BUSINESS TRAVEL

Traxo and International SOS Partner to Track all Corporate Travel Bookings in Real-Time

Traxo & International SOS | October 22, 2021

Dallas-based Traxo, Inc., the global leader in real-time corporate travel data capture and pre-trip auditing, and International SOS, the world’s largest provider of health and security services, announced a new commercial agreement, which can provide International SOS clients with immediate access to all travel itinerary data before travel begins, including ‘off-channel bookings’ occurring outside the client’s mandated corporate travel policy, in real time, enabling enhanced duty of care for business travelers.“Our new partnership with International SOS is coincidentally and perfectly timed with the newly issued global travel risk management benchmark, ISO 31030.

”This new ISO standard provides critical guidance on how organizations should effectively address the responsibility of ensuring the security, safety, health and well-being of individuals traveling for work as the world continues to navigate through the travel ramifications of COVID-19.”

-Traxo Founder and Chief Executive Officer Andres Fabris.

As a result of the integration with Traxo’s API (application programming interface), when an International SOS corporate client signs with Traxo, both International SOS and its client gain immediate visibility into all travel itinerary data from every booking made outside the client's mandated corporate travel policy. These previously ‘invisible bookings," which can represent as much as 50 percent of a company's business travel, are automatically detected, audited, and processed by Traxo and securely transmitted directly to the International SOS duty-of-care system for immediate risk management coverage seconds after the employee books their travel, regardless of channel.


"As organizations begin to re-open their business travel, travel risk management programs must be revitalized and rooted in effective tools that will protect ALL traveling employees and ensure the business is meeting its requirements for duty of care,The need for travel managers to effectively manage ‘booking leakage’ is more critical now than ever before, making it essential for us to ensure all out-of-policy and supplier-direct bookings can be integrated into our monitoring solutions.

-said Andrew Miller, Director of Partnerships at International SOS

Partnering with Traxo helps us improve our traveler location awareness capabilities by ensuring that we don’t miss a single itinerary, no matter how it was booked, and the real-time nature of this data can help us prevent or mitigate emergency situations much more effectively.

The Traxo pre-trip, booking-data detection solution works in the background by capturing all off-channel bookings immediately after purchase, whether that be a reservation for a hotel, airline, car rental, rail, or ground transportation; or a cancelation or trip modification. That itinerary data is stored in Traxo’s highly secure infrastructure and made available to the corporate travel manager in Traxo’s dashboard application to view and report on. All booking data is automatically passed to International SOS for comprehensive risk management monitoring of all upcoming travel. There is no extra effort required on behalf of the employees or travel managers.

We're incredibly pleased to team with the world's largest corporate travel duty-of-care service to provide the ability for all of their clients to improve visibility into all employees’ business travel plans," Fabris noted. "The reality today is that corporate travel leakage is inevitable, and unless it’s detected pre-trip, it can be extremely challenging to effectively monitor the safety of traveling employees. Full visibility is not simply a luxury as it once was; it's an essential imperative in today's business travel landscape to reduce corporate liabilities and ensure the health and safety of all traveling employees.

International SOS clients who work with multiple travel management companies (TMCs) can opt to have all their TMC booking data consolidated with their off-channel booking data and fed directly into the International SOS Tracker system. Traxo easily consolidates all of the bookings from the various TMCs with the non-TMC bookings, and sends it all in one data feed to International SOS for real-time duty-of-care monitoring.

International SOS and Traxo will host a joint webinar on October 26th to discuss the new Travel Risk Management Standard Benchmark ISO 31030:2021, and how together, they can help organizations meet their duty-of-care requirements. 

About Traxo:
Dallas-based Traxo, Inc., the global leader in corporate travel data capture and pre-trip auditing, eliminates blind spots and enhances duty of care by enabling corporate travel managers and managed travel agencies to easily track and proactively manage complete omnichannel travel activity in a single, real-time, system of record. Founded in 2008, Traxo clients and partners include Amex GBT, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Easy Jet, Tripadvisor, Chrome River / Emburse, Coupa, International SOS, WorldAware, and many more. Two recent Business Travel News Travel Managers of the Year use Traxo, and The Business Travel Magazine recently named the Company to its 2021Tech HotList, a list of the “top tech innovators shaking up the industry.” With Traxo, corporations reduce risk, improve traveler safety and maximize savings. Learn more at www.traxo.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About the International SOS Group of Companies:
The International SOS Group of Companies is in the business of saving lives, protecting your global workforce from health and security threats. Wherever you are, we deliver customised health, security risk management and wellbeing solutions to fuel your growth and productivity. In the event of extreme weather, an epidemic or a security incident, we provide an immediate response providing peace of mind. Our innovative technology and medical and security expertise focus on prevention, offering real-time, actionable insights and on-the-ground quality delivery. We help protect your people, your organisation's reputation, as well as support your compliance reporting needs. By partnering with us, organisations can fulfil their Duty of Care responsibilities, while empowering business resilience, continuity and sustainability.

