Service

Much of the rationale for a managed travel program is providing appropriate and satisfactory service to corporate travelers. That means working with airlines, hotels, ground transport firms, travel management companies, tech providers and others to optimize each step of a trip, from booking and planning through to post-trip reports and surveys.

Coverage areas include:
• Travel agents, both real and virtual
• Employee engagement
Mobile technologies for travelers
• Variability in hotel services
Personalizing travel
Visa processing travel

Airlines Ease Disruptions With New Systems, TMC Processes

With parts of the United States finally thawed after another nasty winter, weary travelers can breathe a little easier. But cancellations are something airlines think about year-round. To better reaccommodate disrupted passengers, they are employing the next generation of internal automated rebooking systems and new processes for travel management companies. Some airlines at first sought to rebook as many…

Concur Slows Down Innovation To Focus On Foundational Fixes

Concur’s technology leaders have refocused on core infrastructure over innovation to deal with increased service disruptions during the past 18 months. “In the past we have had much more rapid development of features and functionality, but over the last few months we have slowed those down,” said senior vice president for hosting operations Stephen deRham. Speaking…

Performance Issues Still Frustrating Concur Users

Concur claimed it resolved last week’s intermittent online booking outages about 88 hours after they began popping up. But some users this week reported ongoing issues and many expressed deep frustration about the whole episode. For travel agency resellers, booking tool downtime can hurt productivity, profitability and client goodwill. Making matters worse, the insufficient service came in the midst of another winter testing the industry’s…

Amadeus, Lufthansa ‘Personalizing’ Benefits For Corporate Accounts

Personalization. It’s not just for people anymore. Lufthansa is using Amadeus technology to offer product and service add-ons to passengers based on where they work rather than who they are. The capability applies in direct and indirect channels, including travel management companies that use Amadeus or integrate using Web services. Negotiated discounts are not the…

Performance Issues Plague Concur Travel

[UPDATE, Feb. 27: Concur indicated the service was back to normal operation.] Concur is working to identify the cause of errors and slow processing in its Concur Travel web application. “Over the weekend, the engineering and operations teams identified key areas where transaction performance was negatively impacted and implemented configuration changes that significantly improved transaction processing times,”…

United Seeks ‘Four-Star’ Service With Employee Behavior Standards

In need of an image makeover, United Airlines opened the year by holding employees accountable for lagging customer service. New baseline standards developed last year measure frontline workers on courtesy, graciousness and consistency. United had been working with Forbes Travel Guide on standards for each of the carrier’s work groups. The idea is to get…

New Client Database Could Alter American Express Global Business Travel’s Integration With Booking Tools

American Express Global Business Travel is planning a new client database that could change how booking tools, agents and mobile devices connect. Benefits would include a more consistent traveler experience and improved travel disruption management. This repository of client policies and preferences is the top priority in a tech vision that the company expects to…

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