It’s natural to look askance at HRS when executives say they’ll do your hotel sourcing for free. We’ll get to that. The other story on hotel sourcing partners this year is whether we’re at peak Lanyon. To manage the onerous hotel rate negotiating process, corporations and travel management companies turn to technology. Lanyon has been the go-to partner for years….
Everyone talks about the SME, but they really mean the M. That’s the midsize in small and medium-sized enterprise. Executives at business travel booking tech firm Serko are going after the S. They say this collectively huge segment of the business world is due for recognition with quality travel management services. Serko is releasing a business travel management program dedicated to…
Lots of apps alert travelers to danger. Two of the newest come from the French and Israeli governments. These seem like good additions to the phones of ex-pats or travelers, and travel risk management experts say any info is usually better than none. Obviously partial to their products, TRM providers said one concern is that using both public and private-sector apps may be confusing during critical moments….
Integration between immersive remote conferencing systems and travel providers was popular several years ago. Marriott and Starwood installed some telepresence rooms. Sabre explored and its GetThere unit built booking systems for conference facilities. American Express Global Business Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel…
[UPDATE, June 7, 2017: Surf Air acquired Rise, a fellow provider of private air service. It intends to link its California flight network with Rise’s Texas-focused operation. Surf Air will do away with the Rise brand name, and indicated “no immediate changes to either companies’ flying experience.” An “enhanced” booking platform is in the works. To fund the acquisition, Surf…
Business travel startups are huge right now. New-entrant corporate booking tool NexTravel is working on its mobile app. Artificial intelligence and text bots are making a go of it. Agents are going virtual. Also hot? Rewards. The notion of the incentive program isn’t new, but it’s rapidly attracting automation. Rocketrip was the first in a club that during the past year added a…
[UPDATE, Jan. 25, 2017: HRG apparently released a new app sometime in the last few weeks. It’s available on Android and iOS, and offers typical TMC app features like itinerary sync and touch-to-call. “This app is only available to existing HRG clients who have the app enabled in their technology configuration,” according to the iTunes store. The iOS app reached…
End of content
End of content
