This is going to be a short intro today, which is not to say
that 2014 was short on news. In fact, there was some blockbuster news for the
industry in 2014 that would have reverberations for a decade—which obviously
means those reverberations are still being felt by organizations today. So here
goes…
IBM shut down its Global Expense Reporting Solution, known
as GERS, realizing it was no longer a match for expense reporting juggernaut
Concur. Not only did IBM shutter its own brand in the face of insurmountable
competition, it also signed up to be a Concur partner, BTN reported, to save
some of its business process outsourcing clients.
Just months later, Concur was acquired by SAP in an $8.3
billion transaction that would leave an entire industry with the job of
remembering to append the letters S-A-P to Concur for years. The initial
whispers about the acquisition wondered allowed whether the traditional German
company would support Concur’s TripLink strategy. Those looking for some
schadenfreude would ultimately be disappointed. Concur doubled down on TripLink
over the years, and 2014 saw the company integrate its first partner hotel (IHG)
and would secure a commitment from United Airlines to get on board as
well.
Having watched this integrated tech platform get bigger and
more comprehensive over the previous 10 years, and realizing their fates were
being more and more defined by the market share Concur was able to command,
TMCs got on the technology train big time. U.K.-based TMC Hogg Robinson Group
(HRG by that time) CEO David Radcliff was sounding the alarm about the
necessity of becoming more technology focused. He wasn’t the only one—but
perhaps was one of the biggest voices—to claim that TMCs should build their own
tech, rather than operate simply as integrators. It feels like that may have
been the wrong turn that put HRG on the block in 2018, but Radcliff may not
have been wrong… HRG just may not have had enough money to do it.
Enter American Express. This was the year the deal got done.
American Express spun off its business travel business through a joint venture
with private equity firm Certares, which ended up investing $900 million in
what would become American Express Global Business Travel and eventually go
public again in 2023. But that’s the future. First, that money would enable GBT
to buy HRG in addition to building and acquiring more technology and eventually
acquiring Egencia in 2022, among a number of other travel management company
acquisitions.
With all this big news, why is the headline of the year 2014
about the sharing economy?
I would argue that Uber and Airbnb ushered in an era of
unstoppable app loyalty that has pushed managed travel technology up against a
wall ever since.
First of all, sharing economy providers came into the
fringes of corporate travel almost as a nuisance technology. The common wisdom
was that Uber drivers were unvetted, Airbnb’s were unsafe and both were likely
to be flouting local regulators that kept travel providers for the most part in
check, paying their taxes and safeguarding employees. BTN published a story called
The Scaring Economy in July that enumerated both the dangers and the potential
of the apps.
Both platforms had been around since about 2008 as small
operations in San Francisco. By 2014, however, both had reached the scale to be
on everyone’s mind. Despite the fact that travel managers—and some very
blue chip travel managers at that—were writing policies against using sharing
economy providers and every conference held multiple sessions about whether or
not to use them and if you do how to keep people safe… the attendees of those
very conference sessions were ride-hailing their way through ACTE and GBTA
meetings. They loved them for the same reasons everyone else loved them—they
were easy, prompt and cheap. And even if they weren’t prompt, they were cheap
and easy.
Uber and Airbnb didn’t stay cheap forever. They had to get
in line with regulations and taxes as they each worked their way toward IPOs.
That made them both more expensive. But the digital experience they provided
gave a sense of being in control, of seeing progress and knowing when and where
to be, democratized a personalized service that travelers didn’t want to give
up.
Nor did they. Travel managers could not fight the tide of
Airbnb or Uber users (ok, maybe Airbnb a litte). But the integrated wallet, the
receipt capture and eventual hookup to Concur expense defined the kind of
friction-free travel experience that business travelers wanted to have. And not
just with Uber but with every travel interaction.
The problem, of course, is that corporate travel actually is
complicated and couldn’t be contained in a tidy little app. But that wouldn’t
stop a whole host of innovators from trying. Catch up with those providers next
weekend, because a rash of mobile-first travel management tech debuts in 2015.
JANUARY
Delta Air Lines chief revenue officer Glenn
Hauenstein spoke at an investor presentation about “corporate bundles,” and
followed American Airlines in imagining a future when corporates could
negotiate tailored amenity inclusions for their travelers.
