T&T Gets Reporting, Redemption TechSuper-regional travel management company Travel & Transport has selected New York-based Information Builders' WebFocus product to deliver management information to corporate clients, the companies announced last month. Meanwhile, T&T also chose Honolulu-based EzRez Software for loyalty rewards fulfillment.
"WebFocus helps corporate customers monitor employee spending, book travel with preferred vendors and negotiate corporate purchasing agreements that can save them millions of dollars per year," the companies said in a press statement. The news release indicated that the agency also had evaluated business intelligence products from Oracle, Crystal Reports and Informix.
"We needed more than just pretty reports," said Travel & Transport vice president of information technology services Michael Kubasik. "We wanted to build a reporting environment that was powerful enough to handle transaction-intensive operations, yet simple enough to deploy over the Web. Having an efficient architecture was important, since we knew we would have hundreds of concurrent users."
WebFocus powers Travel & Transport's Web-based reporting solutions, which it said are used by about 300 corporations for an estimated 10,000 reports per month.
Travel & Transport's deal with EzRez provides it with direct connections to suppliers and such services as dynamic packaging and a rewards fulfillment tool, including online redemption, the companies said.
According to EzRez, "Now, customers can build their own packages and redeem points for travel directly through Travel & Transport's loyalty Web site."
Travel & Transport reported 676,000 air transactions and $282 million in air sales to ARC in 2003, 82 percent of which was for domestic destinations
(BTN, May 24). Its clients include ConAgra Foods Inc. and Kimberly-Clark Inc.
TravTech Offers Dynamic Fare AuditingOmega World Travel subsidiary TravTech last month announced the introduction of the FareCapture Web-based, real-time auditing and reporting tool, which gathers and displays the alternative airfares and flight options that were available, but not selected, at the time of booking. "This provides increased leverage in airline contract negotiations," the company said in a statement. "Additionally, it ensures compliance with company travel policies and assists in verification of Sarbanes-Oxley compliance."
Travelers can receive instant e-mail notification of alternatives they did not choose, and another e-mail can be sent simultaneously to the travel manager or supervisor, conditioning the traveler to comply with policy.
The product includes summary reports to examine bookings and alternatives sorted by individual traveler, division, etc. Integrated Official Airline Guide information helps provide a carrier analysis report, captured at the point of sale, including all information on availability at the time the sale was made.
Fairfax, Va.-based TravTech's more than 70 programmers develop travel technology solutions marketed to clients of Omega and the travel industry at large. Omega booked nearly 1 million transactions with ARC in 2003, placing it third on BTN's list of top travel management companies ranked by ARC-authorized transaction counts
(BTN, May 24).Ultramar Develops Dashboard ReportsNew York-based Ultramar Travel Management used four programmers to create the proprietary components of its technology suite, including a traveler information dashboard.
Unveiled to clients last month, the dashboard pulls data from Sabre's CentralCommand accounting system and offers both live and historical data on the individual's purchasing, including air mileage, days out of state, unused tickets and missed savings opportunities when nonpreferred vendors are selected. "We believe travelers can use this information to self-police," said Ultramar president Peter Klebanow. The travel manager interface includes information on pending departures and current trips, out-of-policy alerts and arrival/departure manifests.
The company claimed its pre-trip data reporting beats the competition because it is generated from the passenger name record, not the mid-office component, eliminating a lag time of up to 48 hours and a fee of about $1.50 per record.
Meanwhile, Klebanow described Ultramar's ongoing development of a global fare database to uncover and enable cross-border buying. "The airlines are clever in making certain fares available only in certain markets, and e-tickets have blown open the potential of buying tickets in other markets," he said. "The global distribution systems do not show availability in every market. In South Africa, it may be that a flight shows sold out, but in the same GDS, there is availability in the United Kingdom. Without a global network, you're unable to avail yourself of those buying opportunities."
Ultramar clients include Dassault Aviation, Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kenneth Cole.
WTSG Changes Name, Creates LoyaltyThe World Travel Specialists Group in New York changed its name to Ovation Travel Group and introduced a members-only program for frequent business travelers, known as the Ovation Club, which initially is open to all clients.
Formerly a WTSG division, The Lawyers' Travel Service retains its name and joins Ovation Corporate Travel and Ovation Vacations as units of Ovation Travel Group. The company said its Club offers frequent flyer award reservations as well as upgrades and other hotel amenities at more than 200 properties.
Ovation's clients include E! Entertainment, Jones Day, Oxygen Media, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Warburg Pincus.