One of the world’s largest corporate travel agencies, Pennsylvania’s World Travel Inc., before the new year announced it established an employee stock ownership plan. The company issued new shares in December as it became 100 percent employee-owned. While many ESOP companies go this way to give the owners an out, World Travel chairman Jim Wells said that wasn’t his… Read More »
World Travel Inc. established an employee stock ownership plan. A message sent Thursday to customers from chairman James Wells credited World Travel’s employees for the company’s growth into “one of the top travel management companies in the world without acquisitions.” Under an ESOP, employees receive company stock and therefore an ownership interest. Companies with ESOPs may be partially,… Read More »
New York – More than 20 years since their invention, corporate online booking tools don’t generate much respect. Executives with three of them last month channeled the notion during a panel discussion that mixed updates on development priorities with good-natured ribbing. Representatives of market leader Concur, reinvented Deem and North America newbie Amadeus Cytric touched on familiar issues like system reliability, the… Read More »
The reception to some hotel chains’ new 48-hour cancellation rules has been “perfectly fine,” according to Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher Nassetta. “Nobody likes incremental restrictions on the flexibility of reservations, but I think most customers understand that we’ve got a need to manage our inventory and avoid walking people,” said Marriott International CEO Arne Sorenson. “As a consequence, the response… Read More »
Boston – Travel management professionals agree that to be effective, new airline distribution programs need to offer at least as much functionality as existing systems do. Based on expert commentary at last week’s Global Business Travel Association convention here, it would appear that a solution to be welcomed by all key parties is a ways off. Dozens of speakers… Read More »
[UPDATE, Aug. 21, 2017: Concur plans in September to run virtual payment pilots with travel management companies that have gone through a “readiness” program. In an update for TMCs, Concur indicated that they must have a relationship with Conferma and support virtual payment for both Concur Travel and offline reservations. Concur also indicated that the next type of… Read More »
American Airlines will pay participating travel agencies $2 per net segment booked and ticketed using certified NDC connections at all points of sale on AA-marketed flights. The program requires agencies to cover distribution costs, but comes with a near-term content parity commitment. It also enables new possibilities for corporate bundles, waiver-and-favor management and risk management data. They’re not up and… Read More »