The pandemic stopped most business travel, but it did not end the relentless and historically futile quest for an online-first intermediary that attracts and keeps loads of small-to-midsized business clients. While many such companies use local corporate travel agencies and some use global ones, a lot of them book with suppliers or consumer-oriented online travel…
Meta search company Kayak as early as last year began exploring a business travel gateway to supplier sites and online travel agencies which could include negotiated corporate rates. The company last month announced a free service including a number of business travel functions, but it also revealed greater managed-travel ambitions. After first applying certain policies…
As Sabre began this summer to bring a new lodging program to corporate travel agencies and intermediaries, implementation wasn’t expected to be easy. SAP Concur made that much clear in a recent message to users, suggesting that they should not use Sabre’s new Content Services for Lodging via Concur Travel. According to Sabre, Concur missed…
Re-shopping booked airfares is nothing new in corporate travel. Front-end fare predictions are relatively common in consumer travel. A Tel Aviv startup now is enabling travel management companies to take advantage of fare predictions after booking but before ticketing. It claims it can save businesses substantial sums on airline pricing volatility. Consumer fare prediction tools…
It’s time again for many to assemble corporate hotel programs for next year. The clear goal is to save money and provide sufficient choice for travelers. There are many ways to get it done, and each comes with its own set of considerations. Louise Miller of Areka Consulting breaks down the options. Most companies still…
[UPDATE, Dec. 11, 2019: Kayak evidently deleted the blog referenced below.] Kayak For Business is real, but what is it? After declining to comment for an article published on this site last December about efforts to build a solution for businesses, the company recently started publishing blog posts about it. There’s a new category about…
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last week issued a patent to IBM for “intelligent travel planning.” The patented process covers receiving a user’s trip requirements and preferences, searching travel options, building an itinerary based on “relative weights for preference information” and purchase history, obtaining a response from the user to the proposed itinerary and…
End of content
End of content
