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.

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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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Spotnana's Bill Brindle
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Q&A: Spotnana VP Bill Brindle On ‘Flexibility’ For Travel Management Companies

On June 20, Spotnana announced it had agreed with Sabre to allow Spotnana’s corporate and travel management company customers to “access NDC content from an expanded set of airlines” while retaining NDC servicing capabilities, including support for self-service cancellations and exchanges. Reiterating its “neutral and unbiased” commitment, Spotnana stated that TMCs could “source NDC content…

Industry Seeks Happy Medium On Airline Order Change Notifications
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Industry Seeks Happy Medium On Airline Order Change Notifications

As airlines began developing the New Distribution Capability more than a decade ago, they needed a way to communicate flight changes and other events to parties including travel agencies. Global distribution systems have queues for schedule adjustments and the like that agencies routinely deal with; NDC is different because the systems of record are run…

Ben Vinod, author and COO of Charter and Go
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Are You A Travel Industry Wonk? There’s A Book Coming For You

A comprehensive history of travel distribution is hard to find. If you have the spare time, you could plod through the archives of industry trade publications and professional groups. Or you might pick the brains of industry elders; hopefully, they charge you. Revenue management pioneer Ben Vinod aims to help with a book due this…

Airline distribution guide
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Tracking Distribution Programs At Top Business-Focused Airlines (A Guide)

Last updated: Dec. 9, 2024. See an error, omission or need for an addition? Please let us know. American Airlines is reeling in the more aggressive parts of its erstwhile distribution plan, but it’s not abandoning the New Distribution Capability. While other carriers around the globe delay or soften their strategies, they and others are…

Dispatch 12
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Dispatch 12

After announcing a few in March, SAP Concur added several enhancements to the roadmap for its upgraded online booking tool, including the ability to change ticketed air trips in Sabre, scheduled for release during the quarter ending in September. Planned for the current quarter is the capability for reservation holds on EDIFACT-based Sabre bookings. The…

Yannis Karmis, BCD Travel
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Booking Functionality In BCD Travel’s TripSource Reflects New OBT-TMC Dynamics

Is BCD Travel’s TripSource an online booking tool? Yes and no. Customers can make air, car and hotel bookings with it, but it’s not as fully featured as, say, SAP’s Concur Travel, with which BCD has many mutual clients.  For BCD, TripSource doesn’t have to be an OBT for everyone. It offers other functionality and…

Taking ‘Short-Term’ CEO Role At Spotnana, Singh Expects More Focus (Audio)
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Taking ‘Short-Term’ CEO Role At Spotnana, Singh Expects More Focus (Audio)

Spotnana’s founding CEO, Sarosh Waghmar, announced Monday that he would step into the chief product officer role and share the chairmanship with executive chair Steve Singh, whom the company named CEO.  It’s a “short-term” assignment, Singh said Tuesday during a live interview on LinkedIn in which he also discussed his “perfect trip” vision, AI and…

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