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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Hilton Worldwide declined to comment, but several sources said it’s planning to reduce agency commissions on its new HHonors rates. Those are the discounted rates that Hilton revealed in February as part of its “Stop Clicking Around” marketing campaign, designed to compete with online travel agencies. Other travel agencies at first worried they also would…
Our eighth podcast episode features a discussion recorded this month with three procurement experts: former Thomson Reuters VP of sourcing operations Linda Doty, former Guardian Life chief procurement officer Frederic Khalil and ROA Consulting Group managing partner Sharon Tolliver. They spoke with Jay Campbell about how travel relates to procurement, procurement transformation and professional certifications….
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…
It’s becoming difficult to count on one hand the tech startups going after the “small” or unmanaged business travel market. 30SecondsToFly, Cinch, Hyper Travel, TripChamp and Travo are a few. Hyper, along with shopping services like Assi.st and Mezi, are bringing a new element to the travel-booking experience. They’re focused on mobile texting as the means…
Priceline founder Jay Walker is back, and this time he’s focusing on business travel. His new firm, Flexible Travel Company, right now isn’t much more than some people and a marketing website. But those people are experienced and that website is intriguing. It describes the company as “turning the way we buy business travel upside…
Our seventh podcast episode features an interview Jay Campbell conducted in November with Judy Bauer, a longtime travel management practitioner recently retired from Marsh & McLennan Companies. Judy is keeping her hand in the business, taking the occasional project, but she has turned over MMC’s large travel program to her team members including Greg Wilczek and…
[UPDATE, Feb. 4: Sabre announced that AA’s Preferred and Main Cabin Extra Seat now are available in the Sabre global distribution system. A Sabre official said a “phased rollout” will wrap up in mid-February.] Sabre at U.S. points of sale on Feb. 2 will start facilitating American Airlines’ paid seats, according to a Sabre memo…
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