Founded in 1985, the International SOS Group, headquartered in London & Singapore, is trusted by 12,000 organisations, including the majority of the Fortune 500, as well as mid-size enterprises, governments, educational institutions and NGOs. 12,000 multicultural medical, security and logistics experts stand with you to provide support & assistance from over 1,000 locations in 90 countries, 24/7, 365 days.

Spotlight

Paired with changing workforce dynamics, contact centers are coping with issues such as economic uncertainty, customer vulnerability, an increase in global compliance regulations and ongoing pandemic-related disruptions —
from the supply chain to employee health concerns. A perfect storm of external factors have led to higher interaction volumes and more complex customer conversations.

Spotlight

Paired with changing workforce dynamics, contact centers are coping with issues such as economic uncertainty, customer vulnerability, an increase in global compliance regulations and ongoing pandemic-related disruptions —
from the supply chain to employee health concerns. A perfect storm of external factors have led to higher interaction volumes and more complex customer conversations.

Related News

TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY,HOSPITALITY TRENDS

Agilysis Dispenses Cloud Native PMS to Marriot International

Agilysis | January 04, 2023

Agilysis, a provider of hospitality software solutions, recently announced a partnership between Marriott International, Inc. and Agilysis, a cloud-native property management system (PMS) software provider. Agilysys and Marriott will collaborate to form a cohesive strategy and activation plan before taking steps to replace the various proprietary property management systems currently in use. Agilysys remarked that it is looking forward to deploying its cloud-native PMS that is easy to use, comprehensive in functionality, and backed up by world-class service and support. As an organization focused solely on hospitality, Agilysys designs solutions to serve all hotel types while also accommodating diverse needs, which is an advantage for organizations with extensive brand portfolios such as Marriott. Being chosen to provide property management technology to the world's leading hospitality corporations to help them meet the growing needs of the next generation of employees and guests is a testament to the hospitality solution advancements resulting from the company's substantial investments in research and development and its accelerating rate of innovation. Adding to this, Marriott International said that it is also looking forward to utilizing Agilysys’ property management technology to elevate and simplify the associate experience, enabling them to focus on delivering exceptional guest service. About Agilysis Agilysys delivers hospitality-focused technology solutions. The company offers point-of-sale, property management, inventory and procurement, analytics, payment processing, document management, mobile solutions, support, maintenance, professional services, and third-party hardware products and operating systems. It offers innovations for the hotel industry, diverse capabilities for different properties, and cloud-native technology that makes work easier for staff and improves the guest experience.

Read More

BUSINESS TRAVEL

Life House is Cementing Its Status as the Go-To Management Company for Independent Hotels in Mexico

