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Posted Dec 22, 2011
After seven years of slogging and blogging for Rearden Commerce, Tony D'Astolfo is hanging up his team jersey. Truly one of corporate travel's own, a huge personality in his own right, Tony brought with him a new legitimacy as well as quite a few GetThere alumni to Rearden when he joined it around the time I started The Beat. A few years later, one of my most talked-about columns took Rearden to task (" Rearden's Long Tale") for its apparent lack of progress. Since then, the company signed some big accounts and today it appears to be in a group with Concur and GetThere as the top U.S.-based self-booking solutions. First it was Siemens that "put Rearden on the map," as one observer said at the time. Recently, we hear, PricewaterhouseCoopers has signed. No doubt Tony and his team played big roles in those. But still, I wonder, what is Rearden Commerce?
Posted Dec 7, 2011
Farelogix is inviting 15 to 20 corporate travel buyers "who are proven industry thought leaders" to a new forum in January to address what they "need to do [their] job more effectively as relates to the changing face of airline products, technologies, travelers, and managed travel programs." At least one invited buyer is not sure of whether to attend for fear of legitimizing the effort.
Posted Nov 18, 2011
Congratulations to our European correspondent Amon Cohen on winning Business Travel News Journalist of the Year in the Online/Broadcast category at the United Kingdom's Business Travel Journalism Awards. Amon's coverage of controversial changes to Lufthansa's corporate programs in Business Travel News garnered praise from the judges: "Amon uncovered important industry issues with balanced writing and solid research. Amon’s strong articles broke significant stories in the business travel sector. They showed his skills as an investigative reporter while illustrating his ability to portray a balanced fair account."
Posted Oct 30, 2011
Travel management companies are open to the idea that airlines will pay them to merchandize, but not if it requires them to start paying for distribution technology to enable it. At least, this was the message from a couple of TMC executives speaking at The Beat Live last month, and please do comment below if you disagree (or agree!).
Posted Oct 30, 2011
Four travel management company executives speaking on a panel last month at The Beat Live said that while they are struggling with social networking, mobile technology solutions are more palpable. Here's a sampling of what they had to say.
Posted Oct 18, 2011
Last month The BTN Group met with its Advisory Board, including an on-the-record discussion about various issues in travel management. With Google having launched its Flights product some days earlier, board members offered a variety of impressions about the tech giant's potential impact in corporate travel. A sampling follows.
Posted Oct 6, 2011
In 1983, when I was 10, I used an Apple II in computer classes. In 1988, I typed some of my first published articles on the original Mac.
In 1993, I bought a used Macintosh LC. It inspired a roommate to get into technology. He's now a Linux administrator.
In 1996, my PowerMac inspired another roommate, an artist, to get into graphic design. He later built The Beat's and ProMedia.travel's websites (including the one you're reading right now), and he continues today as a freelance web designer.
I have owned or used probably a dozen more Macs over the years for professional or personal purposes. In 2007, my wife and I got rid of cable TV and our television. Instead we watch streaming TV and DVDs on our iMac. That same year, I waited in line at a mall with colleague David Jonas to spend $600 on the first iPhone. I didn't regret it when the price dropped. It was my third mobile phone. The first was a ridiculous combination of a personal digital assistant with a mobile phone attachment that I (no joke) threw out my car window while driving on the highway.
When Apple released the iPad, I couldn't fathom how I would use it. Now my household has two.
Thank you, Steve Jobs.
Posted Oct 4, 2011
Jay Boehmer and I just spoke with Brian Cook, a former Sita executive who recently joined HP Enterprise Services as vice president and general manager for travel and transportation. On the job about two weeks, Cook didn't give us much on what presumably are the company's two biggest transportation projects-- AA's new Jetstream res system and the migration next year of United over to the Shares system. Cook and a spokesperson noted that his job is a new one after HP decided to create several verticals within its Enterprise Services division, and that he is "heavily involved" with those AA and UA initiatives.
Posted Oct 3, 2011
I've done my fair share of picking on the business/corporate travel associations and also picked a few bones regarding lack of understanding about the ways in which we in the media operate. So if you're fed up with all that, stop reading now. If you work at a group that plans events, though, please read on.
Posted Sept 28, 2011
Travelport's parent company extended until close of business Thursday the deadline for certain lenders to vote on the debt restructuring program that we covered here in The Beat. If it does not gain the support of its creditors for the plan, the company may seek Chapter 11 protection. To expedite that if it were to occur, the company simultaneously is seeking support for a consensual plan of reorganization. According to a customer letter from chairman and CEO Gordon Wilson, this finance activity does not affect customers.
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