits after Nov. 30, there is no guarantee refunds will be provided, and the credits may be forfeited.

“Our goal is to ensure that the transition from Conlin Travel to CTP is as seamless and convenient as possible for the U-M community,” Burger said. “We’ve been working closely with both organizations to achieve that goal and they’re extremely committed to ensuring that our travelers see minimal disruption from this transition.

“Moving ahead, we’re really looking forward to partnering with CTP to provide a wide range of travel-related services to our employees and we’ll be reaching out to them in the coming days with more information.”

Tags:

• Collegiate Travel Planners
• procurement
• travel