Delta, Virgin Atlantic launch joint venture and regionalize the sales strategy, with
Virgin taking U.K. sales for both carriers and Delta taking U.S. sales.
American Airlines and US Airways begin the first
phase of its code sharing.
Bill Glenn is named president and CEO of American
Express Global Business Travel, replacing Kim Goodman. The change came as
Certares planned to spin off a new GBT from a joint venture agreement.
Kevin O’Malley prepares to take the reigns as Travel and
Transport’s new president and CEO, as Bill Tech plans to retire.
Christopherson acquires Alabama-based All Seasons Travel in an
eastward expansion of its footprint in the U.S. and putting it on track for
$500M in sales for 2015.
FEBRUARY
United Airlines, which removed its Economy Plus fares from global distribution systems in
February 2012 makes plans to return to all three major players in the first
half of the year.
Payment provider Conferma announces it will offer a virtual app that will generate virtual card numbers for
travel payments.
American Airlines cuts service from LaGuardia to 17 cities as part of a slot divestiture required by the
Department of Justice as part of its merger with US Airways.
Revenue management firm Duetto says it is looking to aid hotels in devising corporate rate strategies by arming
them with forward-looking data.
New Zealand-based Serkobuys Australian expense management company Incharge.
Travel data provider Grasp has relaunched its consultancy business, led by Joe Monaghan.
BCD Travel unveils TripSource for iPhone users, available free for Canadian
and U.S. users. It also announces plans to expand the app to other mobile
platforms, provide different language versions and create a customizable
TripSource Enterprise.
Marriott International acquires South African hotel company
Protea Hospitality for $186M.
Sabre finally submits long-awaited initial public offering registration statements; then
privately owned by TPG Funds, the GDS went public in April. The IPO sold for $16 per share and valued Sabre at
$3.93 billion.
The Global
Business Travel Association reports for the first time that China is poised
to surpass the U.S. as largest business travel
market.
MARCH
Jetblue, Southwest acquire New York LaGuardia slots shed by American
Airlines; Southwest also won bidding for 54 slots at Washington Reagan.
Blackstone-owned La Quinta files to go public; it is the third hospitality company in The
Blackstone Group portfolio to do so, following Extended Stay America and Hilton Worldwide with public offerings completed in 2013.
American Express Business Travel, BCD Travel, Carlson
Wagonlit Travel and Travel and Transport are among agencies
developing programs that let clients measure and reward employee
booking choices.
KDS unveils its Neo Expense tool and shares the details of four new
features for Neo.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel says that the U.S. government
sequester is to blame for its 2013 sales falling 2.7
percent year over year and global transactions lowering by 2.3 percent.
CWT CEO Doug Anderson promises greater ownership of
the company’s technology. He mentions that CWT’s new strategy involves
the 2012 acquisition of WorldMate and the global partnership with KDS to develop a customized version of its Neo Travel booking tool.
United Airlines announces that by June 2014, it will
largely reduce operations at its Cleveland Hopkins International
Airport hub.
Cvent is working to up its investments in mobile and other meetings technology in
2014, as use of Cvent’s mobile products among its customers doubled year over
year in 2013.
Concur says it will introduce a long-awaited
collaboration with Google, originally called “Integrated Benchmarks” as Price
to Beat, taking market feeds and data from expense reports to come up with a
benchmark for what is a reasonable price to pay for a business trip.
APRIL
Marcou Transportation Group, which owns BostonCoach, buys Dav EI Chauffeured Transportation Networks. Dav EI
president and CEO Scott Solombrino says that more acquisitions and
consolidations are on the horizon for Marcou.
Lufthansa says that it will debut its premium economy class, which has been in the works for
about two years, in November 2014.
At the Business
Travel Show in London, travel managers talk about how to deal with unofficial travel communities on social networks like
Yammer.
Research from the U.S. Government Accountability Office goes over the pros and cons of sequestration-related travel cuts.
NuTravel is creating a new platform as a central point for its technology
integration. The firm is also seeing a rising number of RFPs, resulting in more
direct corporate business.
United Airlines warns that corporate accounts not delivering on negotiated commitments
could be dropped. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines continues to grow in its
corporate revenue, due to a first-mover advantage in restructuring and focusing
on client needs.
