It’s a tricky time for the world’s largest corporate card provider. American Express’ recent financial performance is “disappointing,” said chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault. An antitrust suit with potentially wide and expensive implications still is pending. Amex recently lost a couple big consumer co-branding partnerships. Average fees charged to merchants are dropping, and will keep doing so as the company…
American Airlines clients wanted negotiated discounts to apply to more of their purchases. The airline is now rolling out a new corporate pricing structure for international routes that does just that. To make it so, AA is basing discounts on fare basis codes rather than booking classes. It’s not a new concept in the industry. AA already does it in the…
Hotel rates come in lots of flavors. They relate to room and bed types, prepayment, nonrefundability and more. Some corporate rates are static and some are discounted off fluctuating public market rates. All this is not as complicated as airline-style pricing, but it sounds like that’s what Hilton is after. Considering the hurdles, the goal may be too ambitious. Hilton…
Washington, D.C. – Along with changing attitudes, many private-sector companies now have nondiscrimination policies protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Some such employees no longer hide who they are, and many travel overseas for business. People with certain sexual orientations or gender identities may risk jail time or worse in some countries. In many more, the locals are hostile to LGBT people….
Businesses are paying less for some international airline tickets than they have in years, according to corporate travel benchmarks. It’s not because airlines have cut published pricing. Instead, they have kept selling more low-bucket inventory closer to departure. That brings down passenger yield, a proxy for fare paid. Some U.S. routes to London and China are showing sharply reduced average fares paid. While it’s…
There’s a new entrant eyeing a spot in the travel agent technology field. Centered on a rules engine, Fociss Travel System would help corporate travel management companies connect various customer-facing tasks with behind-the-scenes automation. The idea is to make agents more efficient and improve customer service. The first step is a new cloud-based mid-office system “because that’s what so many people want,” said founder and…
International SOS last month introduced an aviation safety ratings service that flags bookings on airlines deemed risky. Gwendoline Pichon de Vendeuil, group product director at the travel risk management firm, noted growing customer interest following several high-profile aviation incidents in the past year. For travel management pros, the important thing is knowing the risks before travel occurs. Some companies address it by approving or…
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