The Los Angeles Business Travel Association (LABTA), the nation's largest chapter of corporate travel executives and associates, announced their new officers and board members for 2010 at the membership's annual Holiday Gala.

And the big news around here is our own Kjarsten Phillipsen, Egencia District Sales Manager, was appointed to the Board of Directors.  Kjarsten can you hear your friends and colleagues cheering around the globe? Congratulations, we (and your travel industry associates) think the world of you.  And from the list below, we can see you are in very  good company.

Elected by the membership to the Executive Board:

Appointed to the Board of Directors:

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What's a convention without an after-hours soiree?  (I'd have to say, it's just a meeting). With NBTA operating at full throttle and dizzying speed, Egencia and SAS slowed things down a bit by hosting a evening fete at Stingee's rooftop oasis .

As some of us had to stand guard back at the office (someone had to answer the phones), we were able to live vicariously through a couple table tent mockups showcasing the evening's the signature drinks: the SAStini and the Egencia Champagne Cocktail.

Of course you want the recipes.

SAStini recipe:

• 2 oz. of Hpnotiq
• 3 oz. of cranberry juice
• 1 oz. Absolut Citron Vodka
• mix
• garnish with Swedish fish (no herring or sardine substitutions)
• hum an ABBA song before each sip

Egencia Champagne Cocktail

• 2 oz. Limoncello
• flute of champagne
• mix
• swoon and dream of travel cost savings

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News from NBTA

Egencia Meetings & Incentives Introduces New Meetings Solutions, Enabling Companies to More Effectively Manage the Full Spectrum of Meetings Needs

Egencia survey shows meetings & incentives management remains important despite economy, but travel managers lack tools needed for efficiency

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- NBTA (National Business Travel Association) Convention -- Egencia™ Meetings & Incentives, the full-service meetings and incentives management division of Egencia, today announced enhancements to its current offering, giving travel managers additional flexibility and insight into meetings travel. With Egencia, companies also benefit from end-to-end meetings management, including expertise in procurement services and event planning (design, production and logistics) to program optimization and analysis.

In addition, the company released the results of a survey of more than 100 travel managers that was conducted to better understand their current needs and plans for the future. Egencia's survey showed that 87 percent of respondents with an ARC spend of $1,000,000 or more believe that meetings and incentives management is important to their company. In addition, almost half (48 percent) of all travel managers do not believe they have previously had access to the tools needed to make meetings planning and management efficient.

Nearly 60 percent of travel managers surveyed also believe that consolidating meetings and general corporate travel spend is a priority for their travel program, with the number one reason cited as the potential for cost savings. Recognizing this need, Egencia Meetings & Incentives in June introduced the first fully-integrated, single-source global solution for meetings policy and reporting. Combined with Egencia's strong meetings management organization, this solution provides online registration, attendee management, travel booking and reporting along with Egencia's experienced team of meetings professionals.

As testament to its continued investment in meetings management innovation, Egencia is empowering businesses with increased levels of flexibility and control, which provides additional cost savings and greater visibility into meetings spend. Enhancements to its end-to-end meetings offering include:

• Added flexibility to empower travel managers: support for easy-to-use guest accounts, providing any meeting participant the ability to book travel; and the ability to create open meetings where the attendee list is not pre-determined
• A custom report builder, offering an easy-to-use interface that allows travel managers to create custom reports and ad-hoc queries into both corporate and meetings spend, giving them greater control over their programs

"It's clear that corporations realize that meetings and incentives management is critical to overall program success," said Pam Keenan Fritz, Senior Vice President, Egencia North America. "Travel buyers are focused on finding efficiencies and cost savings through consolidation and program control. With Egencia's full-service meetings management offering, corporations are empowered with a strong combination of flexible tools and hands-on, experienced meetings management support."

According to Egencia's survey, 63 percent of travel managers indicated that meetings spend will stay the same or increase in the second half of 2009. In addition, nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of travel managers surveyed believe that spend will stay the same or increase in 2010.

"Given that a majority of travel managers are expected to maintain or grow their programs from 2009 and through 2010, we believe that effective meetings and incentives management will remain a key priority," said Debbie Grossi, Director of Egencia Meetings & Incentives North America. "Today's announcement underscores our commitment to supporting the full spectrum of corporate meetings and incentives needs, from a small group event to a large scale corporate meeting or incentive trip."

