American Express Global Business Travel Discloses Deepfake Attacks
American Express Global Business Travel this week told investors that fraudsters had targeted it using deepfake impersonation technology. Impersonators have targeted travel agents and others in the corporate world to access payment, travel and personal information for years. Using AI for it is what’s relatively…
Charting Huge Revenue Growth By 2030, Serko Earmarks More Investments In GetThere
Serko aims to reach 250 New Zealand dollars ($150 million) in total income by fiscal 2030, up from $46 million in its most recent fiscal year, which ended in March. About half of this growth is expected to come from its online booking tool portfolio,…
App ‘Battle’ Suggests Corporate Travel Programs Should Keep Mobile Strategies Flexible
Travel management company mobile apps remain an important part of the typical corporate travel program portfolio over a decade after becoming a staple in buyers’ TMC bids. Mobile tools are potent enablers of direct relationships with corporate travelers. No one has consolidated all the needed…
Explainer: Hotel Attachment
Why do travel management professionals care whether travelers book hotel stays at the same time as flights? There are pragmatic and financial reasons, and several methods to close the loop.Hotel attachment occurs when a lodging booking happens with an air booking, either through an agent…
Travel Manager-Turned-Entrepreneur Greg Wilczek Aims To Tame Non-Employee Travel
The challenges of non-employee travel and the market vacuum left after Coupa bought and decided to bury Pana, a startup that largely solved the problem, are well-documented. Former Google travel manager Greg Wilczek plans to reveal an answer next year.Founded in September, his company, Empath…
Serko To Buy Sabre’s GetThere
Serko agreed to acquire Sabre’s GetThere online booking solution for $12 million.The parties also will “collaborate on the development of new product capabilities for corporate customers, as well as the growth and expansion of the companies’ relevant customer base,” according to a Monday statement. “The…
Q&A: Decius Valmorbida, President Of Amadeus’ Travel Unit (Audio)
Amadeus named Decius Valmorbida president of its travel unit in August 2020. A native of Brazil, Valmorbida originally joined Amadeus in 2004 and has been a member of its executive committee since 2017. He spoke on Tuesday with The Company Dime during a live interview…
CTM Fee For No-Commission Lodging Would Reflect Shifting Distribution Dynamics
Corporate Travel Management is floating a $5 fee on hotel transactions that don’t generate commissions for the travel management company, according to sources. They did not know whether such a fee would apply to all or hotel-only transactions, online or offline bookings, or existing or new…
Q&A: Emburse CEO Marne Martin
Few companies have made as dramatic a C-suite housecleaning as quickly as travel and expense software firm Emburse. Save for its CFO, the company’s leadership page is entirely different than it was at this time last year. Emburse is the product of several acquisitions, going…
Corporate Travel 101
Explainer: Personalization And Airline Retailing
Electric Vehicles And Business Travel: Navigating The Charging Landscape
Explainer: IATA’s New Distribution Capability
Notebook: GBTA Speakers On Getting Started With New Distribution Capability
Atlanta — In addition to providing a venue for emotional expression about airline distribution changes, the Global Business Travel Association’s convention here last month offered a platform for blueprint-making. Voicing concern about industry pros who may think — at their peril — that American Airlines backing…
Explainer: IATA’s One Order
Airline reservations and global distribution systems create passenger name records. Airlines issue tickets. Electronic miscellaneous documents account for ancillary sales. This multitude of records, ticket numbers and reservation numbers complicates revenue accounting and can confuse travelers. The International Air Transport Association is working on a better way,…
Notebook: ‘Am I Fired?’ Buyers Share Executive Engagement Takeaways From AA Episode
Atlanta — With almost no exceptions, corporate travel managers do not have fond memories of their experiences with the New Distribution Capability. Amy Hunke, senior manager of travel and meetings at Ametek and president of GBTA Michigan, described her experience as “quite horrific.”Addressing buyers during a…
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OP ED
Op Ed: Jeff Klee On The Fork In The Road For Global Distribution Systems
AmTrav CEO Jeff Klee has some advice for GDSs looking to maintain their positions as pre-eminent corporate travel tech providers. He suggests they embrace new data formats, expand content aggregation into more corners and make things simpler for users. The story of Kodak is a cautionary tale about a once-great company whose leaders misunderstood its…
Op Ed: Atyab Bhatti On Getting *A Little* Technical With AI, Part Two: Personalization
SkyLink CEO and co-founder Atyab Bhatti is back with another slightly high-tech posts about artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is changing the way we approach personalization across industry verticals, including corporate travel. By leveraging generative AI, organizations can provide personal, delightful experiences for their travelers, enhancing satisfaction while meaningfully reducing costs. Machine learning is an AI…
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Notebook: ExxonMobil Saves Half A Mil With Engagement Campaign
Atlanta – ExxonMobil’s internal “Do The Math” campaign aims to optimize four aspects of traveler booking behavior: online booking adoption, lowest logical fare use, advance ticket purchasing and preferred hotel utilization. The company’s communications strategy, featuring extensive use of banner ads, was one of three…
Swiss Re’s Internal Carbon Levy Helped Slash Emissions, Halve Travel Spending
From a 2018 baseline, Swiss Re last year cut business air travel spending in half and slashed associated greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60 percent. A lot went into those reductions, including an internal carbon price coupled with carbon budgets.A $50 billion Zurich-based provider…
Geotechnology Firm Keller Goes Old School To Scale Virtual Payment
Atlanta — Keller North America is an engineering company employing many workers who may not carry phones to job sites. They don’t have corporate-issued phones or corporate email addresses to receive communications. And no corporate cards. They often join the firm at the last minute…
FROM THE ARCHIVE
Norwegian Government Agency Modifies Traveler Behavior Using Distaste For Doing Expense Reports Twice
Some business travelers find the process of creating and submitting expense reports so loathsome that they’ll do anything to avoid it. They’ll even follow policy! A veteran travel manager in Norway discovered this when she tried something novel to get workers to book air tickets…
GM Rolls Out SAP Concur Globally, Considers Pre-Trip Approval
Automaker General Motors is shooting for a “world-class travel and expense operation” after this year bringing SAP Concur’s Travel to 19 countries and Expense to 29. While the travel management program is decades old, the $123 billion company had not quite established its travel and reimbursement…