With information on end-supplier hygiene standards expected
to be a high priority as corporate travel re-emerges in the wake of the
Covid-19 pandemic, Serko is incorporating new ATPCO Reassurance Universal
Product Attributes into its Zeno travel booking platform.
Rolled
out in April—about a month after the Covid-19 pandemic began wreaking havoc
on travel on a worldwide scale—Reassurance UPAs provide data on hygiene and
safety measures and procedures for approximately 275 air carriers globally,
including information such as flexible booking policies, food and beverage
hygiene and clean air circulation.
Serko began including those UPAs within its Zeno platform
soon after they became available, and now is adding additional UPAs covering mask
requirements, pre-flight temperature checks, passenger capacity, blocked
adjacent seats and aircraft cleaning, the company said.
In addition to Serko, a number of other travel management
companies and booking tool providers have added the UPAs to their platforms,
including Corporate
Travel Management, Reed
& Mackay and Deem.
Along with integrating Reassurance UPAs, Serko
also has added new functionality on Zeno's hotel search side to support hygiene
and safety-based travel choices. The platform's new Free Cancellation filter enablers
travelers to search only for hotel bookings that will not incur a penalty if
they need to cancel their trip. This will be supplemented with "enhanced
hotel safety and cleanliness information available in the product shortly,"
Serko said.
[Correction, Aug. 14]: A previous version
of this story incorrectly implied that Zeno was introducing Reassurance UPAs for
the first time, rather than adding additional UPAs to those already made
available in April. BTN regrets the error.]