Amtrak Vacations

Dear Travel Enthusiast,

Effective April 1, 2006, Amtrak Vacations is operated by a new tour operator; Yankee Holidays .

Yankee Holidays is a leading tour operator in the United States with over 30 years of experience in providing the best in individual city packages and group tours to popular destinations in the United States and Canada. Through the years, our reputation for quality, integrity and customer service has grown, garnering us a loyal following amongst our travel trade partners.

We offer pre-packaged independent vacations in the United States and Canada, which are flexible, and can be customized to meet each client’s needs. Choose from city vacations, theater packages, pre & post cruise packages golf vacations and ski vacations. Air and rail add-ons for all packages are available from most cities in the United States.

Our group department can provide customized itineraries to 31 destinations in the United States and Canada for groups of 20 – 3,000. Additionally, we offer scheduled group departures to select destinations.

We are proud of our professional and attentive staff, who make every effort to understand the needs and exceed the expectations of our partners and their clients.

On behalf of the Amtrak Vacations and Yankee Holidays team, we welcome the opportunity to work with you in the future.

Sincerely,
Bob DePaolo
CEO Yankee Holidays

TRAVEL AGENTS & YANKEE HOLIDAYS
Yankee Holidays lives and breathes by our reputation in the Travel Agency community.
We work with over 50,000 travel agents annually in the United States and have developed loyal relationships with many, including preferred relationships with select travel agency groups and consortia. We have instituted policies which support travel agents including:

- We offer higher-than-average commissions
- Special add-on airfares with Delta Airlines, United Airlines and Air Canada
- We guarantee agency ownership of clients and payment of commissions, even if clients wish to book direct.
- Commission checks are processed automatically 14 days after travel and mailed out immediately.
- We pay commission on vacation packages as well as air & rail!

*Higher commissions negotiated for preferred agencies. Override incentives are also paid on select accounts.

Our motto is “customer service at any cost”

YANKEE HOLIDAYS USA & CANADA
OUR SUPPLIERS

We contract block space and special rates with over 600 hotels in the United States and Canada and in each of our destinations we offer a variety of hotels from standard to luxury, resorts to boutiques. Over 2/3 of our hotels are in the superior, deluxe and luxury categories.

We also have agreements with over 100 upscale restaurants, we pre-purchase theater tickets in New York City and Toronto and represent a large variety of attractions, transportation, activities and services across North America which we utilize in our packaged vacations or which can be purchased in conjunction with a package.

OUR DESTINATIONS

We specialize in 31 destinations in the United States & Canada.

U.S.A.: New York City, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Nashville, Memphis, Branson, New Orleans, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Portland, Reno/Lake Tahoe, Anaheim, Glacier National Park, St. Paul/Minneapolis, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Denver, Memphis, St. Louis, Orlando, Niagara Falls.

Canada: Montréal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Vancouver.

OUR VACATIONS
All packages are flexible, allowing for customization to meet the travelers’ needs. All packages are suitable for individuals or groups; extra nights may be added.

City Vacations:
Pre & Post Cruise Vacations:
Independent Rail Vacations:
Ski & Golf Vacations:
Special Events:
Luxury Vacations:
Family Vacations:

MISSION STATEMENT
To be recognized as the best tour operator in North America, providing exceptional vacations in Canada and the United States for individual and group travelers. We will do this by providing a consistent quality in products and services, and will be guided by the values of Integrity, Innovation and Customer service at any cost in all of our relationships – with clients, suppliers, employees and partners.

OUR PHILOSOPHY
Our success has been based on our commitment to our clients, our partners, our suppliers and our employees. We win by surrounding ourselves with a winning team. We believe in investing in people and providing them with the tools and support to do their best. And, we have developed a management team recognized for their leadership, integrity and proactive style.

We are a relationship-based company and we make every effort to ensure that all of our relationships are mutually beneficial. We take a long-term approach to our partnerships and have a willingness to grow with each relationship. Every vacation, every client is important. We want all of our clients to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience, something that will make memories, change their perspective and their appreciation for the world around them. At the same time, our partners should also experience something special each time they work with us.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer service is a core element of our company culture and is integrated into every aspect of our daily operations. Yankee Holidays’ success and reputation lie in the quality and value of the products we offer and the vacation experiences we provide. We choose our products carefully and use suppliers who respect our agreements and have experience working with tourists and the leisure travel market. We have strict operational guidelines to guarantee all reservation elements are booked accurately before we send final tour documents. However, if a client does encounter a problem with their vacation, we will refund twice the value of the mistake.

Our philosophy has always been “one call does it all”, and our goal is to confirm all tour elements at the initial point of contact. We have product specialists for destinations within our reservations team, as well as a Sports department and VIP services. Our Last Minute department accepts bookings up until the day prior to departure with no surcharge.

INDUSTRY RELATIONSHIPS
Amtrak Vacations and Yankee Holidays believe in supporting our industry by joining and participating in many trade activities. We are a member of each individual chapter of ASTA, as well as a TOP Member, an elite list of tour operators endorsed by ASTA. We are also members of the National Tour Association, American Bus Association, NACTA (National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents), OSSN (Outside Sales Support Network), as well as various Convention and Visitors Bureaus in the United States and Canada.

INDIVIDUAL (FIT) & GROUP RESERVATIONS
Our exceptional Reservations Team provides a ‘one stop’ service center for travel agents and tour operators to book all of Yankee Holidays’ North American destinations for individuals and groups. Courteous and knowledgeable, they are able to support our travel partners with services from coast to coast in the United States and Canada. We also offer last minute bookings with no additional service fee through our ‘Last Minute’ Reservations Team. We pride ourselves on our speedy turn around – generally immediate confirmation for Individual (FIT) bookings and 1 business day on group quotes. Yankee Holidays provides customized group services to all of the destinations we feature.

Our group itineraries can meet the needs of any group; student, adult, senior, incentive, church, band, choir, alumni, etc. Our group department is able to handle groups of 20 – 3,000. We also specialize in themed group itineraries, which provide the participant with a component of ‘learning’ through interactive and hands-on experiences provided by resource experts. We are pleased to offer itineraries focused on themes such as Gardens, Cuisine and Wine, Culture, Nature & History, to name a few.

1-800-AMTRAK-2