SignUp4 is setting up a more unified meetings technology interface. This includes functionality
that lets companies retain attendee profile data across all event
registrations, a budget estimator, and a tool for streamlining the meetings RFP
process. Cvent acquires SignUp4 in 2015.
Hotel companies face the issue of converting mobile searches into bookings, as mobile bookings grow
rapidly. Best Western International CEO David Kong said mobile searches
were leading to more phone reservations, as users would find it easier to click
the “call now” button instead of putting in all the required booking
data on a mobile device.
Delta Air Lines states it will overhaul its SkyMiles program in 2015 to reward members on fares paid
rather than miles flown. This stands to benefit many business travelers;
however, it draws concerns that it may encourage higher fares over cost savings
for companies.
U.S. Bank has extended its FlexPerks Travel Rewards program to commercial cardholders.
Hence, the same consumer program benefits have become available for its
Corporate Travel, Executive, Executive Platinum, and One cards.
Amadeus stops building the desktop component of Amadeus One, a multi-GDS agent tool, due to evolving market
pressures. It will instead integrate specific features into its Amadeus Selling
Platform Connect, an agency desktop exclusive to the company.
MAY
Hotel CEOs Cite Strengthening Corporate Group Demand
Orbitz for Business signs an agreement to provide an online booking tool for IBM through 2020.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch corporate cards issues
in the United States will have chip-and-PIN technology, starting the process to a full
transition in the U.S. to chip-and-PIN cards by 2015.
The European Commission begins a probe into holdings in European Union airlines by non-EU
entities namely Etihad, Delta, and Korean Air.
CWT Meetings & Events secures conference management rights in China from the China
National Tourism Administration.
GBTA establishes four European committees to cover aviation, hotels, meetings,
and technology. Each committee has its own appointed chairperson.
At its spring conference, the German travel managers’
association VDR gives Prism Group the “Return To
Sender” distinction for requiring corporate clients to submit booking data to get the best possible discounts.
This act highlights the ongoing opposition to this practice, specifically in
Europe.
Forty percent of U.S. travelers are now able to use
expedited airport security lanes, mainly due to the expansion of TSA’s
PreCheck program, through which low-risk passengers may go through security
more easily.
To help managers gather more accurate data on the onsite behavior of individual
delegates, DoubleDutch integrates Apple’s Bluetooth-based iBeacon
technology into its event apps.
BCD Travel’s new CEO John Snyder focuses on the company’s global expansion,
talent management, as well as technology efforts like its mobile platform and
the Decision Source business intelligence platform. Also, BCD wants to improve
its hotel attachment rates, or the percentage of air bookings that include a
hotel booking.
The European Parliament approves including commercial
cards in a cap on interchange fees, which a senior Mastercard executive says
could greatly shift travel management economics. Consultants think the cap
could affect corporate payments in ways like higher annual fees and/or reduced
rebates for larger clients of payment systems.
JUNE
Concur aims to convince IBM’s Global Expense
Reporting Solutions clients to move to its expense management system. As IBM ends operations for GERS,
its choice to partner with Concur could help it retain some BPO clients.
The U.S. Department of Transportation temporarily approves Resolution 787, a huge initiative proposed by the International
Air Transport Association for its New Distribution Capability.
The Scaring Economy
Adelman Travel wants to turn its corporate travel division into a “management solutions
company” focused on consulting and new technologies. The firm is also
certifying business development managers to be consultants.
Avis Budget Group cites a 2 percent year over year
rise in commercial rental rates for Q1 2014, following a strategy
of rate hikes and shifting to more profitable customers and channels.
Hilton launches soft brand Curio, a collection of upper tier independent hotels as a
response to Marriott’s Autograph Collection.
Cisco Systems lays out plans for Collaboration Meeting Rooms, a network of high-tech
computers and cloud technology for hosting better-quality virtual conferences.
The newly combined Cendyn Arcano launches a strategic meetings management platform called Metron. It
has features for venue research, RFP management, and payment management.
InterContinental Hotels Group has started listing
negotiated rates on its website via Concur’s TripLink open-booking service. Concur is also
working on simplifying TripLink transactions for TMCs.
Visa proceeds with new transaction categories for carriers to transmit
additional payment information on ancillary fees like baggage, seat upgrades,
and onboard fees.
