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“As airlines go through this period of digital transformation, they don't always have the technical staff to build and to maintain non-revenue travel systems. That’s where we come in,” says ID90 Travel CEO Mike Stacy.
ID90 Travel, the company that handles airline employees’ travel bookings from flights to hotels, is adding clients to its 25-carrier roster and has made two new hires in marketing and design to promote the brand’s messaging.
Jennifer Adams has been named VP, Marketing for Dallas-based ID90 Travel. Adams was previously managing director of Integrated Marketing for American Airlines. The company has also added Liz Valdez as Director of Design and will focus on web and app usability.
“As airlines go through this period of digital transformation, they don't always have the technical staff to build and maintain non-revenue travel systems. So that's where we come in,” says ID90 Travel CEO Mike Stacy. “Airlines are concentrating thierdigital innovation on revenue generating and cost savings initiatives. They recognize that in order to recruit and retain great talent, one of the most important privileges is discounted travel for airline employees. As a result, we've grown a lot and that's really where the new hires come into play here.”
The ID90 Travel name refers to the “industry discount” of up to 90 percent that airline employees are eligible for when they flywith their own airline or interline partners and book hotels, cruises and car rentals. The actual perks that airline staffers get often come with complications, such as listing for flights on outdated tools and not getting confirmed until the last minute for a planned flight.
The Dallas-based company, which was formed in 2006, has over 800,000 airline employees registered in its system with over 400,000 active users at any one time.
ID90’s app works as any other online travel agency and is intended to ease airlines’ human resources departments for flight bookings and customer support. Even if an airline isn’t using the flight booking tool, any airline employee can use the app for last minute hotel and cruise bookings.
Adams is charged with leading up all of ID90’s marketing initiatives.
“Jen and her team will be responsible for bringing more airline employees to our platform,” Stacy says. “To fill the VP Marketing role, we looked at people inside and outside the airline industry and we also met with technology professionals. When we all met for the first time with Jen, we connected on the things she was saying about airlines’ digital marketing efforts and what she had done in her past branding efforts. Everything she had worked on across so many customer touchpoints was something that really resonated with us.”
Adams had spent 8 years at US Airways by the time that carrier was absorbed into American following the merger of the two airlines in 2013.
“I spent 13 years in the airline industry,” Adams says. “Bringing that perspective to the table was really attractive to Mike and the ID90 Travel team. It helps that I was able to see firsthand the challenges and the friction that airline employees go through when it comes to utilizing their travel benefits for leisure or commuting to work. I’ve also seen how difficult it is to prioritize and invest in technology that benefits employees when airlines are focused on innovating their customer-facing technology. That's really where ID90 Travel can fill that gap to ensure airlineemployees have a great experience booking and utilizing their travel benefits.”
