Amadeus recently conducted research to assess the travel industry’s readiness for new payment security rules in Europe. Jean-Christophe Lacour, the company’s head of merchant services for payments, explains what is changing and when, and discusses the implications. The way consumers make payments in Europe will enter a new era from Dec. 31, 2020, (September 2021…
Ensuring the protection of data about European citizens transferred to the United States just became mildly to a whole lot more complicated. The Court of Justice of the European Union last week invalidated the Privacy Shield framework in use by more than 5,000 companies, including approximately 16 U.S.-based travel management companies. It found that the…
Hotels are taking hygiene very seriously. Instilling confidence is the top strategic challenge, but the practicalities are difficult. One is getting the specifics of new cleanliness programs and certifications in front of travelers when they book. Travel management companies, booking tech providers and others are working to address the issue. BCD Travel global hotel practice…
[UPDATE, May 8, 2020: Sabre opted not to pursue financial relief via the CARES Act loan program for the aviation industry. Following a $1.1 billion capital raise in mid-April and plans to cut $325 million in costs, “we believe our current liquidity is sufficient for more than a year and a half, even in a…
Southwest Airlines expects next quarter to add virtually all its fares and inventory to Travelport’s Apollo and Worldspan global distribution systems, in accordance with its August announcement about expanded GDS participation. Amadeus and Travelport’s Galileo will get equivalent feeds later this year. Sabre is TBD. “We are no longer having conversations regarding full participation within…
Wilmington, Del. — Global distribution systems dominate indirect air travel distribution because travel agencies don’t want it another way. So it’s not unexpected to find that a new initiative like moving to XML-based connectivity under NDC takes a long time. So says an award-winning economist who has studied the travel distribution market for about a…
Trial testimony by CWT president and CEO Kurt Ekert proved instructive for anyone looking to understand travel management company dependence on global distribution systems. There was no elephant in the courtroom on the payments GDS firms make to TMCs. Ekert acknowledged that in 2018, GDS companies paid CWT incentives totaling roughly $155 million, about 10…
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