Direct Travel this year is set to is roll out its Spotnana-based Avenir Travel Edition globally, which it said would enable multinational clients to manage travel on a consistent platform in all their markets, the company announced Tuesday.
The travel management company last May launched Avenir's travel offering, which combines Spotnana's technology and infrastructure with Direct Travel's service offerings, in the United States. Shortly thereafter, it expanded the platform into Europe and the U.K. with servicing from Direct ATPI, its joint company with U.K.-based TMC ATPI.
Last September, Direct Travel acquired ATPI, with the potential to offer Avenir on a global scale part of the reasoning given for the acquisition.
Now, Direct Travel is planning wider availability this year for Avenir Travel Edition across Europe, Asia/Pacific, the Americas and the Middle East and Africa. In the Americas, it already is fully live in Canada as well as the U.S., and Mexico and Brazil are next in line, followed by additional Latin America markets "as we scale our regional footprint," according to Direct Travel chief product officer Sarah Kuberry Martino.
In Europe, currently supported markets include the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and Direct Travel is adding more countries "to complete comprehensive coverage," she said.
In the Asia/Pacific region, Avenir is live in Australia, and Direct Travel plans expansion into New Zealand, Singapore, India and "a broad range of countries across East and Southeast Asia as we build out our full regional presence," Martino said. The United Arab Emirates also is among the next markets that will come online with Avenir, followed by its initial expansion into Africa, she said.
With global availability, it will offer "one global platform, one global service model and one source of truth," Direct Travel CEO Christal Bemont said in a statement.
With a single global platform, Direct Travel said companies will be able to centralize control and support local requirements worldwide and will be able to access data and reporting from across the entire company. With servicing, advisors are working on a unified workspace, meaning they can assist any travelers without handoffs or service gaps.
SAS director of travel operations Richard Clowes, whose program recently moved from an accredited Corporate Travel Department model to a rent-a-plate model operating on Avenir, said in a statement that it has "transformed how we manage our global travel program. Our travelers now have one consistent experience worldwide, and for the first time our team has clear optics across regions."