The U.S. Department of Transportation decides to
exclude corporate travel from ancillary airline fee disclosures. DOT
made a separate final rule on airline refunds, wherein travel agencies would be
held accountable for ticket refunds when they are the merchant of record.
Meanwhile, GDs operators restated that ancillary fees should not only be
disclosed but available for purchase. DOT resisted those pleas, long opposed by
airlines.
Travelport files for U.S. initial public offering, taking a cue from competitors like
Amadeus and Sabre.
After a slow fiscal year, HRG is looking to invest £5 million over the next year to build and promote
its new booking, expense, and payments software-as-a-service business. This
includes creating a separate brand for the service, which would initially
target Europe and Australasia.
JULY
AmexGBT has finalized a business travel joint venture with an investor group led byCertares, and has added executives to its senior leadership team. The
investor group, which includes Qatar Holding and funds managed by BlackRock,
Macquarie Capital and Certares itself, has pledged $900 million for a 50
percent stake.
United is the first airline to publicly commit to
Concur TripLink integration, but it will be years before a rollout happens.
Red Lion Hotels Corp. prepares to launch a new higher-tier brand as it seeks to aggressively
expand its portfolio and enter markets outside the West Coast.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel claims that Carlson
Companies’ full acquisition of CWT from JPMorgan Chase will not affect
CWT’s pricing, despite concerns from some corporate clients about possible
changes.
Lufthansa strives to further develop regional,
low-cost and private but price-sensitive long-haul operations in its “Wings”-branded offerings.
Air China and Lufthansa, both Star Alliance
members, agree on a passenger joint venture starting October 2014.
Cvent shares that it will redesign its event-planning platform called The Blue
Release for better navigation, faster applications, more customization, and
live editing.
GBTA has filed a defamation lawsuit against an unidentified defendant who sent the
organization an anonymous “disparaging” email.
Because of a dispute between U.S. carriers and the
Venezuelan government over repatriation of earnings, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines intend to make huge cuts to its operations between Venezuela and the U.S.
Runzheimer completes the acquisition of ProcureApp; CEO Greg Harper says the company
will support the startup’s Flex product in the short term.
Expedia agrees to buy Australia’s Wotif Group for $658 million. The transaction includes the
Arnold Travel Technology corporate booking platform, used by several blue-chip
companies in the region.
Newark-Paris startup carrier La Compagnie revives its all-premium-class product. The company soon
expects to grow frequency on the route to daily service.
First imagined as a TMC alternative, Rocketrip has
become a supplement to TMCs and it is in the process of integrating with all
the major expense management systems.
Serko discovers a wider appeal for its mass-booking module in its Serko Online booking tool. That
module was initially for companies in the energy sector handling crew
rotations, but interest has expanded to other sectors, universities, government
agencies and those managing group travel.
AUGUST
With e-commerce provider Datalex, JetBlue aims to
launch the first phase of its new fare bundles in early 2015. It will potentially include
first-checked bag fees.
Amadeus and United are teaming up to deploy a
merchandizing strategy using IATA’s New Distribution Capability.
Hilton Worldwide announces that it will equip many of
its U.S. hotels with door locks that allow guests to check in digitally and have smartphone-based keyless entry
into their rooms.
Consulting firm Sapient, as part of its Client
Experience Project, looks to personalize business travel experiences for its employees
and some clients through hotel welcome amenities and other efforts.
AmexGBT debuts “near real-time” card swipe
tracking that helps clients locate travelers through their Amex corporate cards, to
address concerns with incomplete itineraries and connectivity during crises.
This comes alongside other new features like a premium service for clients’ top
travelers and added integration with Sabre TripCase.
Deem, previously known as Rearden Commerce, gets $50
million in new funding for its reinvention after overcoming issues
from past financial partnerships. The company wants to focus on its T&E
tools, merchant offers platform, syndicated white-label solutions, as well as
new features like mobile booking, pre-trip approval, and on-demand ground
booking.
Following IHG, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide becomes the second major hotel company to integrate and go live with Concur’s
TripLink open-booking platform. It also introduces a new corporate
program that allows buyers to earn discounts and SPG elite status levels for
travelers based on their volume of business.
IBM replaces Travelport’s Traversa with Orbitz for Business.
