http://www.TheBeat.travel/ The leading independent travel distribution newsletter. Published as news happens 49 weeks per year. en Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:33:16 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=AXP-Q410 American Express Global Commercial Services reported cardmember spending of $39.6 billion, 10 percent more than a year ago, with average per-card spending of $5,661, about 11 percent higher than a... Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:04:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=AXP-Q410 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Amadeus-HRS The partnership Amadeus this week announced with Germany-based hotel portal HRS is its big play to remedy an endemic weakness in all global distribution systems: lack of independent hotel inventory.... Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:47:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Amadeus-HRS http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Airberlin-credit-card-fee Airberlin, Germany's second-largest airline, on Feb. 1 will introduce a €7 per-ticket fee on many travel agency bookings through global distribution systems that are paid for by credit card, an... Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:20:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Airberlin-credit-card-fee http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Alan-Tyson-Seven-Deadly-Sins Databasics CEO Alan Tyson penned this response to Scott Gillespie's column on the "Corporate Travel Management Tipping Point," published Jan. 3."Imagine trying to define and enforce the concept... Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:32:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Alan-Tyson-Seven-Deadly-Sins http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=CWT-app Carlson Wagonlit Travel is calling on airlines to create application programming interfaces for check-in functions that would enable third parties to provide the service entirely within their own... Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:03:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=CWT-app http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=RoomKey-hotel-seach-engine The new effort launched Wednesday by six major hotel companies to drive a greater share of direct bookings does not have immediate implications for corporate travel buyers or providers. But like a... Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:51:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=RoomKey-hotel-seach-engine http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=AA-lawsuits-delay-request American Airlines is seeking permission from a Texas state court to extend by three months all deadlines in its lawsuit against Sabre. Since resolution of that case would trigger the expiration of... Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:05:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=AA-lawsuits-delay-request http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Certify-booking-nuTravel Using the booking technology of partner nuTravel Technology Solutions, expense provider Certify today released Certify Travel as a "fully integrated travel management solution for small, medium and... Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:43:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Certify-booking-nuTravel http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=British-Airways-iPads Before British Airways armed some cabin crew with iPads, inflight staff knew few details about passengers. A seat number, for sure. A name, perhaps. Kosher meal or vegetarian, possibly. Now, as it... Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:46:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=British-Airways-iPads http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=DOT-GDS-rule-delay If things had gone according to its original plan, the Department of Transportation this week would be revealing new rules governing the disclosure of airline fees trough global distribution systems.... Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:06:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=DOT-GDS-rule-delay http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Travelport-Agility Travelport on Friday informed subscribers that fees for all elements of its Agility program except the new Smartpoint and Go Translator graphical user interfaces would be waived until the end of... Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:25:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=Travelport-Agility http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=corporate-travel-tipping-point The following is a guest column by Gillespie's Guide to Travel+Procurement author Scott Gillespie.Hold fast, dear friends, for our industry is on the verge of significant change. Consider these... Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:49:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jan_12&cid=corporate-travel-tipping-point http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Joe-da-Rosa-TMC-fee Balboa Travel Management chairman Joe da Rosa wrote several headlines for this guest column responding to Thursday's article in The Beat on Executive Travel and the $0 TMC fee: "Stepping Over a... Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:41:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Joe-da-Rosa-TMC-fee http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=EC-rules-against-IATA-PaxIS The European Commission provisionally has ruled that the International Air Transport Association's PaxIS data product breaches the European Union CRS Code of Conduct because it identifies ticket... Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:46:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=EC-rules-against-IATA-PaxIS http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Executive-Travel-no-fee Industry veterans recall the turmoil caused by the airline commission cuts that began in 1995, including the proliferation of transaction fees paid by corporate clients to travel management... Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:29:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Executive-Travel-no-fee http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Magnuson-Hotels Magnuson Hotels cofounder and CEO Tom Magnuson is developing an online agency model in which hotels pay no commissions or distribution fees, and travelers instead pay a booking fee of a few dollars.... Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:37:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Magnuson-Hotels http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Datalex-Flight-Centre Datalex announced it has settled litigation with Flight Centre, which two years ago sued the Irish tech provider in Australia for breach of contract. Parent of corporate agency FCm Travel Solutions,... Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:06:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Datalex-Flight-Centre http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=GDS-card-surcharges At the request of airline customers, global distribution systems several years ago added technology to accommodate credit card surcharges. Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport said they implemented the... Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:54:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=GDS-card-surcharges http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Travelport-Agility The memos went out during the past few weeks, and one by one Travelport's agency subscribers learned they would be paying more for its services. This did not please them. Going into effect on... Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:50:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Travelport-Agility http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=AMR-direct-connect-Chapter-11 American Airlines said Tuesday it has no plans to change its direct connect program in light of parent AMR Corp.'s Chapter 11 filing."Our distribution plans will continue," according to a... Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:05:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=AMR-direct-connect-Chapter-11 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=AMR-BCD-CWT-creditors The list of the largest creditors in the AMR bankruptcy case covers the expected bunch of financial institutions, credit card companies and aircraft manufacturers. But it also includes a couple of... Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:37:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=AMR-BCD-CWT-creditors http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Shorts-BookIt Travel management companies have taken shots for not keeping pace with consumer travel technology. To close the gap a bit, Short's Travel Management is poised to launch a new airfare shopping system... Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:25:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=dec_11&cid=Shorts-BookIt http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AMR-agencies-bankruptcy American Airlines in bankruptcy plans to honor its travel agency and global distribution agreements, according to court documents filed this week that offer a rare public glimpse into the carrier's... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:29:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AMR-agencies-bankruptcy http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AA-Frank-Morogiello Speaking in September as a member of The BTN Group's advisory board, American Airlines global sales accounts vice president Frank Morogiello offered some rather sobering and quite frank comments... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:21:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AA-Frank-Morogiello http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=HRG-interim-results Hogg Robinson Group delivered healthy financial results for the six months ending Sept. 30 as revenue increased 10 percent year over year to £186.8 million and underlying profit before tax... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:30:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=HRG-interim-results http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Sabre-mobile-merchandizing Sabre in the March 2012 quarter plans to integrate its Virtually There document delivery product and GetThere Mobile corporate booking site with its TripCase mobile solution, enabling users to book... Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:43:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Sabre-mobile-merchandizing http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AirCanada-Sabre-API As big airlines and distributors attempt to work through their differences on merchandizing, some things never change. That includes Air Canada's insistence that distributors at all points of sale... Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:19:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AirCanada-Sabre-API http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travizon-GlobalStar Boston-area travel management company Travizon has ended its participation in the HRG Affiliates program after two years and joined the GlobalStar Travel Management network.For Travizon,... Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:31:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travizon-GlobalStar http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-AA-claims-tossed A federal judge in Texas dismissed four of five antitrust claims American Airlines made against Travelport, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing submitted today by the GDS... Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:32:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-AA-claims-tossed http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Mark-Hollyhead-Egencia Expedia is implementing Sabre's Red desktop and Egencia is considering it as well, according to Egencia senior vice president for the Americas Mark Hollyhead. Egencia largely uses its own agent... Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:08:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Mark-Hollyhead-Egencia http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Homage-Andy-Rooney Consultant Scott Gillespie takes a poke at peer input on travel websites. In doing so, he dons the persona of long-time radio and television icon Andy Rooney, who died this month at age 92.In... Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:43:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Homage-Andy-Rooney http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Concur-Q3-2011 Concur on Tuesday announced plans to double its sales force during the next 24 months, open a new operations center in Manila and expand its existing facility in Prague. "We expect to drive the... Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:26:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Concur-Q3-2011 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AirFrance-KLM-card-surcharges Air France-KLM announced it will impose a surcharge on credit card payments made by German travel agents from Jan. 12, 2012, and significantly increase its level of surcharging in the Netherlands. A... Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:37:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=AirFrance-KLM-card-surcharges http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Rearden-Deem-choice With so much debate in distribution around transparency and choice, it might seem strange that Rearden Commerce is working so hard to limit the latter. But that's the goal of the Deem "relevance... Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:44:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Rearden-Deem-choice http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=The-Views Hopefully you haven't had enough of what you missed at The Beat Live in September. What happened in Vegas goes everywhere eventually, including the following exchange between 2011 Keynote Vote... Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:40:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=The-Views http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-Developer-Network Travelport announced plans to launch next week in 25 countries a third-party developer network offering members access to the firm's Universal and Classic APIs, dedicated technical support and... Thu, 10 Nov 2011 07:01:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-Developer-Network http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=TRX-nuTravel This wasn't the first time TRX considered selling its ResX booking tool. "Over the years, I think we've had this dance probably four times from various players," president and CEO Shane Hammond told... Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:14:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=TRX-nuTravel http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-UK-rail Travelport GDS on Dec. 9 will cease selling domestic U.K. rail tickets, ceding the market to independent specialist rail distributors Thetrainline and Evolvi. Approximately 40 TMCs were using... Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:54:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Travelport-UK-rail http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Charles-Petruccelli-replaced American Express last week announced that Merchant Services Americas head Kim Goodman in January would replace Global Business Travel president Charles Petruccelli. Goodman will report to Global... Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:06:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Charles-Petruccelli-replaced http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Gilliland-DOT Thrice qualifying his comments as lacking the benefit of personal communications with the Department of Transportation, Sam Gilliland on Wednesday said DOT may be giving him more than he asked for... Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:56:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Gilliland-DOT http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Sabre-Polycom Sabre Travel Network and Polycom plan to launch next year a reservations platform for remote conferencing facilities that can be integrated into both corporate online booking tools and travel agent... Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:30:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Sabre-Polycom http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Virgin-corporate-deals Traditional annual corporate route deals with airlines are "under serious threat" because of the "consumerization" of business travel, a senior Virgin Atlantic sales executive warned. Speaking here... Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:01:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=Virgin-corporate-deals http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=DOT-agency-rules The U.S. Department Of Transportation is delaying by three months to April 2012 the release of proposed rules governing disclosure of ancillary airline fees through GDSs, according to a status report... Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:45:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=nov_11&cid=DOT-agency-rules http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=TMC-panel-revenue Uncertainty is one certain thing about how travel management companies generate revenue. Commissions from suppliers grow and wane along with their financial prospects, and TMCs struggle to maintain... Mon, 31 Oct 2011 06:53:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=TMC-panel-revenue http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Reynolds-keynote Steve Reynolds of The R Group last month highlighted more than a dozen corporate travel frustration points and urged his audience at The Beat Live to solve some through innovation or face the... Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:15:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Reynolds-keynote http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-corporate-demand Checking the radar on forward corporate bookings, Delta Air Lines sees little reason for concern. "Our latest booking data as of last Friday showed forward corporate revenues up 13 percent year over... Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-corporate-demand http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Airline-merchandizing-panel Airline executives and consultants speaking here last month at The Beat Live fielded questions on the future of airline merchandizing from The Beat founder Jay Campbell and audience members. The... Mon, 24 Oct 2011 11:13:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Airline-merchandizing-panel http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Amex-Q3-2011 For the seventh consecutive quarter, American Express reported strong cardmember spending, up 16 percent year over to year to $207.7 billion, but down about 1 percent from the June quarter. Spending... Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:40:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Amex-Q3-2011 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Singh2 Concur chairman and CEO Steve Singh last month here sat in The Beat Live Hot Seat, fielding questions from The Beat founder Jay Campbell, readers and audience members about collaboration with other... Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:47:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Singh2 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=AA-Amadeus-extension After a lapse of more than a month, Amadeus and American Airlines extended their previous full-content agreement, according to an Amadeus spokeswoman. Details of the agreement were not... Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:37:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=AA-Amadeus-extension http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Singh Concur chairman and CEO Steve Singh last month here sat in The Beat Live Hot Seat, fielding questions from The Beat founder Jay Campbell, readers and audience members about Concur's master plan,... Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:46:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Steve-Singh http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-3 This third and final installment of The Buyer's Table, moderated by The Beat founder Jay Campbell here last month, covers a lot of ground. Maria Chevalier of Hewlett-Packard, Steven Mandelbaum of The... Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:47:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-3 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Prism-upgrade Since its release in 2000, Prism Group's SalesServer has redefined how airlines contract with corporations. After more than four years of development and a handful of airline implementations, Prism... Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:11:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Prism-upgrade http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-2 Maria Chevalier of Hewlett-Packard, Steven Mandelbaum of The Advisory Board Company, Jennifer Steinke of US Foodservice, Rita Visser of Oracle and The Beat Live audience are back for the this second... Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:01:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-2 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-1 Starting with the premise that travel buyers don't have a seat at the airline-GDS negotiating table, a panel discussion here at The Beat Live last month became a refreshingly blunt conversation about... Tue, 11 Oct 2011 09:15:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Buyers-Table-1 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Directravel-Ed-Adams Private equity investment firm Silver Oak Services Partners is looking to roll up several midmarket corporate travel agencies into a $1.5 billion travel management company with about $30 million in... Mon, 10 Oct 2011 11:59:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Directravel-Ed-Adams http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-wins-BTN-survey Delta Air Lines for the first time took top honors in the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey, to be published next week. The 2011 survey shows a significant reshuffling, as mergers, evolving... Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:25:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-wins-BTN-survey http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Amadeus-Cornerstone Amadeus announced a partnership with Cornerstone Information Systems to distribute the latter's iQCX reservation management and iBank reporting technologies to travel agencies, travel management... Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:18:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Amadeus-Cornerstone http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-client-reporting Delta Air Lines this summer began reporting to corporate clients details on their travelers' checked bags, including the percentage transported with and without fees, and such other information as... Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:31:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Delta-client-reporting http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Travel-Data-Exchange The Data Exchange, a new web-based, corporate travel marketplace designed on the premise that "data is a commodity and has a quantifiable value," is slated to open today for the first beta testers.... Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:31:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=oct_11&cid=Travel-Data-Exchange http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-shares Travelport will issue 40 percent of its shares to lenders, not 15 percent with later escalation as originally planned by Travelport and reported in The Beat. The company made the amendment Wednesday... Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:03:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-shares http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-debt Travelport's holding company obtained consents to amend its debts, pushing one particular loan off by more than four years and avoiding Chapter 11. According to Travelport president and CEO Gordon... Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:17:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-debt http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Premo-The-Beat-Live The Beat founder Jay Campbell and members of The Beat Live audience here last week interviewed ARC president and CEO Mike Premo. An excerpt of Premo's comments on a number of topics... Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:55:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Premo-The-Beat-Live http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=universities-Kuali-expense-system A group of universities plan to ditch their current travel expense management tools in favor of a customizable solution they are developing themselves to cut costs, share resources and allow for... Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:03:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=universities-Kuali-expense-system http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=TTIcodes-hotel-ID United Kingdom-based Travel Technology Initiative on Oct. 4 formally will launch a database of unique identification numbers for 200,000 hotels worldwide, chairman Peter Dennis told The Beat. TTI... Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:08:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=TTIcodes-hotel-ID http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-Chapter-11 Travelport parent company Travelport Holdings Limited this week furnished the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with a prepackaged plan of reorganization to be used if its creditors do not by... Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:02:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Travelport-Chapter-11 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=AA-Travelport-court An Illinois appeals court on Wednesday upheld a June ruling that required American Airlines to reinstate booking capabilities through Orbitz. The Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County in... Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:31:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=AA-Travelport-court http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Mike-Premo-ARC-The-Beat-Live ARC is attempting to modernize its agency accreditation program to improve transparency for the airline industry in light of evolving travel management company structures, according to president and... Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:59:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Mike-Premo-ARC-The-Beat-Live http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Amadeus-Chereque Amadeus commercial executive vice president Philippe Chérèque plans to retire from the company at the end of this year, he told attendees at The Beat Live in Las Vegas on Tuesday.... Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:57:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Amadeus-Chereque http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=The-Beat-Readers-Choice The Beat here on Wednesday announced its annual Readers' Choice Award winners, with American Express taking home its fourth consecutive trophy in the payment system category. Presented during The... Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:15:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=The-Beat-Readers-Choice http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Amadeus-DOT-fine Amadeus on Thursday earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first global distribution system operator to be fined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The increasingly vigilant DOT... Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:34:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Amadeus-DOT-fine http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Sabre-app-store Travel technology sources welcomed Sabre's Red desktop app store, which the company on Tuesday said would launch in October for developers and in November for the target travel agency user market.... Wed, 14 Sep 2011 12:05:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Sabre-app-store http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=US-Airways-Sabre-antitrust A U.S. district court judge in New York didn't buy US Airways' argument that Sabre operates a monopoly in a "relevant submarket," dismissing last week two of the carrier's four claims in an antitrust... Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:17:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=US-Airways-Sabre-antitrust http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Sabre-Profiles Sabre Travel Network last week announced a new traveler profile system meant to completely replace the current Sabre Stars system. In the works for several years, residing "inside the Sabre... Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:36:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Sabre-Profiles http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Erik-Mueller-Grasp Former WorldTravel BTI director of MIS Erik Mueller in 1996 founded data consolidation specialist Grasp Technologies, which today claims hundreds of clients among travel management companies and... Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:14:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Erik-Mueller-Grasp http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=AA-Amadeus-fee American Airlines' icy relations with Sabre and Travelport are no secret. But what about the third-largest global distribution system in the United States? Things aren't going quite so smoothly... Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:13:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=AA-Amadeus-fee http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=UBS-corporate-travel-survey More than half of 109 corporate travel managers responding to a UBS poll indicated that their organizations "had either recently taken some action to reduce spend or planned to do so by year-end,"... Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:15:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=UBS-corporate-travel-survey http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Concur-Salesforce As part of the release of Salesforce.com's social enterprise for employee applications, Concur announced plans to offer travel and expense management within Salesforce in a product called Concurforce... Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:53:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=sep_11&cid=Concur-Salesforce http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=AA-Sabre-extension American Airlines and Sabre on Monday once again moved the goalposts on a new content agreement, instead extending current terms "well into 2012," according to a memo to clients from AA vice... Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:57:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=AA-Sabre-extension http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Tom-Klein-Sabre The fate of the full-content agreement between American Airlines and Sabre Travel Network remains uncertain as yet another court delay a week ago drove the parties to extend to their existing deal to... Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:59:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Tom-Klein-Sabre http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=ARC-first-EMD ARC processed it first electronic miscellaneous document transaction Thursday afternoon, on behalf of American Airlines. The first EMD sale of an airline's ancillary product by a travel agency was... Fri, 26 Aug 2011 10:52:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=ARC-first-EMD http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=ARC-EMD-Air-New-Zealand ARC expects to process its first electronic miscellaneous document this week as Sabre-connected agencies now can sell pre-paid bag fees for Air New Zealand flights. Sabre last month announced that... Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:56:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=ARC-EMD-Air-New-Zealand http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travel-and-Transport-app When its new eTTek Dash mobile application appears in Apple's App Store in about two weeks, Travel And Transport will become one of just two travel management companies to build and launch its own... Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:26:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travel-and-Transport-app http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Flight-Centre-corporate-growth Australia's Flight Centre Limited for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011, reported its "best sales and profit before tax" in its 30-year history, driven partly by strong corporate travel growth.... Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:57:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Flight-Centre-corporate-growth http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Sabre-AA-portal Will one more week help? In separate memos, American Airlines and Sabre this week told their respective clients that terms of their existing full-content agreement have been extended to Sept. 6 from... Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:43:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Sabre-AA-portal http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Concur-air-bookings Concur plans next week to "unveil the first native mobile air booking experience for business travelers," which is in "live test internally and with some clients" and slated to deploy to all clients... Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:54:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Concur-air-bookings http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=TripIt-Management-Unmanaged Concur has the opportunity to go in a few directions with its acquisition of TripIt. Though it's not explicitly getting into the travel management business--it's not offering fulfillment, or... Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:20:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=TripIt-Management-Unmanaged http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=British-Airways-Simon-Talling-Smith "There is no secret to the fact that there is enormous revenue at risk here," American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey said last month regarding the airline's legal and commercial disputes with... Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:34:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=British-Airways-Simon-Talling-Smith http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=American-Express-Charter-Solutions American Express Global Business Travel plans to launch a "travel disruption" solution, powered by new firm Charter Solutions International, that enables service recovery in the event of... Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:30:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=American-Express-Charter-Solutions http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Hickory-eCommission-Solutions Hickory Global Partners said it partnered with eCommission Solutions to provide members with discounted access to the commission recovery application it now brands as Hickory Commission Recovery.... Fri, 12 Aug 2011 13:59:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Hickory-eCommission-Solutions http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=TRX-Q2-2011 TRX for the second quarter swung to a $478,000 net loss compared with a $403,000 net profit a year earlier. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell to $800,000... Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:27:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=TRX-Q2-2011 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Cornerstone-Ruesnik-data-analytics Cornerstone Information Systems soon will launch a suite of data analytics and scoring tools as part of its first direct product offering for the corporate travel marketplace. The new solutions grew... Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:59:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Cornerstone-Ruesnik-data-analytics http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travelport-Smartpoint Travelport briefed reporters Wednesday on an enhancement to its Apollo and Galileo points of sale that offers users more options to point and click rather than enter commands in places where the... Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:01:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travelport-Smartpoint http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=new-hotel-booking-tools In a recent Business Travel News survey, 254 travel buyers on average estimated that 68 percent of 2010 hotel bookings complied with preferred lodging vendors and policies. It was the lowest... Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:30:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=new-hotel-booking-tools http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Reggie-Aggarwal-Cvent In its 12 years of existence, meetings technology firm Cvent never has been party to any merger or acquisition, but that could change now that the company has raised $136 million in venture funding,... Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:44:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Reggie-Aggarwal-Cvent http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travelport-Impact-UA-IT The loss of United Airlines to the HP-provided Continental Airlines IT system will reduce Travelport's EBITDA by an estimated $40 million to $60 million annually, Travelport revealed Thursday.... Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:23:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Travelport-Impact-UA-IT http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Amadeus-1H11 Travel distribution is topsy-turvy to say the least, but Amadeus executive vice president for commercial Philippe Chérèque was rather definitive Wednesday in comments about the Amadeus... Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:58:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Amadeus-1H11 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Lufthansa-card-fee Lufthansa Group Wednesday morning announced to travel agents in Europe that it will introduce a credit card fee for all sales channels in six markets: Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, the... Wed, 03 Aug 2011 11:33:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Lufthansa-card-fee http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Egencia-iPhone-app Egencia last week became the first travel management company to launch a proprietary traveler support app for Apple's iPhone.The app offers current and upcoming trip information integrated from... Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:02:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=aug_11&cid=Egencia-iPhone-app http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jul_11&cid=AA-Travelport-extend As anticipated by comments in court documents filed last week, American Airlines and Travelport have extended their existing distribution agreements to avoid a lapse of current terms that offer AA... Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:53:00 -0400 http://www.TheBeat.travel/news.php?adate=jul_11&cid=AA-Travelport-extend