Travel Technology
prnewswire | August 14, 2023
ALTOUR, one of the world's largest travel management companies and a division of Internova Travel Group, is launching an innovative new product, ALTOUR Capture, that will help corporate clients keep better track of their employee travel.
Even the most well-managed business travel programs experience some leakage — with employees booking trips outside the TMC of record. That can lead to a loss of savings acquired through negotiations with preferred suppliers and a breakdown in duty of care obligations.
ALTOUR Capture solves the leakage problem by allowing travel managers at companies that are ALTOUR clients to view all travel bookings made by employees, whether or not they go through the TMC of record. Travel managers can then leverage that information for use in negotiations, conduct a price comparison and wrap duty of care to ensure travel notifications and traveller safety. This real-customer data will help drive change in one of business travel's thorniest issues.
"Capturing all travel bookings is crucial for providing proper duty of care to employees," said Dr. John Rose, Chief Risk & Security Officer for ALTOUR. "It enables the company to proactively manage risks, respond to emergencies effectively, comply with legal requirements, and foster a culture of safety and employee well-being."
With customer data driving change, ALTOUR Capture is the result of a partnership with three leading technology companies in the travel industry: CapTrav, capturing and aggregating off-channel booking data to populate ALTOUR's reporting environment; Prime Numbers Technology, providing best-in-class travel management reporting; and Oversee (formerly Fairfly), providing re-shopping for off-channel bookings when it makes sense for the client. Under the direction of Dr. John Rose, ALTOUR is committed to ensuring a more holistic duty of care program, no matter where the traveller books.
Brandon Strauss, CapTrav President and a partner and cofounder of KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions, says KesselRun has been studying the problem of off-booking for more than 20 years across clients of all sizes and industries. He estimates airline leakage at 15 percent or more and hotel leakage at 40 percent or more.
"Even with world-class best efforts, there will always be off-channel bookings for a travel manager to deal with," said Lee Thomas, ALTOUR's Chief Operating Officer and President, Business Travel. "Road warrior preferences, loyalty incentives, supplier encouragement, travel disruptions, last-minute changes and moderate travel policies all contribute to off-channel booking. By connecting the travel manager to this off-channel world, ALTOUR Capture closes the loop on managed travel."
"We are thrilled to announce the seamless integration of CapTrav's data into the Prime Analytics platform," said Mark Bresnahan, President, Prime Numbers Technology. "This partnership empowers ALTOUR clients with an unparalleled wellspring of travel data reporting. By combining off-channel booking data, GDS itinerary information, TMC data, and post-trip expense details, we offer a comprehensive solution. Clients can effortlessly oversee their travel program, accessing real-time reports, dynamic dashboards, and automated stakeholder presentations directly to their inbox."
"Oversee is proud to partner with ALTOUR on launching ALTOUR Capture," said Aviel Siman-Tov, cofounder and CEO. "Our partnership expands upon our mission of leveraging technology to deliver cost and operational efficiencies for our partners and customers. We have consistently achieved significant savings for our clients that allow budgets to be stretched while optimizing their overall travel program."
About ALTOUR
With sales of more than $3 billion, ALTOUR is one of the largest travel management companies in the United States and around the world. Serving the corporate and leisure luxury and mid-markets and entertainment community, ALTOUR has over 43 offices and nearly 700 travel professionals worldwide. In addition to travel management services, ALTOUR companies include ALTOUR Air, ALTOUR Leisure, ALTOUR Entertainment, ALTOUR Meetings and Incentives and ALTOUR Global Network.
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Business Travel
businesswire | August 03, 2023
AlertMedia, the world’s leading provider of threat intelligence, emergency communication, and travel risk management solutions, today launched an integration with Concur Travel. The integration allows joint AlertMedia and Concur Travel customers the ability to automatically sync travel data from Concur® Travel into AlertMedia Travel Risk Management, providing travel risk and security teams a real-time view of employees’ locations while traveling for work along with a powerful suite of tools to prepare employees ahead of business trips, monitor emerging travel risks, and respond quickly to keep travelers out of harm’s way.
“The volume of business trips continues to grow, and more trips mean more risk for organizations—for the traveler and the business itself,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO of AlertMedia. “Our integration with Concur Travel provides organizations a seamless, unified interface designed to help minimize travel-related risks, rapidly communicate critical information, and protect their most valuable assets—their people—in a world that is constantly changing.”
