United

AMEX launches new tool to take advantage of online economies

BTN Archive Stories Issue #26
Friday, 15 December 2006

A NEW travel tool claiming to offer an holistic approach to online travel expense management has been released  by American Express Business Travel. The online portal — American Express Online (AEO) — claims to provide Australian businesses with better visibility and control over their travel expenditure of flights, hotel accommodation and car hire via a one-stop interactive shop.

AEO combines a range of online travel booking tools for travellers to find, book and manage their own travel arrangements, with built-in rules to ensure bookings comply with company travel policy.  Detailed invoices, itineraries and reporting options enable tracking and analysis of travel expenditure.

American Express Business Travel says that of businesses that use an online travel booking tool, approximately 60 per cent of their travel transactions are booked online - compared to 42 per cent in the US.  Australia is also ranked as having the strongest readiness for the uptake of online corporate travel in the Asia Pacific Region.

“Australian businesses already recognise the value and convenience of booking travel online. But if these bookings can’t access negotiated corporate rates or are outside travel policy, businesses risk missing out on cost savings.  Therefore Australian businesses should provide travellers with access to a choice of travel options, while complying with an organisation’s travel policy,” said Libby Roy, general manager and vice president for American Business Travel, Japan, Asia Pacific and Australia. 

“AEO provides Australian businesses with the delicate balance of making it easy for travellers to book and manage their own travel while incorporating automated rules to provide businesses with the control and visibility to not only maximise negotiated corporate rates with travel suppliers, but also ensure travel policy is adhered to,” said Roy.
AEO is available 24 hours a day.  Travellers can book multiple itineraries, with up to six segments in one booking.  They then can view, confirm or change their travel bookings in real time.  The whole trip summarised in a snap shot itinerary that captures all travel, accommodation and car hire information in one screen before the traveller completes their transaction.  Maps and driving directions are also available.

The Fares Matrix searches and compares multiple distribution sources to find the lowest available price.  With easy access to the best fares travellers no longer have to trawl multiple sites to find the best deals and can find the precise combination of time, price, airline, hotel and car preferences to fit within an organisations specific policies.
Travellers update their own profiles in real time to ensure their personal preferences such as seat allocation and meals on flights, smoking or non-smoking rooms in hotels and type of vehicle for car hire are captured in real time and incorporated into their travel bookings.  If travellers make regular trips this information is captured in AEO to save time when booking future trips.

“After staff salary and benefits, Travel and Entertainment (T&E) is the second largest controllable expense category for most companies.  With AEO all options for flights, hotels and car hire are available on one screen at a glance so that you can make the best choice for your needs — whether that is based on cost, timing, route or location.  The other key way for companies to find savings is to ensure travel bookings comply with corporate travel policy by automating travel rules and approval requirements up front, while the booking is made,” Roy said.
AEO is configured to manage complex and multi-layered travel policies.  For example it can incorporate negotiated air, car and hotel rates and preferred suppliers to display the lowest available rates available to an organisation’s travellers at all times.  Different booking policies can be established to reflect seniority or job role and may be applied to groups or specific individuals.

Automating the travel policy so that it is applied before the purchase is finalised not only ensures specially negotiated rates are maximised, but also that out-of-policy travel requests obtain appropriate approval.  Companies can gain greater control over their business travel spend and reduce administrative costs to reconcile purchases outside the policy. 

HACTL
Cathay Cargo
United

AMEX launches new tool to take advantage of online economies

BTN Archive Stories Issue #26
Friday, 15 December 2006

A NEW travel tool claiming to offer an holistic approach to online travel expense management has been released  by American Express Business Travel. The online portal — American Express Online (AEO) — claims to provide Australian businesses with better visibility and control over their travel expenditure of flights, hotel accommodation and car hire via a one-stop interactive shop.

AEO combines a range of online travel booking tools for travellers to find, book and manage their own travel arrangements, with built-in rules to ensure bookings comply with company travel policy.  Detailed invoices, itineraries and reporting options enable tracking and analysis of travel expenditure.

American Express Business Travel says that of businesses that use an online travel booking tool, approximately 60 per cent of their travel transactions are booked online - compared to 42 per cent in the US.  Australia is also ranked as having the strongest readiness for the uptake of online corporate travel in the Asia Pacific Region.

“Australian businesses already recognise the value and convenience of booking travel online. But if these bookings can’t access negotiated corporate rates or are outside travel policy, businesses risk missing out on cost savings.  Therefore Australian businesses should provide travellers with access to a choice of travel options, while complying with an organisation’s travel policy,” said Libby Roy, general manager and vice president for American Business Travel, Japan, Asia Pacific and Australia. 

“AEO provides Australian businesses with the delicate balance of making it easy for travellers to book and manage their own travel while incorporating automated rules to provide businesses with the control and visibility to not only maximise negotiated corporate rates with travel suppliers, but also ensure travel policy is adhered to,” said Roy.
AEO is available 24 hours a day.  Travellers can book multiple itineraries, with up to six segments in one booking.  They then can view, confirm or change their travel bookings in real time.  The whole trip summarised in a snap shot itinerary that captures all travel, accommodation and car hire information in one screen before the traveller completes their transaction.  Maps and driving directions are also available.

The Fares Matrix searches and compares multiple distribution sources to find the lowest available price.  With easy access to the best fares travellers no longer have to trawl multiple sites to find the best deals and can find the precise combination of time, price, airline, hotel and car preferences to fit within an organisations specific policies.
Travellers update their own profiles in real time to ensure their personal preferences such as seat allocation and meals on flights, smoking or non-smoking rooms in hotels and type of vehicle for car hire are captured in real time and incorporated into their travel bookings.  If travellers make regular trips this information is captured in AEO to save time when booking future trips.

“After staff salary and benefits, Travel and Entertainment (T&E) is the second largest controllable expense category for most companies.  With AEO all options for flights, hotels and car hire are available on one screen at a glance so that you can make the best choice for your needs — whether that is based on cost, timing, route or location.  The other key way for companies to find savings is to ensure travel bookings comply with corporate travel policy by automating travel rules and approval requirements up front, while the booking is made,” Roy said.
AEO is configured to manage complex and multi-layered travel policies.  For example it can incorporate negotiated air, car and hotel rates and preferred suppliers to display the lowest available rates available to an organisation’s travellers at all times.  Different booking policies can be established to reflect seniority or job role and may be applied to groups or specific individuals.

Automating the travel policy so that it is applied before the purchase is finalised not only ensures specially negotiated rates are maximised, but also that out-of-policy travel requests obtain appropriate approval.  Companies can gain greater control over their business travel spend and reduce administrative costs to reconcile purchases outside the policy. 

HACTL
Cathay Cargo
HACTL
Cathay Cargo