Fox World Travel has launched new group air travel and unused ticket management tools on its Fox Connect travel management platform, the travel management company announced.
The unused ticket management module gives travel managers direct access to their unused ticket inventory, enabling them to better manage and recapture the value of that inventory, Fox World Travel SVP of business travel George Kalka said. It includes the ability to automate tickets that are name-change eligible out of an individual traveler's profile into the company's profile a set date before expiration, making it less likely to lose the value of a ticket from travelers who do not frequently travel, he said.
The tool also can work with company HR systems to identify when a traveler who has left the company still had unused tickets on file, so travel managers can determine what to do with those tickets, he said.
The group air manager module was designed to help with the "logistical headache" of air travel for meetings, events and incentives, which often involves manual manifests, emails and spreadsheets, Kalka said. Through the tool, travel buyers can set up their own groups and parameters around air travel—such as which channel travelers book through—and import name manifests. They can manage the groups from a central dashboard, with updates on who has been ticketed, who hasn't responded and the total spend.
"There are third-party solutions and software systems out there, but sometimes they're expensive, and they can be overly complicated for most group travel, which can be 25 or 30 people or less," Kalka said. "Our new group air manager solution module addresses that."