Egencia Meetings & Incentives combines professional full-service expertise and market-leading technology, giving companies complete oversight and control over planning and spend. Planned enhancements will be available by the end of 2009.

Travel buyers wanting to learn more about these new solutions can visit Egencia at booth #715 at NBTA Convention in San Diego, CA August 24-26th.

For more information on Egencia Meetings & Incentives, go to www.egenciameetings.com.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company

Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company, is the fifth largest travel management company in the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, Egencia helps business get ahead with a complete corporate travel offering supported by best-in-class online and offline service, and global market expertise. With real-time availability of data and customizable reports that are integrated globally, Egencia is committed to helping increase efficiencies and savings by giving its customers more insight and control over their travel program.

Company URL: www.egencia.com

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.

© 2009 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. CST #: 2083922-50

SOURCE Egencia

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News from NBTA                                      

Egencia Introduces Powerful New Package of Solutions to Empower Travelers and Increase Program Control

Company adds customizable reporting tool to industry-leading global reporting platform
 

NBTA (National Business Travel Association) Convention, San Diego – (August 24, 2009) – Egencia™ today revealed a new package of solutions that addresses global businesses’ need for increased program and cost management of corporate travel programs. These solutions focus on two critical components of any successful program: the need to empower travelers with tools and information to increase efficiency and compliance through the booking and travel process; and the need for policy controls and business intelligence to help corporations manage spend.

Tools that empower travelers, or that are “traveler-centric” include: Trip Collaboration and Multi-Passenger Booking, a redesigned Hotel Shopping path and Egencia On the Go™ mobile portal. Program enforcement and management tools include: Dynamic Messaging, Trip Controller and Custom Report Builder. Combined with Egencia’s first-class customer service and leading account management team, these tools deliver a strong solution for program and spend control. 

Traveler-Centric Tools
“Consumer shopping habits and growing acceptance of social media and mobile tools has informed the way business travelers expect to book travel,” said Simon Tam, Egencia Senior Vice President of Product and Technology. “By making the traveler a key consideration when enhancing our offering, Egencia helps companies simplify the traveler experience, drive compliance and ultimately increase savings.”

·        Egencia Trip Collaboration tools simplify coordination with fellow travelers on complex or small group trips. Travel arrangers and travelers can share and edit trip notes and links, invite other employees to collaborate on a trip and view flight seat location of fellow travelers via Seat Pinpointer. While in the past travelers might book overlapping rental cars or ground transportation due to lack of visibility, they can now coordinate and share resources to increase efficiency and decrease cost.  In addition, Trip Collaboration encourages “peer guilt.” When other travelers see a colleague’s lower-priced itinerary, they are encouraged to book a trip at a similar or lower cost.

·        Multi-Passenger Booking support allows travel managers or arrangers to duplicate an itinerary or book multiple passenger flights and hotels simultaneously. Forty-percent of trips include multiple travelers so allowing them to shop and compare multiple flights helps uncover cost savings. Trip arrangers can shop for up to six travelers at a time, while efficient technology creates reservations using individual passenger records so traveler preferences and frequent flyer details are maintained. Policy enforcement is maintained for each individual, allowing support of multiple policy groups at once and closing loopholes that exist in other products. Bookings with more than six travelers can be accommodated through Egencia’s Meetings & Incentives division which provides full-service meetings management to larger groups.

·        Egencia’s newly redesigned Hotel Shopping path combines greater ease-of-use and interactive Google mapping to help travelers efficiently shop and book hotels. Easy-to-use search forms help travelers and travel arrangers quickly evaluate hotels worldwide by city, airport, partial address or company custom destinations. Interactive Google maps pinpoint the search address or landmark, which speeds up the process of finding the right hotel in the right location. Policy indicators visually identify program-compliant choices including negotiated rates and hotels from Egencia’s Preferred Program. Travelers can choose from 4,000 Egencia Preferred hotels with exclusive discounts and value added amenities, such as loyalty points, free high speed internet, early check-in and breakfast included.

