Egencia’s Global Technology Innovation Knows No Boundaries
Company is uniquely positioned to bring the best consumer experiences to the corporate traveler while helping businesses optimize corporate travel programs to save money
SAN DIEGO—(August 5, 2013)—Egencia®, the business travel company of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), today at the GBTA 2013 Convention continued to demonstrate how the company is delivering technology innovation in the managed travel industry. Egencia shared new offerings in mobility, adding to its portfolio of end-to-end corporate travel solutions, including technology-infused service; and launched a provocative Hotel Value Score™ program—all of which are designed to improve business traveler productivity while supporting corporate cost-saving initiatives.
“We’re committed to making business travel better with technology and service,” says Rob Greyber, president of Egencia. “As we look to the future, business travelers are demanding a rich mobile experience with every trip and Egencia is well-positioned to deliver it across the globe.”
Egencia continues to leverage its integrated services architecture and proprietary global technology to meet the needs of modern business travelers and the millennial demographic. The company’s goal is to ensure that the business traveler has a similar user-friendly and content-rich booking and service experience across all devices and geographies. Should a traveler ever need assistance, an Egencia Travel Consultant will be just a click away, adds Greyber.
Additionally, as part of the Expedia, Inc. family, the world’s largest travel company as ranked by Travel Weekly’s 2013 Power List, Egencia is uniquely positioned to bring the consumer experience into the corporate travel world like no other travel management company. Egencia not only leverages the scale of Expedia, Inc. but also the exclusive technology and consumer insights of its travel transaction brands including: Hotels.com®, Expedia.com®, Hotwire®, eLong™, Venere.com®, trivago®, Expedia Local Expert®, Classic Vacations® and Expedia CruiseShipCenters®.
Egencia customers also benefit from its new global hotel platform that leverages Expedia, Inc.’s latest hotel technologies. This deep integration with Expedia will allow Egencia to deliver to its customers the best global hotel innovations that are available across the Expedia, Inc. brands, while enhancing the booking experience for the corporate traveler.
Greyber adds that Egencia’s hotel platform is a major milestone in its “globalization” strategy to offer business travelers and travel arrangers a consistent user experience around the world.
An Objective View of Hotels: What Matters Most to Corporations and Their Business Travelers
Egencia today launched its new Hotel Value Score™ program in North America designed to save companies money, improve administrative productivity and increase traveler satisfaction. Egencia’s Consulting Services team helps companies customize and sort their online hotel booking results using a systematic approach to align customers’ corporate cultures and business objectives, with the attributes its travelers value most.
“Companies that have negotiated rates with hotels naturally want these properties at the top of list so travelers will select them first,” says Chris Vukelich, Egencia’s vice president of supplier relations in the Americas. “However, this traditional approach has two big limitations. First, savings are missed due to dynamic market conditions; better rates are often available at other hotels that are not being featured in the online tool to travelers. Two, it promotes leakage; if the traveler can’t find what he or she wants, the corporate travel booking tool is not used and the traveler books elsewhere. This creates challenges for accurate reporting and duty of care.”
Egencia’s Hotel Value Score program helps travelers quickly select the right hotel that matches their company’s definition of the best value. Egencia piloted this new service in the first half of 2013 with a global consumer packaged goods company that reported hotel savings of 2.5-12 percent based on neighborhood over a six month period, since the program was tested.
To help companies revamp their hotel programs, Egencia starts with an analysis of the corporation’s negotiated hotel program and identifies markets with the greatest savings opportunities. Next, comparable hotels in a specific neighborhood are identified and customers determine the weight of each attribute - amenities, business traveler reviews, and price - based on their definition of value.
“Our Hotel Value Scoring system allows travel managers and procurement professionals to focus their hotel negotiations in the few markets where they can realize the most savings, and turn to us to augment their existing supply with Egencia’s extensive global hotel selection,” says Vukelich. “This solution helps companies realize additional cost-savings, but more importantly, corporate travelers’ hotel bookings stay in the managed travel environment.”
To learn more, interested customers should contact the Egencia Consulting Services team at consult@egencia.com or call 866-328-0110.
Egencia® TripNavigator iPhone App Optimizes Business Travel Trips
Previewed on August 1, Egencia®TripNavigator was developed in close collaboration with customers and leverages technology from Expedia’s acquisition of Mobiata. It offers a stunning new user interface, which proactively delivers information based on a traveler’s trip timeline to ensure a smooth and efficient business travel experience. The app also integrates customer service assistance into the user interface with an innovative new feature called Egencia® AssistMe. By leveraging the company’s Intelligent Service Platform™, a new initiative aimed at smartly infusing technology into how Egencia delivers customer service, travelers benefit from personalized, contextual support from Egencia Travel Consultants—how they want it, and when they need it.
Egencia TripNavigator gives users step-by-step directions during their entire journey. For example, the traveler will receive a prompt to check in for a flight or into a hotel; a reminder to fill up the gas tank before returning a rental car with directions to a nearby gas station; alerts to inform of changes to itineraries, notifications to book a hotel if one has not been reserved, and reminders that flights from 27 airline partners can be exchanged directly from the app with Egencia Mobile Flight Exchange when travel plans change.
Egencia TripNavigator for iPhone will be available globally to Egencia’s customers in the fall 2013. Egencia will also be delivering this functionality in native app format for Android phones in early 2014.
About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company
Egencia is a leading full-service travel management company delivering innovative corporate travel solutions and expert local service to more than 10,000 clients in nearly 60 countries around the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., the world's largest travel company, Egencia provides forward-looking companies with the ability to drive compliance and cost savings in their travel programs, while meeting the needs and requirements of the modern business traveler. For more information, please visit www.egencia.com or follow us on Twitter @Egencia.
Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © 2013 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. CST # 2029030-50; CST # 2083922-50.
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Media Contact:
Kristin Treat | PR Manager, North America
Email: ktreat@egencia.com
Office: 425-679-4930 | Mobile: 425-214-6026
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