ARC navigated the volatility of 2021 with our stakeholders in mind, offering resources and highlighting the industry’s progress over the past year despite global challenges.
Below are the most popular insights from ARC in 2021:
ARC’s fourth annual Fraud Awareness Month brought together experts from across the travel and payment ecosystem to discuss the trends, challenges and opportunities they’re seeing in 2021 and heading into 2022. Experts also gave webinar viewers resources and best practices to help prevent and combat travel agency fraud.
ARC shared five thoughts every travel agency should consider when evaluating payment options. ARC Pay was built by and for the travel industry to address the most pressing needs for travel agencies.
For International Women’s Day 2021, ARC President and CEO Lauri Reishus recognized the achievements of women within ARC and the broader travel industry. She highlighted the Top 50 Women in Travel honors from WINiT by GBTA by expressing gratitude for the women making progress as leaders and executives in travel.
ARC welcomed the new U.S. Administration in January by looking at the most pressing issues facing travel in the coming years. In its statement, ARC encouraged collaboration with other industry-leading groups like Airlines for America (A4A) and the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) to ensure all stakeholders are heard as air travel continues its pandemic recovery.
ARC Pay offers travel agencies a convenient and flexible way to process transactions for any travel-related goods or services. ARC offers four ways this platform can benefit customers.
After a review process, ARC switched from U.S. Bank to TD Bank to handle settlement services for its customers and partners while also returning to a five-day settlement period.ARC had previously moved its weekly settlement from five days to 10 days to address the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air travel purchases.
In March 2021, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) announced the creation of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, a group formed to promote awareness of issues facing stakeholders in the business travel industry. ARC Chief Human Resources & Administrative Officer Eric Barger was appointed to the committee along with representatives from airlines, banks and other leading companies.
The first episode of the ARC TravelConnect Virtual Series in 2021 featured G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip, who shared his unique perspective on the importance of global travel and how it connects people. He shared how he founded G Adventures and detailed the lessons he learned from travel’s downturn in 2020, which he wrote about in UNLEARN: The Year the Earth Stood Still.
ARC announced its first-ever hackathon, a month-long competition encouraging participants to use ARC data to develop new business applications and generate innovative ideas. The competition invited those with data analytics, machine learning, programming, design and technology skills to participate.
In May, ARC was welcomed by Dave Harvey, vice president of Southwest Business, to the Southwest headquarters for a TravelConnect episode with ARC President and CEO Lauri Reishus. The two dove deep into Southwest’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the airline’s partnerships with Travelport, Amadeus and Sabre.