Tripstax, FCM Travel, Accelya, Spotnana and more corporate travel news from GBTA 2024

More than 300 corporate travel companies are exhibiting their tools and technology at the Global Business Travel Association’s Convention 2024 in Atlanta this week.

The event has convened more than 5,000 travel managers, technology suppliers, policy advocates and other industry stakeholders for education sessions, demonstrations, keynote addresses and networking. 

Here is a roundup of some of the notable news provided by participating brands.

• TripStax and Riskline announced a partnership to enhance risk management and duty of care support for travel management companies and corporate clients.
  
  The agreement allows Riskline’s technology to be integrated with the TripStax Core, the central data processing engine that powers the company’s stack of travel management modules.
  
  The companies said the partnership will allow for travel management companies and corporates to receive immediate and actionable data regarding threats and incidents to travel safety.
  
  “Considering that the provision of actionable information based on risk is at the top of many customers’ agendas at the moment, the partnership comes at an important time,” said David Chappell, chief product officer at TripStax.
  
  “Ultimately, the travel industry needs more forward-thinking, open and collaborative architectures and this agreement not only highlights our own desire to partner with the best in the industry but also is a blueprint of how two leading technologies can work together to create better experiences for our customers.”

• Spotnana announced its integration with Thrust Carbon - a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2022 - which will provide Spotnana customers and channel partners with comprehensive access to Thrust Carbon’s calculation services.
  
  The agreement will allow travel management companies using Spotnana to include Thrust Carbon’s data in both online and offline bookings, which will enable corporations to access carbon emissions data across booking channels.
  
  In addition, Spotnana will stream real-time booking data directly into the Thrust Carbon intelligence platform to provide travel managers and travelers access to Thrust Carbon’s advanced analytics capabilities and regulation-ready reporting.
  
  Mark Corbett, founder at Thrust Carbon said, “Integrating Thrust Carbon into Spotnana’s travel platform demonstrates our shared commitment to innovation that propels the travel industry towards net zero. Together, we can deliver fast, accurate and consistent emissions data to corporate travelers, and ultimately, provide the technology stack to deliver your climate goals.”

• FCM Travel has launched its “Approvals” feature that will enhance the technology capability for their customers.
  
  The new feature will provide benefits such as enhanced control, global compliance and local adaptability and harmonized operations.
  
  “Our integrated approval platform centralizes control over all travel activities by mirroring online and offline approvals flows. Designed for cross-online booking tools and cross-market approval flows, it provides a consistent, efficient process for managing travel approvals across different booking channels and countries,” said John Morhous, chief experience officer at Flight Centre Travel Group.
  
  Nichola Rimmer, category manager for travel and events at JTI added, “we needed a concise notification of booked travel for line managers and travelers in more than 60 countries. Our personalized solution has allowed us to start providing concise, useful information to help travelers and line managers make value-add decisions.”

• Emburse unveiled its vision for the next generation of fully integrated, end-to-end travel and expense management solutions.
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  The company’s vision includes Emburse Book, an enterprise grade online tool for booking flights, rail, hotels and ground transportation. This tool will deliver one-click approvals and Emburse Cards virtual cards issuance for travel booking and on-trip spending which will ensure data integrity, compliance and streamlining both the traveler and expense process.
  
  In addition, Emburse Chrome River Expense, the company’s expense management solution, is adding features including increased automation and AI, missing expense suggestions for end-users, next generation optical character recognition, automated expense item creation and a business rules engine which will categorize expenses and ensure spend policy compliance.
  
  Along with these new developments, the company is bringingTripbam, which it acquired a year ago, under the Emburse brand. Tripbam’s flagship travel reshopping solution is now Emburse Reshop, and its auditing and benchmarking solutions are Emburse Audit and Emburse Benchmark.

• Christopherson announced Andavo, a fully integrated travel management platform for business travelers, travel managers and travel advisors.
  
  In addition, the company will release their Andavo developer portal, which will provide access and documentation to custom APIs for clients to access their travel-related data and for developers to build custom integrations with the Andavo platform.
  
  Josh Cameron, chief strategy officer at Christopherson, said “We’ve been focused on building beautiful, elegant experiences on a modern, cloud-based travel tech platform. At their heart, our three core experiences are reimagined with human-centered design and fully integrated with the world-class service delivery we’re known for. This is software AND a service – you no longer have to choose between technology or service.”
  
  “We’re thrilled to introduce our new open platform, featuring an API-first, cloud-native architecture,” added Chad Maughan, Christophersons chief technology officer. “This platform provides a post-PNR, modern trip management framework and paves the way for enhanced AI-powered travel experiences.”

• ALTOUR has introduced ALTOUR Intelligence, a comprehensive suite of tools that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to transform how business manage and optimize their travel needs.
  
  The company said the new feature is designed to streamline travel planning, providing simpler, faster and smarter travel experiences. By leveraging the power of AI, the platform will ensure that business can navigate global business travel with ease.
  
  ALTOUR Intelligence has five key components, including AI Book, AI Predict, AI Respond, AI Transform and AI Insights.
  
  “In today’s dynamic global landscape, travelers demand efficient, highly personalized solutions that cater to their unique requirements. With ALTOUR Intelligence, businesses can achieve greater efficiency, reduce costs and provide their employees with a better travel experience,” said Gabe Rizzi, president of ALTOUR.

• Accelya and Westjet announced a partnership that will power WestJet’s strategy to deliver guest-centric retailing and distribution with a focus on best-in-class servicing and flexibility enabling guests to book via the channel of their choice.
  
  “WestJet’s partnership with Accelya will allow us to deliver on our distribution vision, aligning WestJet’s value proposition across our wide range of channels. WestJet is focused on delivering an exceptional guest experience grounded on servicing standards and flexibility and the Accelya FLX Platform will be instrumental in achieving this goal,” said Jorge Rozo, vice president of Pricing, Revenue & Distribution at WestJet.
  
  Sam Gilliland, CEO at Accelya added, “Accelya’s FLX Platform is generating more than 350K offers each second to power the retailing of the world’s leading airlines. We are delighted to add WestJet as a partner enabling them to take control of their distribution and retailing future.
  
  
• Amgine announced the launch of its Automated Booking Tool (Amgine ABT), a next generation platform with both agent-facing and travel facing tools that the company says will transform corporate travel management.
  
  The new tool leverages AI to understand traveler intent, provide itinerary options, streamline the corporate booking process and reduce operational costs while addressing the demand for consumer-grade solutions in corporate travel.
  
  Travelers will now be able to submit text-based travel requests through any channel and Amgine ABT will process the request and generate ideal itinerary options that are delivered directly to the traveler or an agent within minutes. Travel Inc. is among the first TMCs to deploy Amgine ABT as a white-labeled solution for its corporate travel clients. 
  
  “Amgine ABT is a game changer for us because it enables travel arrangers to streamline their workflows while personalizing the travel booking experience for their travelers without the need for online booking tools,” said Eric Almond, head of product at Travel Inc.
  
  ”We’ve seen efficiency improvements both for our team and for our customers of up to 160%. This is not insignificant given the volume of travel requests we process on any given day.”