Concur’s technology leaders have refocused on core infrastructure over innovation to deal with increased service disruptions during the past 18 months. “In the past we have had much more rapid development of features and functionality, but over the last few months we have slowed those down,” said senior vice president for hosting operations Stephen deRham. Speaking…
IJet International released apps in December on Android and January on iOS that can track travelers using global positioning system capabilities. The app brings to the everyday smartphone a level of realtime tracking traditionally available only through expensive satellite-based devices. Typically only used in high-risk environments, the Critical Trac app still is not a “mass-market…
Concur claimed it resolved last week’s intermittent online booking outages about 88 hours after they began popping up. But some users this week reported ongoing issues and many expressed deep frustration about the whole episode. For travel agency resellers, booking tool downtime can hurt productivity, profitability and client goodwill. Making matters worse, the insufficient service came in the midst of another winter testing the industry’s…
It seems that some corporate travel decision-makers are endlessly dissatisfied with data. It’s imperfect, dumped on them in buckets and hard to present to executives. Nowadays they want insights at the trip level. They want to identify policy violations before it’s too late. They want to take more immediate action on predicted outcomes. Using travel…
Personalization. It’s not just for people anymore. Lufthansa is using Amadeus technology to offer product and service add-ons to passengers based on where they work rather than who they are. The capability applies in direct and indirect channels, including travel management companies that use Amadeus or integrate using Web services. Negotiated discounts are not the…
Hotels had to reckon with Expedia before it acquired Travelocity and proposed the same for Orbitz. If it’s able to enhance its negotiating power, Expedia could reinforce the notion that online travel agencies offer lower lodging rates than traditional managed travel sources. In a Feb. 13 research note, Oppenheimer analyst Manish Hemrajani wrote that Expedia’s “Hulk-esque proportions…
A federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday ordered American Express to revise its merchant agreements. Provisions that bar merchants from preferring another form of payment need modification or elimination, the court found. Absent a winning appeal, the decision seems likely to hurt Amex’s competitiveness. It appears merchants such as airlines would be free to promote…
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