Christopherson Business Travel

Travelport TMCs Rave About Startup’s Commissions Automation

For Willy Wong, a call from Travelport’s head of Australia and New Zealand a few years ago seemed like a missed opportunity. But it developed into a happy relationship with five North America-based travel management companies.  During an interview this month, the founder of Toronto-based automation provider iFuture said that as a software developer, his…

Buyers Fret (Privately) About Airline Ticket Tour Codes

On airline tickets using corporate negotiated airfares, travel agents and booking tools typically include tour codes to identify bookings as coming from a particular travel agency, corporate TMC or airline corporate client. When these codes are wrong or missing, there may be financial ramifications or an impact on traveler benefits. Corporate travel buyers speaking during…

Travelport Brings Traveler Self-Service To Unified Platform

Travelport this month announced enhancements including a self-service portal allowing travelers to manage their bookings. The portal was one reason longtime Travelport subscribers Christopherson Business Travel and Fox World Travel upgraded to the new Travelport+ platform. The pair also cited multisource content aggregation, new merchandizing capabilities and more automation for things like ticket exchanges. Travelport…

Big Three U.S. Airlines’ Travel Agency Commissions (Mostly) Continue Slide

After hitting a 14-year high in 2019, passenger commissions paid by U.S. airlines to travel agencies bottomed out in 2020 along with passenger volumes, and stayed low through the first nine months of last year. The pandemic also changed the passenger mix, as mainly domestic leisure passengers made for a lower-value booking environment. Lower-value bookings…

As TMCs Work Through Staffing Challenges, Clients Envision The Counselor Of The Future

It’s a chicken-and-egg scenario as corporate travel management companies face hard decisions on staffing. When clients resume traveling, they need reliable, expert service more than ever. But with demand in doubt, how proactive can TMCs be in bringing back their people and recruiting more? It’s a question that begets more. How have agent roles been…

Veteran TMC Exec Attempts Pricier New Entrant As Covid Complexity, Staffing Volatility Continue

Corporate travel buyers appreciate the Covid-related information delivered by their travel management companies and tech partners. The problem is, many travelers don’t read it and would rather call or email someone. Everyone hopes confusion over travel documentation requirements will wane — if not the prerequisites themselves — but many see the additional care needed to…

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