In corporate travel, sourcing is all about negotiating deals with airlines, hotels, car rental companies and other suppliers. Of course, organizations want to get the best value, but travel procurement is about more than price. It’s also about using data to monitor performance on both sides, working with intermediaries, building deeper relationships and exploring new technologies that improve processes.
Washington, D.C. — American Airlines agreed to use the ARC Corporate Intelligence tool for contract management. ARC CI launched with United Airlines in 2020 as an alternative to the market-leading Prism platform, owned by Sabre. An AA official did not comment on whether the airline would continue using Prism. AA signed on in December 2023,…
Southwest Airlines has always done things differently, but lately, it’s been embracing industry norms in the corporate market. It’s participating in more distribution channels and fielding a bigger sales team. It offers a basket of options for corporate dealmaking, including at least one throwback idea: back-end rebates. Those may be instead of or in addition…
It’s not hard to identify potential winners from American Express Global Business Travel’s proposed deal to acquire CWT, besides GBT itself, starting with the largest remaining competitors. Nor is it hard to see some of the losers, firstly global companies that manage travel and would have one fewer option next time they look for a…
What airlines want from their corporate customers and what they’re willing to give in return is changing. For many U.S. accounts, the request for proposals process and resulting contracts look very different than they did five years ago, especially for American and United clients. Airline corporate discounts are getting downsized or eliminated, and carriers want…
American Airlines cares less for conventional corporate travel dealmaking, but that’s not working for partner British Airways. As AA cancels corporate deals or allows them to lapse — including agreements struck jointly with its key Oneworld partner — BA wants to hang onto some. It has broken from a practice the carriers followed for over…
As American Airlines all but dismantles corporate sales, airline industry pundits scrutinized AA’s latest arguments about going small and emphasizing competitiveness via network and loyalty. The strategy illustrates diversification among big airlines that adds to these challenging times for corporate travel buyers. Chief commercial officer Vasu Raja on March 4 told Wall Street analysts that…
BCD Travel’s Advito created a hotel consulting service for small and medium-sized enterprises. Priced at $6,000 for a package of products and tools, it’s designed to address a middle ground between existing solutions in the industry. “Most of the time, people are paying maybe a little less than that just for a sourcing platform or…
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