Distribution

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 usually favor direct distribution over more costly third-party channels. That creates complexity in business travel technology.

Some examples of our coverage
• Commissions and other remuneration
• Industry rules of thumb and trade secrets from the US Airways v. Sabre and U.S. v. Sabre trials
• Such newer concepts as New Distribution Capability and personalization

Archive

TMC Vet George Opens North America For Agency Automation Firm Tramada

Longtime corporate travel sales exec Mary Ellen George joined Sydney-based travel agency automation firm Tramada Systems to lead its expansion in North America. Sixteen-year-old Tramada offers agencies a cloud-based, GDS- and online booking tool-agnostic alternative to back-office systems like Trams or Travcom. This includes business intelligence, though Tramada is happy to export data to its clients’…

Rail Revolution? A Travel Pro Can Dream

Announcing plans to acquire a majority stake in rail distribution and IT firm SilverRail, Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi last month said rail was “ready for an online revolution.” It can’t come too soon. Attempting to integrate rail content into corporate travel programs is not for the faint of heart. The rail sector is fragmented, inconsistent and disconnected….

Teleconference 11: Introducing Blockchain

THIS EVENT HAS CONCLUDED A LINK TO THE RECORDING WILL BE POSTED SHORTLY Introducing Blockchain Oct. 12, 2017 What the heck is blockchain? Tune in as we chat with travel tech consultant William Niejadlik, Blockchain Academy founder Bryant Nielson and Hospitality Technology Next Generation senior director of strategy and workgroups Armand Rabinowitz. It has infrastructure and…

Teleconference 10: One-On-One With BCD Travel President And CEO John Snyder

One-On-One With John Snyder July 13, 2017 John Snyder spoke with us extensively about challenges in airline distribution. He also touched on BCD Travel’s efforts to grow access to hotel content, its relationship with Concur, how the TMC role will evolve, outsourcing, the TMC P&L, the Sabre SynXis data breach and more. Snyder even dropped a little news about selling…

Another Travel Startup Leans On TMC Support

Disadvantaged relative to bigger companies that negotiate their own airfare discounts, small businesses mostly pay retail. TravelBank co-founder and CEO Duke Chung is out to change that. In a market full of business travel startups, one of his company’s angles is rebates for users. TravelBank introduced its first products in November. They are an expense…

Blockchain Startups Target Travel Distribution

Blockchain digital ledger technology could be used for loyalty programs, corporate contracts, payment, expense management, airport processing, traveler identity and maybe even travel policy and compliance. Innovators also are betting on distribution disruption. With tests beginning in about three weeks, Blockskye aims to shift the power in distribution “back to hotels and airlines” by enabling…

NDC’s Upshot: Altered TMCs, Evolved Air Deals

British Airways expects later this month to share more details about its distribution strategy. Possibly in conjunction with a surcharge on GDS bookings, BA will discuss use of IATA’s New Distribution Capability. Lufthansa made its big splash along these lines nearly two years ago. Last week the Germany-based airline group hyped NDC-enabled direct connections with…

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