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Charlotte, N.C. —When nearly 12,000 members of the international African-American sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA), took to Charlotte, N.C., from July 12 to 18 for the organization’s 66th Annual Boule, Certified Limousine Service was ready to cater to the sisterhood’s every need during the international conference, serving as AKA’s exclusive transportation provider.
Certified Limousine’s President and CEO Tamekius Breland says that the partnership was “a long time in the making,” with AKA selecting its chauffeured ground transportation company in October 2013 after exhaustively researching its options.
“The sorority was looking for African-American companies to work with in Charlotte,” Breland says. “About a month or so after they reached out to us, we started negotiating a contract.”
While Certified Limousine did enlist the help of a few other local limousine services so as to not disrupt daily business, it designated “upwards of 40 cars” for AKA’s private use - which included outfitting both the outgoing and newly appointed sorority presidents with their own vehicles. It was Certified Limousine’s willingness to extend the services AKA was looking for, offer personal touches and meet specific requests that set them apart from the rest.
“The president of the sorority really wanted someone to be able to connect with her as well as the other members that were coming in,” Breland says, adding that Certified Limousine’s ability to track its vehicles so the sisters could immediately locate a car without waiting certainly helped, as did being able to allocate a few employees to AKA’s needs exclusively during the members’ stay in Charlotte. “We actually had people dedicated to their event, and they could call in and speak directly to them.”
With thousands of sisters—and a few celebrity guests, like singers Brandy and Babyface, and comedian Jonathan Slocumb—occupying 27 hotels and the boule’s myriad events taking place at locations all around town, such as the Charlotte Convention Center, the
Carole Hoefener Community Services Center, and a number of museums, the Certified Limousine fleet was constantly on the move.
“It was pretty much all over the place,” Breland says. “We went from those hotels to the convention center to the university, which is Johnson C. Smith—they did a tree-planting over there. They went to one of the cultural centers, they did something for the kids.”
Going the extra mile, right on down to supplying each car with napkins in the sorority’s trademark pink-and-green color scheme, is the kind of personalized service for which Certified Limousines prides itself—which paid off when the sorority expressed interest in utilizing its services again in the future.
“They actually asked us to come back to do their 2016 and 2018 transportation. And possibly, possibly being their transportation provider for all of their events going forward. So it really worked out,” Breland says. “We made an impression on them. That felt great.”
Visit
certifiedlimousines.com for more information about Certified Limousine Services.
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Tampa — The West Florida Livery Association (WFLA) held its most recent monthly meeting on July 15 at the Chart House in Tampa.
Dave Shaw, president of the association, invited the Executive Director of Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission, Kyle Cockream, to speak about what the county is doing to better regulate transportation network companies (TNCs) like Lyft and Uber. Cockream spoke for roughly an hour about how the county has been cracking down on illegal livery operations.
“They’ve already started writing tickets,” Shaw said. “In the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County is regulated but the counties surrounding aren’t, so Uber and Lyft could operate in those counties.”
According to Shaw, Tampa maintains strict transportation guidelines and licensing policies, though not all local regulatory bodies are as diligent in enforcing their own rules to curb the mounting threat TNCs pose, which has left many operators upset. Shaw had asked Cockream to speak at the WFLA meeting to assure members that the transportation commission is “working to help better the industry.”
“It was a real good speech by him,” Shaw said. “He gave us kind of a game plan of what [the transportation commission] was planning on doing to get [the TNCs] in compliance.”
While Cockream’s speech comprised the bulk of the meeting, there was some time left to handle association business. The WFLA’s board voted to be a participating association for the Chauffeur Driven Trade Show and Conference in Atlantic City this November 2-5.
The WFLA’s next meeting is scheduled for September 16.
Visit wflatampa.com for more information.
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Los Angeles — The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) held its annual convention from July 26-30 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in California. This year’s event boasted guest speakers from industry experts to entertainers, an expo floor featuring the latest in travel technology and products from more than 400 companies, dozens of educational sessions catering to all ranges of knowledge and all facets of the business-travel industry, and a record-breaking attendance of 6,679 convention-goers.
Recurring themes punctuated the five-day event, as shaped by recent events and popular trends alike. According to GBTA Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Michael McCormick, the impact of a sharing economy, the necessity of re-evaluating traditional approaches to travel safety, and the globalization of businesses were among the hottest issues of the 2014 convention.
“It’s no secret that the industry is becoming an increasingly global world. It is not just flights from New York to Los Angeles or Chicago in today’s world; it is fights to Shanghai and Dubai,” McCormick says. “To be competitive and grow, businesses need to be everywhere.”
McCormick cited the recent attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as “a wake-up call” for businesses that send people to all corners of the world, urging corporations to take responsibility for the safety of its travelers. “Duty of care and risk management is a vital component of today’s business travel,” he says.
Some of the convention’s speakers added a dose of levity to the seriousness of business, with actors Kevin Spacey and Jason Alexander offering their audiences entertainment, anecdotes, and advice. Other speakers included Twitter’s co-founder and co-inventor Biz Stone, American Express Global Business Travel’s president Bill Glenn, Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole, and Google’s Director of Travel Partnerships David Pavelko.
The GBTA Foundation, the educational and research arm of the association, announced its new initiative, The Gift of Knowledge, on the event’s final day. The Gift of Knowledge aims to implement a program that will develop travel management as a viable occupation in China, and will be partnering with China’s Fudan University to create an educational curriculum to train future travel professionals.
The 2015 GBTA Convention is scheduled for July 25-29 in Orlando, Fla.
Visit gbta.org for more information.
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