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.
With another annual contracting season mostly in the rear view, the three largest travel management companies reported modest increases in their clients’ negotiated corporate hotel rates for 2019. At properties in North America, the average contracted rate is up around 1 percent from 2018. Tripbam CEO Steve Reynolds said his clients secured corporate rates that averaged…
Building on work with launch client Microsoft, Tripism’s employee feedback-based, intranet-enhancing engagement platform now features dynamic offers from preferred suppliers. The functionality comes at no cost to the client’s favored airlines, hotels and car rental companies. They can “escape the confines” of the global distribution systems to showcase content, benefits and promotions — and get data…
HRS is expanding its reach, adding services and picking up big-name clients. As it does, it steps on the toes of some travel management companies, especially the biggest players. They’re chasing the same money. For some travel program managers, the flow of supplier commissions has financial implications while the provision of HRS content has practical…
ABC Global Services in the coming months plans to use a new GDS rate code for special hotel offers. This type of promotional activity isn’t unique among travel agency consortia, but ABC expects its size and reach to result in some differentiation. According to ABC CEO Eric Altschul, traditional promotional rate programs usually require chains…
Last year Altour joined Direct Travel as a travel management service provider within the portfolio of group purchasing organization Omnia Partners. In October, Christopherson Business Travel contracted with the Inter-University Council Purchasing Group of Ohio. These TMCs see consortia as a way to get their feet in the door among networks of dozens or hundreds…
It’s tempting to try to ascertain Apple’s discount on business class airfares between San Francisco and Shanghai after this month’s leak of United Airlines client information. The info wasn’t detailed enough to draw firm conclusions, but industry providers can offer some context. According to banners posted at a United staff event, Apple purchases 50 business class seast per day…
Partners in KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions joined a former meetings tech entrepreneur to enable organizations across the travel management spectrum to capture bookings made anywhere. Called CapTrav, the service integrates with email servers to parse travel data from booking confirmations for employees using work email addresses. If that sounds familiar, the CapTrav folks have also…
End of content
End of content