Coincidentally, Travelport invests $85 million in corporate travel technology firms, including acquiring
stakes in Locomote, raising its ownership of eNett, and buying Hotelzon.
SEPTEMBER
Airlines are expanding their investments into business class offerings. Some companies explore more
flexibility for premium-class travel, yet initial data from BTN’s Corporate
Travel 100 in 2014 shows that most have not reported any policy changes.
SAP successfully completes its $8.3 billion acquisition of Concur, but the industry
raises questions over customer service, integration, and the future of Concur’s
Open Booking.
Mobile meetings app DoubleDutch secures $19
million in Series D funding, which it will use to grow its global
presence, scale product deployment, and bring new features to organizers.
Tripbam wins the Business Travel Innovation Award at BTN’s
first Innovate Conference.
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV is investigating U.S. carriers in how they disclose ancillary
fees and protect consumer data gathered during ticket purchases.
A Cornell University study reveals that U.S. hotels with LEED certification outperform non-certified hotels in rates
and revenue per available room, with a $20 higher average daily rate
post-certification, despite a small dip in occupancy.
Delta’s Edge program offers corporate clients a new
self-service web portal for managing airline relationships, on-demand
reports, and a points-based system for handling benefits and waivers.
LiquidSpace pursues corporate clients with a booking platform for short-term meetings at hotels and
other venues. It would enable clients to reserve spaces without contracts or
RFPs, and also provide features like on-demand reporting, inventory management,
and tailored pricing.
OCTOBER
CWT pilots hotel booking through its CWT To Go app and hopes to make
it available to all users by the end of 2014.
The U.S. General Services Administration inaugurates
a car-sharing program between Enterprise CarShare, ZipCar,
Hertz, and Carpingo.
Through its partnership with Conferma, CWT becomes
the most recent TMC to offer a single-use virtual card program for paying specific travel expenses.
AirPlus International plans to commit up to $10
million annually for data quality and analytics, while also developing mobile
wallet solutions to improve ease of payment and security for business travelers.
Technology provider Conferma rolls out its TripPay mobile app for settling hotel bookings.
Like its contract with Travelport, Ryanair has a new
GDS deal with Amadeus to provide access to its fare content
and ancillaries. Yet promotional fares will remain exclusive to Ryanair’s
website.
Serkocollaborates with nuTravel to bring its mobile app
to North America, incorporating itinerary management, travel alerts, and
ancillaries. Future updates include enhanced booking capabilities and
leveraging near-field communication technology.
NOVEMBER – missing
DECEMBER
Australia’s Corporate Travel Management completes
first travel acquisition in Europe with a US$36.9 million transaction for
U.K.-based Chambers Travel and third in the U.S. with US$7.5 million
purchase of Diplomat Travel.
The new JetBluefare structure will charge bag fees for some fare bundles;
the carrier also announced fares would be dynamic and not static.
Airbnb declares at the Global Business Travel
Association conference in Berlin that it’s not a product for road warriors and responds to criticism about not being
available in corporate channels with the idea that the platform operates as its
own distributor.
GBTA’s Europe conference produces the Berlin Charter, a nascent document through which airlines
would commit to ensuring corporate travel clients are considered as they
develop New Distribution Capability models. Then-GBTA SVP of business
development Paul Tilstone led the creation of the charter.
KDS CEO Dean Forbes tries to get a foothold in the United States after IBM shutters its Global Expense
Reporting Solution (GERS); he notes the SAP acquisition of Concur will have
little impact on KDS since customers who want to tie expense tools to resource
planning tools “were always difficult customers” for KDS.
Concur’s Mike Koetting gives his vision of “The TMC
of the Future” at The Beat Live; he focuses on the TMC as an integrator of
apps and information to digitize mobile-oriented service advancements.
Timeline produced this week by AI and BTN editorial content and engagement manager Gianna Song
_______________________________________________________________________
Elizabeth West is the editorial director of the
BTN Group. She has reported on the business travel and meetings industries for
24 years. Beth was editor-in-chief of Meeting News from 2006 to 2008 and
director of content solutions for ProMedia Travel from 2008 to 2011, when
ProMedia was acquired by Northstar Travel Media and merged with BTN. She became
editor-in-chief of BTN in 2015 and editorial director of the BTN Group in
2019.
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