With the potential to reshape corporate travel policies, a Mastercard-SAP Concur integration gaining traction among customers reflects an interest in the sorts of payment-first controls typical of virtual card programs and championed by fintech startups. “Purchases made on Mastercard corporate cards are captured and automatically populated in Concur Expense,” SAP announced in March. “Users are…
The pandemic era’s geopolitical tensions caused concern among economic globalization advocates. Despite rising nationalism and efforts to reduce reliance on global supply chains, new data shows the appetite for consolidated global travel management remains strong. Corporates say they’re not going back. “There is a clear trend toward consolidation,” according to the United Kingdom’s Competition and…
When responding in late August to competition concerns raised by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority over their proposed combination, leaders at American Express Global Business Travel and CWT must have held their noses. Their redacted response, released last week, showed that to get the deal approved, execs surmised they had to “big up” their…
Airlines have focused for several years on sustainable aviation fuel as a critical part of decarbonizing aviation. Certain carriers evidently are willing to deepen negotiated airfare discounts for corporate clients making SAF investments. Several airlines have promoted sustainability programs in which corporate clients can participate, but financial incentives provided by airlines to their accounts as…
After talking to customers, competitors and suppliers in the first phase of its examination of American Express Global Business Travel’s proposed acquisition of CWT, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority on Aug. 30 put out a lengthy report. One conclusion was that “tech entrants,” including Navan, were ill-equipped to serve large multinational corporate customers. …
The New Distribution Capability is not designed to generate less revenue for airlines. Some argue it’s about increasing yields through upselling and neutered comparison shopping. Many corporate travel buyers’ most notable experiences with NDC are related to surcharges or inaccessible fares. Airlines are using it to reduce distribution costs. One of the purported win-wins is…
After announcing a few in March, SAP Concur added several enhancements to the roadmap for its upgraded online booking tool, including the ability to change ticketed air trips in Sabre, scheduled for release during the quarter ending in September. Planned for the current quarter is the capability for reservation holds on EDIFACT-based Sabre bookings. The…
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