JOHN D’AMICOhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/johndamicojohndamico64@gmail.com(702) 604-4307

SUMMARYI have a broad range of experience in the travel industry including hospitality, tour, retail, corporate travel, destination management, and e-commerce. I'm also particularly adept at the application of technology to manage and improve processes, sales, marketing, customer service, and reduce costs.

Getaway 2 Give Collection

Destination ManagerJanuary 2013 – Present

In my present role I am part concierge, part property manager, full-time customer experience obsessive, I manage local residences for Getaway 2 Give, a luxury, private destination club. I arrange special events, transportation, restaurant reservations, shows, tours & activities for G2G’s very A-List clientele. Tastes and preferences range from the mundane to the exotic and I make sure they all go away satisfied.

CRM Solutions

Consultant/OwnerSeptember 2010 – 2013

I consulted with small-to mid-size travel agencies to help them increase productivity, decrease error rates, improve the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, improve customer service skills and streamline their back office through the implement of productivity enhancement tools such as Salesforce, ClientBase Windows, ClientBase Online and Trams Back Office along with other agency/agent productivity-based automation solutions.

American Express

Manager, Business DevelopmentJanuary 2009 – August 2010

In this role I leveraged my knowledge of Salesforce.com and prospecting skills to identify decision makers, generate leads, establish relationships and close sales. In a consulting capacity I evaluated existing practices and data to develop policies to increase overall travel policy compliance, designed automation solutions to help achieve cost efficiencies in their managed corporate travel programs, analyzed travel patterns to identify savings opportunities and reduce fees and deliver additional cost savings through the use of automated expense and reimbursement tools.

Asian Culture and History Tours

Local Expert and Tour GuideJanuary 2008 – December 2008

In the 12 months following my tenure with DRI I took over all the 2008 group tours that I had created and/or sold in 2007. This was comprised of eight tours ranging in duration from 2-3 weeks each in which I arranged air, hotel, ground transportation, meals, activities and cultural attractions. Each tour was comprised of 20-30 participants and covered China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.

Diamond Resorts International

Vice President of Travel DistributionJune 2004– December 2007

This was an expansion of my prior role with Diamond as Director of Member Travel Services. I established a managed corporate travel program for Diamond’s 5,000+ employees to contain travel expenses including policy development, expense reporting tools (Concur) and payment card services. I developed training programs to deliver a high-touch client experience consistent with brand standards resulting in increased agent close rates, and up-sell opportunities. I employed increasingly sophisticated automation and agent productivity solutions such ClientBase and BookingBuilder, quality control measures such as TRAMS, workforce management tools and developed KPI and monitoring tools.

Director of Member Travel ServicesMarch 2001– June 2004

I was selected to establish a full-service travel agency supporting the travel needs of a 250,000+ membership-based portfolio of clients. I evaluated and contracted with various technology platforms for booking air, car, hotel, tour and cruise, a CRM for client management, conducted recruitment efforts, and developed training programs to improve agent service quality and overall customer service scores. I established the use of comment cards, online surveys and outbound calls as a continuous feedback loop to measure client satisfaction and identify opportunities for improvement. I grew agency staff to 15 FTE’s, and sales to $10M+ within the first three years.

E-Commerce ManagerJanuary 1999– March 2001

I was recruited to develop online tools management tools for member reservations, online payments, and profile management. This also had the beneficial effect of easing call center congestion and reducing overall customer servicing costs. The project required the recruitment of database programmers and graphic designers, the development of a resort database to drive accurate and up to date online resort content and collaboration with IT resources to establish hardware and network capabilities. The company won ARDA's "Best Use of Technology Award" in 2000.

Pleasant Holidays

Product Marketing ManagerJanuary 1997– January 1999

As a Product Marketing Manager for Mexico I increased arrivals by 400% to 25,000 within an 18-month period. I was responsible for all aspects of the destination portfolio: negotiating block space and pricing for hotels, airlines and ground operation suppliers. I was also responsible for all marketing efforts aimed at increasing the number of arrivals. This included distribution partner relations, the production of marketing materials including brochure development, copywriting, advertising materials, promotions, co-op, and all other marketing communications.

Education

MBA – California State University BA / Marketing & Finance – California State University