Steven Mandelbaum is senior vice president for business solutions at education consulting firm EAB, which he joined in 2000. He has managed travel throughout much of that time and now has responsibility for most internal operations, including technology, real estate, events, employee experience and strategic vendor partnerships. Travel represents about 20 percent of his job, but 80 percent of the… The post Q&A: Travel Buyer Steven Mandelbaum appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

Washington, D.C. —  There’s a darker side of sustainability in the airline industry, and attendees to an ARC/ATPCo event here got glimpses from those on the inside. It’s not all about headline-grabbing greenwashing. Profit-minded motivations drive different interpretations of sustainability data and can hamper efforts to make offsets and SAF contributions more accessible to already-confused travelers. Air travel sustainability veteran… The post Notebook: Speakers On Airline Sustainability Bemoan ‘Bad Actors,’ Profit Scrutiny appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

Travel management is always all about data, but what does it say? Benchmarks can provide many answers, putting a program’s effectiveness into context, but obtaining good ones and using them effectively may be harder than it seems. The Company Dime asked more than a dozen travel managers and industry consultants to discuss the best practices. Plenty can go wrong. Doing… The post Explainer: The Do’s And Don’ts Of Corporate Travel Benchmarking appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

The Company Dime co-founder Jay Campbell last week interviewed Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert via videoconference. Among other issues, Ekert talked about supplier content fragmentation, global distribution system pricing, AI, technology modernization and, yes, NDC. A lightly edited transcript follows. Some travel managers look back fondly at a period a few years ago when it seemed like everything was in the… The post Q&A: Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert On Content, Pricing And Artificial Intelligence appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

Delta Air Lines during a Thursday virtual meeting named the tech partners it would work with on a customer service-oriented distribution strategy based on IATA’s New Distribution Capability protocols. Accelya, ARC and Google will support Delta as it collaborates with corporate travel intermediaries on new distribution methods. The announcement comes as Delta’s agreement with Sabre is due for renewal. According… The post Delta Names New Distribution Partners As Sabre Deal Comes Due appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

Washington, D.C. — American Airlines agreed to use the ARC Corporate Intelligence tool for contract management. ARC CI launched with United Airlines in 2020 as an alternative to the market-leading Prism platform, owned by Sabre. An AA official did not comment on whether the airline would continue using Prism. AA signed on in December 2023, and “we’re neck deep in… The post AA Follows UA To ARC’s Corporate Contracting Tool As Sabre Upgrades Prism appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

Southwest Airlines has always done things differently, but lately, it’s been embracing industry norms in the corporate market. It’s participating in more distribution channels and fielding a bigger sales team. It offers a basket of options for corporate dealmaking, including at least one throwback idea: back-end rebates. Those may be instead of or in addition... The post Retro Rebates Hang On As Post-Pandemic Legacy For Southwest Customers appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

It’s not hard to identify potential winners from American Express Global Business Travel’s proposed deal to acquire CWT, besides GBT itself, starting with the largest remaining competitors. Nor is it hard to see some of the losers, firstly global companies that manage travel and would have one fewer option next time they look for a provider. In its announcement, GBT… The post GBT-CWT: Implications For Customers appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

For some travel management companies and their corporate clients, the American Airlines program restricting the conditions under which business travelers earn miles, announced on Feb. 20, sparked more frenzy than AA’s earlier dramatic actions. Like legislators suddenly focused on air travel policies when something happens with DCA, corporate executives and other travelers pay attention to what’s in it for them…. The post Travel Management Companies Race To Meet AA’s NDC Targets, Sort Out Client Fees appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more

What airlines want from their corporate customers and what they’re willing to give in return is changing. For many U.S. accounts, the request for proposals process and resulting contracts look very different than they did five years ago, especially for American and United clients. Airline corporate discounts are getting downsized or eliminated, and carriers want accounts to promote them in… The post The Future Of Airline Contracting: Engagement And Marketing Edge Out Discounts appeared first on The Company Dime ..read more