·        The Egencia On the GoÔ Mobile Portal works to provide travelers with tools necessary for their trip and demonstrates continued investment in a global mobile platform for North America and Europe. In addition to proactive trip alerts, Egencia clients are now able to view their complete itineraries for flights, hotel and car from their mobile device, both at a summary and detail level. Travelers can also check into flights, check flight status, email itineraries, leverage Google maps for addresses included within itineraries and click to call a travel consultant for assistance.

Travel Program Enforcement & Cost Control

“As one of the largest expenses for companies, T&E spend has become a key consideration for business leaders throughout corporations,” said Pam Keenan Fritz, Senior Vice President, Egencia North America. “Egencia has designed these tools to make it easier for companies to promote cost-cutting travel programs, mine data for further savings opportunities and communicate more effectively to employees about policy.”

·        Dynamic Messaging allows travel managers to communicate important information to travelers at the most crucial part of the booking process. Messages can be strategically targeted based on departure and destination parameters, specific to flights, hotels or car rental. Travel buyers can promote preferred vendors, enforce travel policies, provide important security alerts or communicate destination-specific transportation information.

·        Egencia’s updated Trip Controller tools will be available by the end of 2009, providing an enhanced solution to parallel company workflow processes.  The tools offer single-click trip approval from mobile devices and backup scenarios in which requests can be automatically forwarded to other approvers. A link from an email enables managers to approve requests without signing in and automatically routes approval to another approver if the trip has not been addressed within specific time parameters. Additionally, approval requests can be immediately sent to backup approvers if a manager is out of the office. This tool makes it easy for approvers to view all outstanding trip requests for anyone the approver oversees.  

·        Custom Report Builder is a new addition to Egencia’s global dynamic reporting platform. Also available by end of 2009, this new feature will allow clients or Egencia’s experienced account management team to create customized reports by either modifying the most popular of Egencia’s hundreds of existing reports or developing a report from scratch in order to best fit unique company processes and needs. The five-step custom report builder allows clients to combine air, hotel, car and train data, group and filter data as desired, view global detail, consolidate meetings and corporate data, and save templates for future use.

To drive a successful program, it’s important that companies adeuately address traveler empowerment, program enforcement and cost control. Egencia’s product innovations are a continued investment of the company’s efforts to bring greater savings and efficiencies to the travel management space.

Egencia Meetings & Incentives is also announcing new tools for their strong meetings platform at NBTA.  With Egencia Meetings & Incentives, companies benefit from end-to-end meetings management, including expertise in procurement services and event planning (design, production and logistics) to program optimization and analysis.

Travel buyers wanting to learn more about these new solutions can visit Egencia at booth #715 at NBTA Convention in San Diego, CA August 24-26th.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company
Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. company, is the fifth largest travel management company in the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace, Egencia helps business get ahead with a complete corporate travel offering supported by best-in-class online and offline service, and global market expertise. With real-time availability of data and customizable reports that are integrated globally, Egencia is committed to helping increase efficiencies and savings by giving its customers more insight and control over their travel program.

Company URL: www.egencia.com

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The Egencia Booth (#715) at NBTA 2009

This week all business travel roads lead to the National Business Travel Association International Convention & Exposition in San Diego. If it has to do with business travel, it will be represented; and according to the NBTA that encompasses 550 organizations at current count.

The Egencia booth and team will be front and center at Booth 715, so drop by to say hello and see what's new in the world of corporate travel management. 

Or visit online: Egencia.com

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The business travel world lands in Los Angeles this week with the convening of the National Business Travel Association's (NBTA) Convention. The Egencia team is in attendance eager to share what's behind our recent branding and product launch. Drop by Booth 1101; we'll treat you well and acquaint you with our travel management solutions. NBTA  gets underway today and Egencia Account Manager and camera-wielding attendee, Shani DeSantis sent me a little preview shot of the Egencia booth at NBTA taken the night before the convention opened.  

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The conference is over.  The iPhones have been given away and the booth's packed up.   What could possibly be left to tell?  Well, there is one thing...  

Expedia Corporate Travel and JetBlue got together to throw a party to thank all of the customers of both companies that made it to NBTA.  As you might have guessed, it was an absolutely raucous affair (which should have been no surprise given that we held it at Gypsy Bar, the kind of place usually reserved for the upper crust party crowd.  Truthfully, the kind of place that would have turned 90% of us away on a normal night...)

