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 »
American Express Global Business Travel will use ground transportation platform Mozio to offer clients a range of options through an agent portal, the KDS booking tool and the GBT mobile app. Mozio also works with Carlson Wagonlit Travel, which owns a piece of the five-year-old marketplace of roughly 3,000 transport providers. Inventory includes public transit systems, black cars and… Read More »
Many travel management companies and tech firms are working to process more of their clients’ hotel bookings. Continuing its push, Carlson Wagonlit Travel is rolling out a simplified rate aggregation system and using loyalty points as incentives. During a Wednesday interview, CWT president of hotels Scott Brennan said some clients in Europe that use the KDS and Traveldoo… Read More »
[UPDATE, March 10, 2017: In another example of ground transport convergence, Hertz Europe aligned with Blacklane to provide cars with professional drivers. The “first stage” of an international roll-out brought the program to nine European countries. Customers can request airport transfers, limousines and other chauffeured services via direct Hertz sales channels. The company said it’s aiming to provide… Read More »
Travel suppliers want to provide personalized offers to travelers. Some travel managers want to customize travel policies to better fit individual travelers and the specifics of a trip. The problem is, some online booking tools can’t or don’t easily handle the nuances. OBTs connect with traveler profiles. Those often include basic data like an employee’s level in the… Read More »
[UPDATE, Jan. 27, 2017: Dav El BostonCoach parent Marcou Transportation Group acquired GroundLink and LimoAnywhere. “These companies provide us the opportunity to directly compete” with Uber, Lyft and other so-called transportation network companies, according to a statement from Marcou CEO Scott Solombrino. He noted that implementing auto-dispatch and “geospatial pricing” capabilities will help Marcou offer “the industry’s first… Read More »
Uber and Lyft mastered the technology to make the on-demand car experience simple and nearly immediate. Traditional black car operators are trying to do the same. But their world is a complicated patchwork of platforms, patents and partnerships. No initiative has unified the industry, and more pop up all the time. Sorting out on-demand capabilities means aggregating supply… Read More »
[UPDATE, April 19, 2017: Deem redesigned and rebranded its software suite as ‘Work Fource.’] [UPDATE, April 15, 2016: A Deem official indicated the company does not agree with the CrunchBase figure for total investment in Deem; the official did not provide a different figure.] With founder Patrick Grady out and new funding in, Deem anticipates layoffs and a narrowed product focus… Read More »
Industry opinion on what it’s like to shop for hotels in corporate booking tools falls somewhere between cumbersome and atrocious. Inexperienced travelers or those with few preferences might call it good enough. Travel managers don’t. They want improvements, and some have given up on providers delivering them. Not so fast, say developers including Amadeus, Deem, Egencia and nuTravel. They’re… Read More »
At a limo conference in Atlantic City last fall, a couple of entrepreneurs announced the ground transport platform to compete with Uber. Seconds later, a black car exec whispered, “We’re building one, too.” This week it was déjà vu as The Company Dime looked into announcements about two other similar initiatives. Evidence of a third turned up, then a fourth. Shouldn’t the car… Read More »