It might be difficult to attach numbers to something as seemingly abstract as travel risk management. How do you measure the return on investing in this area? There are a few approaches, both qualitative and quantitative. To understand the ROI, one first has to understand the risks. Travel risk management gets more attention now than it did a… Read More »
Airbnb inventory is coming to corporate booking channels. Concur and Flight Centre this summer went public with their plans. Amadeus is considering if and how to link its booking tool. Airbnb’s self-reported data shows rapid growth even before these integrations. Anecdotal reports indicate increased corporate acceptance. Concur in July said “in the coming months” it would integrate Airbnb… Read More »
Breaking into travel risk management is no easy task. One startup whose leaders spoke at the 2016 Global Business Travel Association convention pivoted away from TRM. Some are focusing on one TRM component and partnering for others. It’s an active sector, with a few providers now targeting the small and medium enterprise market for the first time. Heavyweight… Read More »
Return on investment for particular business trips is elusive. Amadeus is hoping to address that with new integration between its cytric booking tool and Salesforce. Amadeus expects cytric to be available on the Salesforce AppExchange by early fourth quarter, meaning clients can install its booking capabilities into the Salesforce mobile app. The integration will attach Salesforce CRM’s “opportunities”… Read More »
[UPDATE, Aug. 5, 2017: Concur pushed back to Sept. 16 its simplification of the TripLink user permission process.] [CORRECTION, July 31, 2017: The original version of this article mischaracterized improvements in the TripLink on-boarding process, suggesting travelers do not need to agree to connect their loyalty programs with their Concur profiles. They do still need to permit that… Read More »
You generally will not see interviews published here, but an opportunity that came up last week made an exception worthwhile. What follows are excerpts of separate interviews with top executives at the three largest travel management companies. We spoke by phone with American Express Global Business Travel president Philippe Chérèque last Monday, Carlson Wagonlit Travel president and CEO… Read More »
[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 next type of… Read More »
[UPDATE, Sept. 7, 2017: Expense management system provider Certify bought nuTravel’s online booking system. It will offer the tool as part of Certify Enterprise Travel. The two companies announced a partnership for that product in July. The expense management system provider already offers booking tech to small businesses under the Certify Travel brand. NuTravel will maintain its airline… Read More »
American Airlines will pay participating travel agencies $2 per net segment booked and ticketed using certified NDC connections at all points of sale on AA-marketed flights. The program requires agencies to cover distribution costs, but comes with a near-term content parity commitment. It also enables new possibilities for corporate bundles, waiver-and-favor management and risk management data. They’re not up and… Read More »
[UPDATE, June 23, 2017: Expedia completed its acquisition of a majority stake in SilverRail. Terms were not disclosed.] [UPDATE, June 16, 2017: Adds information about Amadeus Cytric.] Announcing plans to acquire a majority stake in rail distribution and IT firm SilverRail, Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi last month said rail was “ready for an online revolution.” It can’t come too soon.… Read More »