So what happened?  Take a look at the pictures and see if you can spot some of your friends from the convention:

First, our amazing events team:

All of the Pictures from the Party!

The party exceeded all expectations from any of us at ECT.  Here are some of the most notable happenings from the eventful night:

1. Repeated funny shouts from the bar that customers should leave the Harry Potter at the door and stop calling the Patron tequila "Patronus,"
2. The amazing number of shots that I saw people put away.  Seriously.  At one point I seriously thought I had stumbled in fraternity party only to realize that the liqour was way too nice for that.
3.  An absolutely packed dance floor.  ECT Canada employee Megan Rideout was surprisingly convincing at getting folks out on the floor but the persuasion was hardly needed.  The place was wall to wall.
4.  Attractive bartenders are a bigger draw than a band.  
 
This last one was really a surprise.  I was personally worried that people would really wish we'd had a band.  Right next door to us was another NBTA party featuring the Aphrodisiacs.  All night long there was a steady stream of people coming over to ogle the staff.  (When we picked the venue, I swear I had no idea the place was voted to have the best looking staff of any bar in Boston two years running.)

All in all, it was a great event.  Thanks again to JetBlue for their sponsorship and the free tickets they handed out to happy partygoers throughout the night.  And finally, thanks to the amazing Expedia events team for pulling it off!

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I'm back in Seattle basking in the glow of a successful NBTA.  Thank you to all of the current and prospective customers who came by to meet us, talk candidly about what's working and where we can continue to improve, and learn more about Expedia Corporate Travel. 

I was somewhat surprised by the amount of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) some of our competitors try to put into the marketplace.  Tip to you marketers out there - if you decide to FUD the competition be sure you are making somewhat credible statements.  For example, a number of customers came up to me to say that a couple of our competitors, who shall remain nameless, were saying that Expedia Corporate Travel has no call centers and no agents.  One current customer corrected a competitor, who went on to say that they heard we only had a small number of agents and they only worked a few hours a day. 

Let me set the record straight.

Expedia Corporate Travel has a dozen call centers in North America, Europe, and Asia.  We have over 200 experienced travel agents who are available 24/7, every day of the year.  Customers tell us that our service levels are some of the best in the industry, and we routinely receive very high recommend scores in post-travel surveys.

We have integrated the offline support function and the online travel management product, an industry first.  When a traveler calls an agent for help that agent sees travel plans the same way that a traveler would, which cuts the time required to understand the incoming request.  Each agent assisted transaction is captured in the data warehouse and becomes part of the travel manager's reports.  Heck, our customer service supervisors participate in quarterly and annual business reviews for a number of our customers. 

To anybody who heard the opposite I invite you to check out what we can do for you at expediacorporate.com.

And again, thank you for making this NBTA a success for Expedia Corporate Travel.

-Stan Sorensen, VP Marketing, Expedia Corporate Travel

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The NBTA Boston 2007 closing reception was a success…from the moment you walked into the party you felt the LA vibe, which was perfect since the soiree was hosted by LA INC (Los Angeles Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureaus), their partners and the LA NBTA team. They dreamt up an outstanding closing reception!

Paparazzi snapped photos as you entered the reception, as if you were walking down Hollywood Blvd to a movie premiere. The food was amazing and the drinks kept flowing. In addition to the DJ, we were treated to the vocal stylings of Lori Jenaire. A great time was had by all…we can't wait until NBTA 2008!

Gypsy Bar: Expedia Corporate Travel and JetBlue hosted another fabulous party at NBTA. The party was well attended by customers,suppliers and invited guests. The venue is among the most popular in Boston and the dance floor was packed! The Gypsy Bar even features a unique aquarium, can you guess what's in the tank? Answer here.

 -Shani DeSantis, Account Manager, Expedia Corporate Travel

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This morning Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO & President of Expedia, spoke to the audience about what we call the " 3 waves."  The 3 waves is how we think about the evolution of corporate travel.

Wave 1 was the growth of online booking. 
Wave 2 is the integration of online and offline travel into the larger procurement and line of business environment of a company.  This is the wave we are in today.
Wave 3 is just beginning, and is the integration of user generated content into the corporate travel management world.

Dara pointed out the inherent tension that exists in Wave 3, namely that user generated content means that control of the content is handed over to the traveler, but corporate travel management is based on controlling the travel process.  He asked whether the industry is ready to hand control  over to the traveler, and if so to what extent.  It's an interesting question to ponder.

