As interesting as the next new thing can be, sometimes it’s the boring old stuff that needs attention. Core processes, data capture, spend management. Yawn. When Germany-based Conichi hit the market four years ago, its mobile app leveraged beacons and personalization, and facilitated digital hotel room door opening. The company’s focus is different now. Conichi still provides some of those… Read More »
A few months into piloting virtual payment, the quarter-of-a-billion-dollar State of California T&E program already has realized benefits. Tied to policy mandates and program consolidation, the alternative payment mechanism made life easier and more productive for travelers and administrative staff. It took a while to get to this point, still a work in progress. California first explored virtual… Read More »
No one spends more on travel for work than the U.S. military. Its mission to modernize how it goes about that has taken a new turn now that the U.S. Department of Defense is looking for its next partners. Defense expects by the end of September to select vendors for travel booking, expense management and travel management company support.… Read More »
New York — From the “you probably can’t do this because you’re not Google” department, Google has built a proprietary hotel booking application. It highlights both negotiated and market rates as part of Google’s unique travel spending program. It’s backed with centralized payment that means travelers don’t have to fiddle with card numbers when booking. And Google is looking… Read More »
As co-founder and CEO of financial technology firm Conferma, Simon Barker has been in the thick of corporate travel’s virtual payment movement. The benefits of single-use virtual credit card accounts are well known: improved security, better management controls, easier reconciliation and a more convenient experience for travelers without their own corporate cards. Barker points out the payment option… Read More »
Collecting hotel commissions always has been arduous. Helping agencies and corporations with it is the reason companies like Onyx CenterSource and CTS Systems exist. For their clients, hotel compensation strategies that reallocate monies from the traditional commission bucket to so-called marketing fees exacerbate the challenge. The apparent step-up in such activity has led to more bemoaning about opaque economics… Read More »
A new Australia-based enterprise wants to help travel management companies prove they don’t mislead clients. Consultant Tony O’Connor and data company Airline Metrics in October created a joint venture to tackle the not-illegal, sometimes-documented, “under-discussed” practice of hidden travel agency markups. Called Airocheck, the entity’s first client is TMC Corporate Travel Management. Many say there’s nothing wrong with marking up… Read More »