Distribution

Scroll down to review The Company Dime‘s coverage of travel distribution.

The travel industry thrives on a complex network of channels connecting travelers with desired experiences. The Company Dime‘s travel distribution category delves into this intricate system, offering subscribers invaluable knowledge and insights. Our in-depth articles explore the various channels that constitute corporate travel distribution, both traditional and emerging.

Getting all the relevant, bookable inventory in front of business travelers is a never-ending challenge. Airlines, hotels and other suppliers constantly tinker with their products and pricing, and often favor direct distribution over third-party channels. That creates complexity in business travel technology.

Readers can expect thorough coverage of the relationships and dynamics between airlines, hotels, travel management companies, global distribution systems and other suppliers and intermediaries. We closely examine developments associated with the New Distribution Capability (NDC), direct booking initiatives and the rise of new entrants looking to disrupt legacy models.

Subscribers benefit from our scrutiny of the often-opaque world of distribution costs and revenue streams, including incentive payments, agency commissions and booking fees. We shed light on these essential commercial arrangements.

We also track the technological forces reshaping distribution, from the positioning of online booking tools to the potential of emerging solutions like artificial intelligence, blockchain and virtual payment. Readers stay informed on innovations that could unlock efficiencies and improve the traveler experience.

Our coverage clarifies major industry debates, such as the relative merits of GDS and NDC content, and our Op Eds deliver provocative thought leadership from all corners of the industry. Contributor insights on timely issues — like rethinking travel management company commercial models — make for essential reading.

With a critical eye and a healthy dose of skepticism, The Company Dime delivers must-have intelligence for anyone seeking to understand the present and future of travel distribution.

Subscribe here for up-to-the-minute coverage and our comprehensive archive, dating back to 2014. Would you like a free trial? Just ask.

You get what you pay for, and most travel industry business news is free. We sell insight. Our mission is quality journalism for those interested in business travel services, expense management practices and travel industry change. Our features, exclusives and analysis equip business travel professionals with vital info for top performance.

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Former Travelport, CWT Exec Kurt Ekert Joins Sabre As President

Sabre on Wednesday said former CWT president and CEO Kurt Ekert, who previously spent 14 years as a leader with Travelport and related organizations, would become its president as of Jan. 3. Sean Menke retains the CEO role. The move builds “a leadership team for the future of Sabre,” according to a press statement. A…

Positioned For More Supplier Revenue, American Express Global Business Travel Remains ‘Obsessed’ With Client Savings

That American Express Global Business Travel was growing relative to competitors was obvious before 2019. However, the presentation of numbers revealed on Friday that included recent acquisitions as though they were part of the group that full year crystalized for many industry observers the advantage that GBT’s scale is poised to deliver. That advantage will…

Op Ed: Danny Hood On Recovery Strategies For The Travel Industry

Danny Hood has seen it all during a career spanning four decades. In 1993 he joined WorldTravel Partners, which became WorldTravel BTI in 2001 and BCD Travel in 2006. He served the company as president of the Americas until 2010. Over the years, corporate travel boomed and busted a few times, and Hood was involved…

Explainer: Self-Sovereign Identity

People share a lot of personal information through digital channels, and the entities they interact with access more of it than they need. Individuals have little control over the transmission of their data and who gets what. The concept of a decentralized, self-sovereign identity fixes that while addressing cybersecurity and streamlining processes. A self-sovereign identity…

Delta Attack On SAP Concur Epitomizes Growing Impatience In Airline Distribution

With uncharacteristic bluntness, two key providers in corporate travel this month separately identified inhibitors to progress. A Delta distribution exec urged buyers to pressure SAP Concur to get its act together. Sabre leaders criticized widely used corporate airfare policies as archaic. And it’s not just them; perhaps the pandemic is a boon for plain speaking….

Startup Onriva Draws Corporate Travel Honchos For Personalized Marketplace

Corporate travel and travel tech luminaries, including a former ARC CEO and former GBTA executive director, are helping a veteran of the air consolidator business break into corporate travel. Onriva, originally incorporated six years ago as Onvoya, applies machine learning and artificial intelligence in a marketplace that promises to deliver personalized travel options via mobile…

Expecting More Non-GDS Fares, Air Canada To Launch Tool For Travel Agencies To Service Direct Bookings And Access NDC

Air Canada 18 years ago debuted fare families, a response to low-cost competition that set off a revolution in airline pricing. The company’s decision shortly thereafter to make some fares exclusive to its direct channels augured similar moves more than a decade later by big carriers in Europe and elsewhere. Is Montréal changing the game…

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