Luxe Travel Management has signed on as a reseller of Serko's Zeno booking and expense management tool in North America, with consulting and professional services firm ZS Associates the first Luxe client to roll out Zeno to its employees.
ZS Associates meetings and travel manager Suzanne Boyan, BTN's 2019 Travel Manager of the Year, said ZS chose Zeno in part because of its ability to handle New Distribution Capability content.
"That was important because we all have to prepare for NDC and prepare our travelers for it, too," Boyan said.
Zeno, which has received Level 3 NDC certification by the International Air Transport Association, offers NDC content through deals with Southwest Airlines and Qantas.
ZS's implementation of Zeno took place within the Zeno Labs program, under which ZS employees tested the tool and provided feedback on functionality and user experience ahead of the full rollout to ZS's North American team, which is scheduled for August.
The reseller deal with Luxe was part of Serko's TMC Community Program, which offers travel management companies that sign reseller agreements for Zeno benefits such as accelerated onboarding, deferred implementation fees and no minimums until 2021, along with referral commissions.
Last year, ZS chose Luxe to support the company's omnichannel strategy, which combines the use of the TMC channel with direct booking. In January 2020, Luxe was acquired by Frosch International Travel.