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.
You may have read that as SAP swallows Concur, business travel innovation goes down with it. This is absurd. Concur is much more an expense management software company than a business travel company. Is it innovative? Yes, but that’s not how it got its travel cred. Concur has no monopoly on ingenuity and now, perhaps…
[UPDATE: Sabre on May 14, 2015, announced the acquisition of Abacus International.] Sabre Corporation on Monday revealed in a financial filing that this quarter it may agree to an acquisition for its Travel Network GDS division. The acquired company would cost around $500 million, add about $250 million in revenue and improve earnings starting next year….
[UPDATE, Dec. 2: The U.S. District Court in New York hearing the case in March granted Altour’s motion to dismiss. In April, Planetarium appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. That court affirmed the district court’s judgment last month, finding that Planetarium “failed to explain” how the Amex-Altour relationship hinders competition.]…
[UPDATE, July 16, 2017: Airbnb and Concur announced that “in the coming months,” business travelers would “be able to search and book Airbnb rentals” in Concur Travel, with itineraries and e-receipts “automatically” synchronizing to Concur Expense.] Concur announced that integration allowing users to book Airbnb through its TripLink “open booking” approach is live. The pair…
American Airlines this quarter brought to most of its North American travel agencies revised back-end “override” incentive programs. Based on revenue share rather than passenger count, the move may put some travel buyers on guard for higher costs. It’s conceivable that the program presents agencies a reason to either transact higher fares and/or charge higher…
Marriott’s plan to offer free Wi-Fi on direct bookings by loyalty members will cause channel conflict for many in business travel. Yet, it’s an oddity as the recent trend points to greater rather than reduced hotel content access for managed travel programs. As of 2010, each of the three major global distribution systems listed between 80,000 and…
Starwood Hotels & Resorts appears poised to drop Wi-Fi fees for loyalty program members booking through its apps, websites and call centers. A similar plan at Marriott International announced last month and due to take effect Jan. 15 is upsetting many travel management professionals. This is collateral damage for Marriott, which is aiming to build traveler loyalty and better compete with online travel agencies.
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