Life House | March 20, 2023

Tech-enabled hotel management company, Life House, has announced the addition of two more properties in Mexico to its growing portfolio of 80+ independent hotels. The two properties are Faisano Nomadas in Aldea Zama and The Carmen in Playa Del Carmen. With these hotels, Life House is now managing five independent hotels in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The Carmen is a 37-room hotel in the heart of Playa Del Carmen that is catered to adult vacations and is located directly on the beach. Built in 2017, the hotel features stunning views of the Caribbean from its rooftop bar and lounge, Deck5, and also hosts an Italian restaurant, La Famiglia, on the ground floor. The Owner is a long-time Denver-based developer. Ownership was very excited to have Life House take the reins given their existing presence in the Playa Market. “We selected Life House for the promise of its advanced tech stack and the opportunity for shared services with their other hotels,” said the Owner of The Carmen. “We expect to see many improvements to The Carmen’s operations and profitability with this new partnership.” Faisano Nomadas is a 24-room hotel in the heart of Aldea Zama. It was designed not just as a hotel, but as a destination itself, complete with a resort-style pool and a bar offering food and drinks concepted uniquely for the hotel. Francisco Mendoza and Gustavo Acosta, the developers of Faisano Nomadas, are highly experienced hotel owners and strategic growth partners for Life House in Mexico. Francisco Mendoza shared, “Working with Life House has been really exciting. They have been supporting our project with all their experience and knowledge as we are not Hotel operators - we are just investors trying to develop a profitable business with a great customer experience for our guests. Life House has experienced specialists in all operating areas who are guiding us in this journey and giving us the structure needed in order to achieve our goals.” Life House, founded in 2017, is uniquely positioned to manage smaller, leisure-oriented hotels and resorts across Mexico. Life House provides institutional-quality hotel management and branding services focused on profitability, ease, and long-term real estate value. They offer best-in-class hotel operations that are powered by their robust operational systems and proprietary technology that consistently drives 2x higher NOI, 40% higher net revenues, and all with a very lean on-site staffing model. Life House is therefore seeing high demand for its management platform throughout Mexico and is targeting the region as a strategic area of growth. “We are excited to partner with Messrs. Mendoza & Acosta and the owner of The Carmen on their special hotels and forward thinking approach,” said Rami Zeidan, the Founder & CEO of Life House. “Ever since we entered the market in 2020, we have seen how many great independent hotels are underserved and we’re looking forward to helping small & medium indie hotels throughout the country in the near future.” About Life House Life House is a vertically integrated hotel management & technology company focused on serving small and medium independent hotels with institutional quality service. Life House uses advanced software & operating systems to increase profitability and reliability for independent hotels throughout North America. Life House was founded in 2017 by real estate, hospitality, and technology veterans and is backed by world renowned private equity and venture investors. The company is ambitiously investing in its operational systems to make hotels fare more profitable, predictable, and seamless for owners. Today the company operates over 80 hotels across North America.

Read More

HOSPITALITY TRENDS

Highgate Announces New Developments in Europe

Highgate | January 23, 2023

Highgate, a company involved in hotel management, investment, technology, and development, has announced the launch of HG Portugal, as well as the relaunch of the Dorsett City London Hotel. HG Portugal opens with a portfolio of 18 hotels in several Portuguese markets, including Lisbon, Algarve, and Porto. The portfolio includes hotels under the Hilton and IHG brand families and many notable independent hotels, such as Salgados Palace, Cascade Resort, and Sao Rafael Atlantico. In addition, the portfolio spans urban full-service hotels, waterfront luxury resorts, lifestyle boutique hotels, and large convention facilities, all drawing from core competencies across Highgate's global footprint. Highgate has selected Alexandre Solleiro as Chief Executive Officer of HG Portugal as part of its efforts to build a best-in-class operating capability in Portugal. Alexandre Solleiro brings more than 30 years of hospitality leadership expertise in Portugal, and he is supported by a dedicated leadership team from all disciplines. The team will leverage Highgate's existing resources and platforms in Europe, the Caribbean, the United States, and Latin America while also bringing specialized Portugal-based experience. Highgate brings global experience as an owner/operator in leisure destination markets and lifestyle, branded, and city-center hotels to the Portugal market. It adds unique value to its managed hotels via a platform designed to optimize distribution, operational efficiencies, and hotel concept development. The launch of HG Portugal follows the October 2021 announcement of two portfolio additions in the UK market: Grosvenor House Suites in London's Mayfair District and the Dorsett City London Hotel. As part of a more extensive repositioning, Highgate will also begin running the Dorsett City London Hotel using a relaunched concept on March 1, 2023. Arash Azarbarzin, Chief Executive Officer of Highgate, stated, "The launch of HG Portugal complements Highgate's recent re-entry into the UK management space, furthering the application of our proven business towards strategic global opportunities." He added, "Honed over the last 30 years, we will apply our innovative approach to operations, distribution, food and beverage, branding, and positioning during a remarkable moment for Portugal, as more travelers are discovering its magnificence as a prime destination." (Source – PR Newswire) About Highgate New York-based Highgate is a leading hospitality management and investment company. It is a prominent figure in the US gateway markets, which include Boston, Honolulu, Miami, San Francisco, and New York. It is also expanding its presence in Europe using properties in Barcelona and London. Highgate offers professional guidance at every stage of the hospitality property cycle, from development and planning to disposition or recapitalization. Highgate is a trusted partner for major hotel brands and top ownership groups, with an executive team comprised of some of the industry's most experienced hotel management leaders.

Read More