San Diego — To some, the TripActions marketing takeover at the Global Business Travel Association convention this week was misplaced. Isn’t the company targeting the middle market? Co-founder Ariel Cohen sees it differently. Acknowledging that TripActions was not quite ready to serve huge multinationals, Cohen said it’s on the roadmap and will happen sooner than you might expect.… Read More »
New Jersey-based chauffeured transportation company EmpireCLS is building new mobile experiences for travelers and affiliates. While the traveler app has familiar ride hailing app features including booking, driver info and car tracking, it’s not meant to deliver “on-demand” pickup as promised by Lyft and Uber. It does give travelers a modern, mobile option for booking EmpireCLS’ brand of… Read More »
Continuing the furious pace of NDC-related announcements around the industry, Amadeus said American Airlines and BCD Travel agreed to join its NDC-X program. AA is the first North America-based carrier to commit. BCD joins U.S.-based American Express Global Business Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and Australia’s Flight Centre. For Amadeus, like Sabre and Travelport, incorporating NDC means mitigating content… Read More »
PredictX is demonstrating a chat and voice assistant designed to save corporate managers time seeking answers and sending messages about booked travel. The data analytics firm is talking to potential first adopters for the system, which can use voice or text apps like Facebook Messenger, SMS or Slack. In a briefing, executives showed examples of queries a travel… Read More »
The travel risk management company formerly known as iJet International is marketing a new mobile app that alerts users to nearby incidents and proximity to crime hot spots. It’s one of a few recent comings and goings at the firm, now known as WorldAware, including the acquisition of BlueLine Grid and the departure of COO John Rose. The… Read More »
Under intense cost containment pressure during the past three years, Kellogg Company senior director of corporate services Cecile Mutch reinvented the travel department and boosted her role along the way. However, she didn’t always get her way. The Michigan-based, $13 billion global cereals and snacks maker in 2015 joined others in its industry with a zero-based budgeting approach to spending.… Read More »
BCD Travel said it added Pana, the startup specializing in recruiting and other non-employee travel, to its SolutionSource authorized third-party tech and service marketplace. The platform helps iron out the on-boarding process for third-party providers with BCD Travel clients. Existing participants include Freebird, Rocketrip, Tripbam and Yapta. Managing travel for contractors, recruits, interns and the like is challenging because… Read More »