IN BRIEF
AMERICAN EXPRESS GLOBAL BUSINESS TRAVEL has introduced new functionalities to its traveller care product, Expert Care. The programme visualises which travellers are close to potential disruption, and enables buyers to locate and
communicate with them. The latest update integrates near real-time flight status, so managers can see flight delays and other problems as they happen.
The business travel sector, with its large silos of data, is ripe for trialling this tech
insurance, baggage, seating and other tick boxes to “prevent flagrant upselling”. While anticipatory booking may seem outlandish, the business travel sector, with its large silos of data, is ripe for trial- ling this tech. Yet in the leisure sector, OTAs have the track record in going the extra mile to fulfil customers’ needs. Traverse Associates’ O’Neill adds: “The people who hold the data are best placed to draw analytic insights and to set up a learning system. From my perspective, the default fulfilment of all of these booking requests would be massive teams of people making all of these new bookings. Where you start to get massive cost savings in the whole system is by leveraging automation tech-
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
nology to automatically fulfil these orders in the back office.” Adara’s Garner, meanwhile, says his company uses “predictive technology ex- tensively, to predict what type of messages are most relevant to particular travellers”. And with the rise in mobile bookings, and “unique identifiers”, anticipatory booking is possible. “With some part- ners we can append data back on to their CRM system,” he says. Sojern, for example, has in-depth data on more than 350 million travellers worldwide. As Brigden says: “We know when business people are in the market for a flight, hotel, car hire or train ticket and we can use this data to influence behaviour with targeted offerings at the right time, to the right people, with the right message. “Business travel has lots of advantages
as it’s a smaller, tighter audience and it’s easier to predict patterns, trends and events. And, of course, a B2B provider knows who the user is so, theoretically, it should be easier. The question is: do B2B providers have the necessary budgets, technical knowledge and corporate vision to take advantage of this opportunity?”
AMADEUS has launched a pre- paid card service. Amadeus B2B Wallet Prepaid is a virtual card solution that aims to increase protection against fraud and improve sales reconciliation. The new service comprises two virtual cards linked to the same account: one card earns travel agencies a rebate on the amount spent, and the other helps avoid payment card surcharges.
ICELANDAIR has extended the availability of wifi access on its aircraft, so passengers can connect as soon as they board the aircraft. Previously, the carrier switched on the technology when the aircraft reached 10,000ft, and switched it off before landing.
BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016
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