Doris Kearns Goodwin spoke about leadership and shared a number of stories, mostly from her most recent book Team of Rivals, which discusses the composition of Lincoln's cabinet during the Civil War.  Having read much of the book it was particularly interesting to hear her insights.  Her premise was that being a great leader means seeking out and acknowleding competing points of view and being able to know when to say "I have enough information, here is my decision."  As an aside she pointed out that this is something that we are not likely to see in today's political climate.

After the talk Doris signed books for our customers.  And I got to talk a little baseball with her, which was nearly as much a highlight as the talk itself.  At least for me.

Signing off from Boston.

-Stan Sorensen, VP Marketing, Expedia Corporate Travel

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I took some time yesterday afternoon to walk the show floor and was surprised by two things:

1.  It's never too early to find someone handing out drinks.  (The booth next to ours had fantastic Bloody Marys from the very beginning and it was hard to find an attendee without a Cosmo from Boeing or a cappuccino from Delta.) 

2.  You're a nobody without a lay flat seat.

This second one is a truly amazing concept.  As someone who has attended many trade shows and even been occasionally involved in booth design (including ours here at NBTA) I feel like I have some idea what will be eye-catching for trade show goers.  Each show has its trademark booth attractions:  bikini-clad models at car shows, giant 170" plasma screens at CES, and even a white water kayak rafting demonstration at Outdoor Retailer.  At NBTA, without question, you have to have a lay flat seat. 

Without fail, nearly every booth with real honest-to-goodness airplane seats in it has people lined up waiting to try it out.  EOS, American, Qatar, Malaysian Airways have all hopped on the bandwagon.  I have to confess, I'm not immune to the allure.  How many of us can really afford to travel this way?  How many of us have travel programs that book travelers in these seats?  That said, the marketing behind this booth design is pure genius.  Who wouldn't want to fly this way and who wouldn't want to tell everyone that they have to fly X airline because the seats just have to be seen to be believed?  Showing the seats at NBTA and getting people into them is like test driving the top of the line car at the dealership and then buying the one you can afford.  In your mind, you will associate the car you took home with the souped up version you first tried.

My takeaway?  Sure, we may be a corporate travel management company but next year our booth will feature the all new Expedia Corporate Travel lay flat seat!  We will commit to lead the (corporate travel management) industry in comfort and quality.  (Design submissions welcome.  All promises of said airline seats made on blogs should be considered vaporware until proven otherwise...)  :-)

Seriously, if you're a big follower of these seats, take a look at this excellent blog, which rates them and talks about how to nab one on your next flight.

Eric Heller :: Director of Marketing :: Expedia Corporate Travel

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I had an opportunity to spend time with one of our airline partners yesterday discussing United's announcement that they are updating all of their international business class cabins.  I knew that this is not a decision to be taken lightly - load factor, what you can get for a ticket, etc - all come into play as you might expect.

What I didn't know was the extent to which an airline does usability testing before deciding what type of changes to make.  Perhaps this partner is unique, but they told me that they actively seek out customer input, do mock-ups, and test.  Just like we do when we build product.  Needless to say I offered to participate in future studies.

And speaking of cabins nearly every airline here has a model cabin on the floor.  I was on the floor this morning before the show opened and took an opportunity to try a few out.  It became clear pretty quickly who makes the investment in gathering passenger input and who doesn't.   

-Stan Sorensen, VP Marketing, Expedia Corporate Travel

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As always, NBTA is a reunion of all the people you’ve known throughout the years working in the travel industry, which is somewhat of a barometer of how long you’ve been in the industry so it seemed like a saw old friends and past co-workers at every turn yesterday (I.e. I’ve been around a long time!).

Posted by Tom at 7:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

...Make That Test Drives [Insert Industry Here] 2.0 

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Cannes has its film festival; Calgary its stampede. Pamplona runs with the bulls and Boston…well, Boston is where all things and all persons connected to world and ways of business travel convene at NBTA, July 22 - 25, 2007.

The best and brightest from Expedia Corporate Travel are planning to descend upon the National Business Travel Association's convention and immerse themselves in travel presentations, demonstrations, education and elation. Yes, we love our business of business travel.