SAP Concur continued its phased rollout of the new Concur Travel experience this year, and for a segment of customers, the transition is no longer optional.
The new booking experience—described by Concur Travel president Charlie Sultan as a "whole new UX, really a consumer-grade experience"—made its debut in the fourth quarter of 2023 for U.S. point-of-sale users on Sabre's global distribution system. Since then, expansion to other geographies and GDSs has continued in phases, along with the addition of new features and integrations, as part of a continual "evolution" of Concur Travel, according to Sultan.
When the launch began, travel management company and corporate customers had the option to remain on the legacy platform. In September, however, Concur announced that "opt-out status would no longer apply" for certain customers on Sabre with U.S., Mexico and Canada points of sale as of Nov. 1. Those customers are being automatically upgraded to the new experience in phases, with limited support for legacy Concur Travel.
Concur issued the caveat that the upgrades would happen only with clients who would get "equivalent capabilities" on the new experience as with the legacy experience, and a spokesperson told BTN at the time the most TMC partners already had opted in to the new experience and were actively migrating customers. It was a clear sign, however, that the clock is ticking on the legacy experience and should serve as motivation for customers around the world to migrate when the capability is there.