online booking tool

Buyers Labor Over How To Inform Travelers About American’s Plans

What should travel managers tell company employees about the distribution changes American Airlines is making?  As one communicator who works in the weeds of airline distribution said, it’s clear as mud. But there’s only so much that travelers need to know. A few travel managers offered some ideas, but for the most part, crafting a…

Travelport Buys Deem

Travelport acquired corporate travel booking and ground tech firm Deem from Enterprise Holdings for an undisclosed sum. Travelport plans to integrate Deem’s travel solution with its Travelport+ platform in the coming months and enable access to NDC offers, products and services. Travelport CEO Greg Webb in 2021 said he did not want to be in…

Options Travel, Industry Lifer Walton Create Spotnana-Powered Corporate Agency

The owners of Options Travel backed Mark Walton, for the past five years an EVP at their Chicagoland travel management company, in a new Spotnana-powered venture. Walton is now CEO of Solutions Travel, a TMC targeting mainly small and midsized firms using Spotnana’s online booking tool, agent desktop, mobile app, records system, content engine and…

Navan Is Big On Airline Direct, Except When It Isn’t

American Airlines is anticipating that a small number of corporate travel providers will connect with it directly to access substantially all of its fares beginning in April, according to sources familiar with the airline’s talking points. One such player, Spotnana, already announced its arrangement. Another, Navan (formerly TripActions), also has embraced next-generation airline connectivity as…

As Navan (Née TripActions) Releases Trojan Horse, Clients Say Branding Isn’t The Problem

During its eight years, TripActions required some administrative work for clients to sign up. They would need contact with a representative and a contract. With its rebranding, that’s gone and non-client travel managers face the prospect of fending off employees who sign up on their own, agree to terms and policies on their company’s behalf,…

Sabre, TMCs Advance AA NDC Testing

After some initial tests of basic functionality late last year, Sabre and several travel management companies last week started an “expanded pilot” to support fares coming through American Airlines’ NDC-compliant application programming interface. Corporate travel buyers are keen to see progress as they contemplate potentially unwelcome consequences of American’s plan in nine weeks to pull…

Dispatch 2

Before the pandemic, American Airlines crowed about adding to its sales force and growing market share in corporate travel. Conditions have changed. Both corporate travel and airline capacity growth are depressed. Improving profitability and paying down debt are top priorities. After cutting back last year on customer benefits including perks and discounts, now AA is saying goodbye to its…

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