Multiple corporate travel agencies said they had made the difficult decision to lay off employees as a result of the coronavirus-related drop in corporate travel. It’s a worst-case scenario mere weeks removed from a years-long phase in which travel management companies struggled to find talent, especially travel agents. TMCs contacted this week by The Company…
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…
Travelers don’t care how service providers get all the travel purchase options in front of them, just that they do. AmTrav CEO Jeff Klee discusses how to chart progress toward that goal, which in his mind is all that matters in NDC development. So here we are in 2020, the year when New Distribution Capability…
Coupa acquired Yapta, the thirteen-year-old hotel and airfare price assurance firm named for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant.” Yapta had raised more than $25 million between 2007 and 2015, including several million from SAP Concur and $2 million from Amadeus Ventures. Evercore ISI equities analyst Peter Levine made a “very rough” estimate for the value…
The biggest news coinciding with GBTA’s convention this month was Southwest’s decision to list or expand participation in global distribution systems run by Amadeus and Travelport. Too long in the making for many, the airline by mid-2020 for the first time will accommodate “industry-standard processes” in those GDSs. That includes the ability to book, change,…
Startups are not the only travel management providers trying out new pricing models. Thirty-six-year-old family business ProfessionalTravelService.com, a Travel Leaders Group affiliate, is based in Minneapolis but lives online. Using Deem or SAP Concur, clients don’t pay online transaction fees as the TMC relies on supplier commissions and incentive payments. Services include traveler tracking through…
American Airlines last month began distributing a corporate bundle via its NDC-compliant API to clients of three travel management companies. AmTrav, Marplay in Mexico and Brazil’s Copastur use their proprietary booking tools to sell regular economy fares that include preferred main cabin seating, no-fee changes and a checked bag. United Airlines and TripActions announced a…
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