Available to customers worldwide, the AlertMedia turnkey integration with Concur Travel drastically reduces the time required to identify, correlate, and respond to travel risks that may impact active trips or upcoming trips. Additional benefits include:
Frictionless travel data management: Unify travel safety and risk management workflows within a single pane of glass to enable a faster, more consistent response.
Accurate, non-invasive location monitoring: Know where your traveling employees are at all times and their proximity to emerging risks with the AlertMedia mobile app and powerful mapping features.
Automatic, multichannel notifications to at-risk travelers: Accelerate response times to critical events with automated, multichannel notifications sent directly to impacted travelers or security teams.
AlertMedia Travel Risk Management is now available in the SAP Concur App Center.
About AlertMedia
AlertMedia helps organizations protect their people and business through all phases of an emergency. Our award-winning threat intelligence, emergency communication, and travel risk management solutions help companies of all sizes identify, respond to, and recover from critical events faster and with greater confidence. AlertMedia supports critical communication for thousands of leading businesses—including DHL, JetBlue, Coca-Cola Bottling, In-N-Out, and Walmart—in more than 130 countries.
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Travel Technology
prnewswire | June 27, 2023
Our commitment to care for our guests comes in all forms, including improving their travel day. To help do that, Alaska Airlines is partnering with CLEAR – the secure identity company – to provide friction-free and predictable travel experiences with CLEAR Plus. With our new partnership, Mileage Plan members can take advantage of a discounted rate for a CLEAR Plus membership and also receive bonus miles for a limited time. This is the first step in the partnership to accelerate the adoption of digital identity and remove friction throughout the travel journey.
CLEAR Plus is an opt-in program that allows its members to travel faster through security at 52 airports nationwide by verifying their identity with their eyes or fingerprint, replacing the need to take out their wallet and driver's license. After verification, a CLEAR Ambassador escorts members through a dedicated lane and directly to TSA physical security, saving them time waiting in line at the security checkpoint.
"We understand from our guests how important it is for them to have the best possible experience when traveling with us, and part of that is saving time when they're at the airport," said Shane Jones, vice president of real estate and business development at Alaska Airlines. "Our frequent flyers are already big fans of CLEAR Plus. With a discounted CLEAR Plus membership available to all of our Mileage Plan members, we believe more of our guests will appreciate this valuable travel benefit."
All Mileage Plan members can enroll in CLEAR Plus at a discounted rate of $179 a year at clearme.com/alaska. Plus our elite Mileage Plan members – MVP, MVP Gold, MVP Gold 75K and MVP Gold 100K – who enroll will receive 1,500 Mileage Plan bonus miles. Elite Mileage Plan members who renew an existing CLEAR Plus membership and link it to their Mileage Plan account will receive a total of 1,250 miles every year upon renewal.
In addition, to celebrate the launch of the partnership, between now and July 16, 2023, all Mileage Plan members – elite or non-elite – who enroll in a new CLEAR Plus membership will receive 1,000 Mileage Plan bonus miles.
"CLEAR is obsessed with delivering the best customer experience, so we're excited to provide Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan members with the confidence and predictability of CLEAR Plus," said Kasra Moshkani, executive vice president of operations at CLEAR. "We look forward to expanding our partnership with Alaska to continue unlocking seamless experiences for their frequent flyers from home to gate and beyond."
CLEAR Plus is available at Alaska's key hub airports in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Mileage Plan members who join CLEAR Plus can add up to three family members or friends to their account for just $70 each. Family members under 18 years old can always join CLEAR members in the CLEAR Lane for free. CLEAR has more than 16 million members.
While CLEAR Plus and TSA PreCheck are independent of each other, many passengers use CLEAR Plus and TSA PreCheck together for the fastest way through airport security.
About Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines and our regional partners serve more than 120 destinations across the United States, Belize, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. We strive to be the most caring airline with award-winning customer service and an industry-leading loyalty program. As a member of the oneworld alliance, and with our additional global partners, our guests can travel to more than 1,000 destinations on more than 25 airlines while earning and redeeming miles on flights to locations around the world. Learn more about Alaska at news.alaskaair.com and follow @alaskaairnews for news and stories. Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group.
About CLEAR
CLEAR's mission is to create frictionless experiences. With more than 16 million members and a growing network of partners across the world, CLEAR's identity platform is transforming the way people live, work, and travel. Whether you are traveling, at the stadium, or on your phone, CLEAR connects you to the things that make you, you - making everyday experiences easier, more secure, and friction-free. CLEAR is committed to privacy done right. Members are always in control of their own information, and we never sell member data.
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