Policy compliance remains one of the biggest challenges for corporate travel buyers. There are lots of old and new reasons, from the practical to the psychological. Most notable is the complexity of business travel. Throw in various other factors and the notion of leakage is becoming ambiguous. If your company neither endorses nor prohibits Uber, is using the service noncompliant…
[UPDATE, June 28, 2017: United Airlines next month will make available through an online portal a new set of features for corporate clients and travel agencies. A key addition is detailed data on ancillary spending. United managing director of sales resources Karen Catlin said such reports have been in beta tests with a few big customers but otherwise “don’t exist…
[UPDATE, June 22, 2017: British Airways began offering branded fares to global distribution systems via the Airline Tariff Publishing Co. Using what BA called “an industry standard distribution method,” the functionality took effect for Travelport and Amadeus in early May and for Sabre on June 1. The airline told travel agencies that its aim is to help them “differentiate between…
The fare combinability fracas isn’t over. American, Delta and United at the end of last week said their recent changes on one-way ticketing went further than intended. They are making revisions to bring back some normalcy. But live travel agents still seem to be the only ones capable of booking circle trips and some other itineraries on a single ticket….
It is easy to understand the importance of traveler feedback. Obtaining it is harder. As usual, mobile technology offers promise. A few new tech companies provide the means to collect timely and relevant traveler input, on the fly. Some travel management companies are looking to do the same. Armed with meaningful feedback, travel managers can address service deficiencies and misconceptions,…
A Lufthansa executive this month reportedly named American Express Global Business Travel and BCD Travel as potential partners for the airline’s direct-booking initiative. However, the travel management companies don’t sound interested. According to an Amex executive, Lufthansa’s proposed alternative would end up costing more than the airline’s 16 euro surcharge for traditional distribution. A BCD Travel spokesperson said the company doesn’t…
[UPDATE, May 9, 2017: OnyxCenterSource acquired fellow hotel commission recovery specialist eCommission Solutions. Onyx CEO Mark Dubrow said the deal expands his company’s client base and provides pre-existing ECS clients “an expanded hotel network and additional support services around the world.” Dubrow added that Onyx is determining how the ECS “big data platform” may help build out business intelligence services….
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