Melody Harris

Current

Travel Manager at MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors LLC
Owner at The Travel Department (Sole Proprietorship)

Past

Senior Travel/Relocation Coordinator at Syntel
Travel Coordinator I at American Express Business Travel
Corporate Travel Supervisor at Travel Connection (Sole Proprietorship)

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Education

Henry Ford Community College

Recommended

35 people have recommended Melody

Connections

212 connections

Industry

Leisure, Travel & Tourism

Melody Harris’s Summary

For executives and business professionals looking for a travel savvy, service oriented travel professional, Melody Harris brings a wealth of experience. For over 17 years she has earned the reputation for providing a high level of service while offering cost saving options to many corporate road warriors.
She has also earned the respect of the CEO and his Leadership team for being able to provide 24 hour assistance to their corporate travelers during 9/11 and Hurricane Rita, which have earned her two Presidents Awards.

Earlier in her career, Melody was a Team Leader for Thomas Cook Travel which is now American Express Travel Services in Dearborn MI., her responsibility was to oversee a staff of 10 travel coordinators on the Ford Motor Account. Prior to her promotion she manned the VIP Desk for high level executives on the Xerox Account.

Melody previously had worked as a corporate travel coordinator for Travel Connection where she assisted their top client with all his travel arrangements. With an easy going manner Melody has always stepped up to handle the most difficult clients.

Melody graduated top of her class from American Travel School in 1989. She earned her CAS certification in 2001 and continues to participate in CTA courses.

She is a member of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) and the Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN).

Melody also utilizes her free time volunteering for Retired Greyhounds As Pets (REGAP), reading a variety of novels and being a loving wife and mother to three wonderful children.

Melody Harris’s Specialties:

Prior to starting her own travel consulting firm The Travel Department, Melody was Travel Manager and Relocation Coordinator for Syntel Inc, specializing in corporate travel itineraries and relocations Areas of expertise include:

• Domestic and International travel arrangements
• Hotel and Car rental arrangements
• Negotiating Air, Hotel and Car corporate rate discounts
• Arranging Corporate Relocations
• Constructing Cost Effective Travel Policies
• Group Meeting Travel Arrangements

Melody Harris’s Experience

Travel Manager

MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors LLC

(Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

April 2008 — Present (1 year 8 months)

Negotiate Travel Contracts for Hotel and Car Rentals. Handle all aspects of the company's corporate travel requirements. Research routing and airfares for the lowest logical airfare. Advise company leaders and staff of latest travel trends and cost saving measures to reduce the T & E expenses.
Owner
The Travel Department (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Consumer Services industry)

November 2004 — Present (5 years 1 month)

Leisure and Corporate Travel Services
Senior Travel/Relocation Coordinator

Syntel

(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; SYNT; Information Technology and Services industry)

July 2000 — May 2007 (6 years 11 months)

Coordinating Corporate Travel via Air/Rail and including Car and Hotel Accommodations, also responsible for coordinating employee relocations.
Facilitate with manager to interview and train new hires and set up in house training to our employees in reducing corporate travel costs.
Assist manager in negotiating corporate rates with new and current vendors.
Responsible for corporate relocations which involves coordination of reservations for flight, accommodations and rental car and setting up moving company pick up and delivery of household goods to ensure a smooth transition.
24 X 7 on-call to assist the American Express Emergency Service on nights and weekends to act as a consultant to our employees in the field and to assist in many customer service issues that arise when our employees are on business travel
re-engineering of a comprehensive corporate travel policy.
Travel Coordinator I

American Express Business Travel

(Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; AXP; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

October 1996 — July 2000 (3 years 10 months)

Coordinating Corporate Travel via Air/Rail and including Car and Hotel Accommodations.

Implemented a profile conversion from Sabre to Worldspan for Johnson Controls account.
Facilitated with training department to train new hires on corporate reservations and account specific for Johnson Controls and a call center environment.
Advised management staff on Excel and Word in regard to creating travel related spreadsheets and logs.
Implemented an e-mail script for e-mailing clients their travel itineraries, and other technical support duties.
Worked on the Johnson Controls account as a lead domestic corporate counselor/trainer. In addition worked backup for Ford Motor, Daimler Chrysler, Detroit Diesel, and Freudenburg/NOK Corporate accounts.
Arbitrated customer service cases as well as those of new hires when the issues were too complex for them to handle.
Corporate Travel Supervisor
Travel Connection (Sole Proprietorship)

(Sole Proprietorship; 1-10 employees; Leisure, Travel & Tourism industry)

March 1994 — October 1996 (2 years 8 months)

Corporate Travel Supervisor
Overseeing office staff and delegating duties according to daily needs of the business.

Managed customer support/training and acting as a liaison between clients and agents.
Implemented a structured Quality Control system in order to insure accuracy of client reservations.
Monitor sales and transactions for agents.
Assisted 24-hour emergency line with changes in itineraries and new reservations.
Assisted where needed i.e. reservations, quality control, ticketing and training. Troubleshoot problems with employees and clients.