Albert Pozo
Amadeus multinational customer group vice president of business travel Albert Pozo recently spoke with The Transnationalabout his firm's view of client needs. Pozo also participated in a panel discussion about content fragmentation at the Paragon Business Travel Conference & Expo here. An excerpt of questions Pozo answered during both discussions follows.
To what extent is Amadeus signing global distribution system contracts with corporations directly?
We have developed self-booking tools for corporations, which are being sold through travel management companies to corporate customers. We have just renewed a corporate reseller agreement with HRG, which we have with all the large TMCs. It is true that sometimes corporations require--when defining some policies--our expertise, but our choice has been to work hand in hand with TMCs when it comes to addressing corporate customers. This is different from what some of our competitors have decided to do. We have taken the same approach when it comes to delivering services to corporations as a self-booking tool or GDS supplier. Our strategy is not to go direct, unless there is a specific request that comes from a corporation.
What new things are multinational corporations and TMCs looking for?
We do have very close contact with the corporations. There are several areas they are looking at improving. One is having tools that are truly multi-source content-capable. It's about being able to integrate different content for hotels, rail and so on. That's what is enabling [clients] to offer to their users simplicity in the process of booking travel--a single point of sale. With the increasing fragmentation of content, that's an increasing challenge. Neither is it just about being able to source the different content types, but also to be able to navigate and search across different content types. So they want a tool that aggregates but also navigates. Another area is being able to effectively manage preferences and policies. Whether online or offline, it's important that a consistent policy is applied regardless of the channel that initiates or completes the booking process. Having tools that bring that consistency translates into clear cost savings. The third area is the ability to integrate the search, compare and booking process with travel and expense.
Some say the airline distribution model is "broken;" do you agree?
It's not broken. We have an economic model where, traditionally, those who have incurred the vast majority of the distribution costs are not necessarily those who get all of the services attached to distribution. In that sense, a correction is required to balance things. To say that the model is broken is not fair; it's a re-correction of who takes what costs and how much that cost is relative to the benefit of the distribution services that that entity takes in the [distribution] chain.
How does Amadeus' market presence in the airline IT business translate into conveniences for corporate or TMC clients?
It definitely is one of the main pillars of the Amadeus offer, and TMCs acknowledge that being the technology company providing systems to the airlines positions us [well] when it comes to being able to secure what, for the corporations, is very important: content.
What benefits for customers are there with the common alliance IT platform, such as what Amadeus is building for the Star Alliance?
From the user point of view, the fact that Amadeus provides a single platform is a guarantee for service. The common IT platform is designed to be a single system and database of records for the airline and the travel agency communities. Having a single system means that when you need to share records, you don't have to access anything else other than the security table that checks whether you are allowed to access that record. From a servicing point of view, that's a unique advantage. The Amadeus network of users is all sitting in the same repository. By conception, it's a community system--which means you can have access in the same repository to all of the passenger name records, fares and the e-ticket records. To exchange and validate, you'd better have seamless access to the different databases. All of these things translate into advantages for the traveler. To transfer a full fare with electronic records, it's a nightmare if the airlines don't have their systems properly connected.