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…
The pandemic made more companies question the value of business travel, but at the same time, reliance on the partners that help manage it grew. According to a Global Business Travel Association survey last month, 52 percent of more than 300 travel buyers said their organizations’ reliance on travel management companies for service and support…
In the works since 2018, the initial version of ISO guidance on travel risk management is scheduled for release this month. It will provide a roadmap and a set of best practices that could evolve into a more formal standard and associated certification. Travel risk management experts welcome the publication and see it as a…
On top of worries about contracting Covid, employees and employers can’t forget that car accidents, heart attacks and other emergencies happen during business travel. Hospital capacity wasn’t traditionally a factor that U.S. corporates needed to consider for domestic trips, but that’s all changed with intensive care units now at or near capacity in several states….
GoldSpring Consulting’s Kathy Kent and Will Tate sketch out the foundations for going global with corporate travel management companies. Global is a frequently used term to describe a corporate travel program and its travel management company support. When you hear “global” and “TMC,” what model comes to mind? Everything from every country is the same?…
Travelers taking advantage of rates negotiated by companies they don’t work for is one of the oldest tricks in the book. With car rental rates rising amid recovering demand and limited inventory, Avis Budget is telling customers they must prove they are entitled to discounted rates by producing verification of their employer. Small businesses must…
Known as a corporate hotel program aide, Tripbam is spreading its wings into the air category. It plans to mimic its lodging capabilities and capture data on airline bookings, look for better airfares and automatically rebook them. It will develop benchmarks and analytics, and ultimately delve into air sourcing. The roadmap contemplates similar functionality for…
