Business travel startups face tough choices as they mature. TripActions and TravelPerk remain independent as their investors raise stakes in what is not a get-rich-quick industry. Others could be acquired by existing travel management companies. Then there is a middle ground. Some new entrants are attempting to leverage TMC partnerships even though that means sharing…
Lumo plans to deliver its flight disruption predictions to BCD Travel clients through the TMC’s SolutionSource marketplace. Lumo already works with Acendas, Adelman Travel, CWT, FCM and Travel Leaders Group. Lumo applies algorithms and machine learning to OAG’s real-time flight data to predict the likelihood of delays or cancellations. It conveys the information to travelers…
Building on its 2016 investment, Enterprise Holdings Inc. early this year acquired more of corporate booking tool and ground tech provider Deem. An internal Deem communication indicated EHI was “increasing their stake in a big way,” though Deem CEO, COO and president John Rizzo last week downplayed the description. He said EHI remained “a minority investor.” EHI…
Corporate travel management companies Adelman and WTMC will use the 30SecondsToFly Claire artificial intelligence/chat service, and World Travel Inc. plans to test the same. Claire offers bookings by natural language processing through SMS, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Skype and web chat. It learns and applies traveler preferences, booking habits and policies. On the agency side, a CRM…
Chatbot maker 30SecondsToFly accepted an unspecified investment from eGlobalfares, a dozen-year-old fare search tech provider that serves a few hundred travel agencies globally. The deal also extends 30Seconds’ strategy to market to travel management companies. The partnership enables eGlobalfares customers to offer public and proprietary fares through the Claire chatbot to business travelers. Claire is…
One way travel managers and management companies earn their stripes is guiding travelers through trip disruptions. Better still is helping them avoid such snafus. Using predictive analytics, that’s Flightsayer’s game. Some beta testers are intrigued. Better-known in corporate travel circles, FlightStats also is working on predictive analytics. It’s keeping a lot of that close to…
[UPDATE, Aug. 21, 2017: Concur plans in September to run virtual payment pilots with travel management companies that have gone through a “readiness” program. In an update for TMCs, Concur indicated that they must have a relationship with Conferma and support virtual payment for both Concur Travel and offline reservations. Concur also indicated that the…
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