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Bringing Together Two Major Forces In Business Travel

Bringing together two major forces in business travel

3 min
Posted: 29 November 2022
mark-hollyhead-amex-gbt-egencia

When two corporate travel management companies (TMC) come together, the ideal scenario is that they both bring their best to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

That’s exactly what’s happened with American Express Global Business Travel’s acquisition of Egencia in November 2021.

‘With the acquisition, we’re offering unrivalled choice, unrivalled value and the best customer experience as our commitment to our customers’, says Nour-Eddine Zaoug, Senior Director of Global Account Management at Egencia. Here’s a peek at how Egencia customers are benefitting from the two travel experts coming together.

The most extensive travel supply in the industry

One of the most immediate changes that Egencia customers enjoyed was the expansion of preferred rates for airlines. ‘Egencia came into Amex GBT with a real strength in hotel supply, both with inventory and preferred rates that we extend to our customers’, said Manuel Brachet, Vice President of Multinational Global Strategic Accounts for Egencia. ‘Amex GBT had a complementary strength, which is the depth and breadth in the area of air. Bringing those two providers together allowed us to extend industry-leading preferred rates to our clients virtually from day one’.

Stronger services that enhance the travel experience

Egencia customers will also benefit from Amex GBT with expanded services. ‘We’re able to offer our clients a broader portfolio of services to meet their travel needs’, says Brachet.

For instance, Egencia’s area of consulting expertise is in hotel sourcing. Amex GBT also has a strong consulting practice in air sourcing and sustainability. This means that customers now have world-class expertise to lean into for developing travel policy strategies around airline, airfares, lodging and sustainability.

Another natural outgrowth of this collaboration is in the area of meetings and events. We’re utilising the strengths of both travel management companies to create powerful end-to-end customer experiences—from group air and lodging with a full suite of amenities to delivery, support and reporting.

Global reach of travel management solutions

As the depth and variety of our offerings expand, so does the reach. ‘Our customers will be able to deploy our solution across the globe, when arranging their business trips’, says Matthieu Champion, Senior Sales Director for Europe and Global Accounts at Egencia. ‘The portal backend, how everything comes together for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) and partnering with Amex GBT are only bringing good things and are really strengthening our value as a business travel management company’.

Taking American Express Global Business Travel public in May of 2022 was a further step towards global expansion. ‘Going public means we’re getting more opportunity to invest in the future of our products, our services and the travel experiences that really matter to customers’, says Mark Hollyhead, President of Egencia.

‘I’m excited because, in the last two years, the business travel industry pretty much went to rock bottom. Now here we are, as Egencia—a fast-growing, B2B, software and services platform—and a part of Amex GBT. We’re looking to grow in countries around the world, and the combination of Amex GBT, Ovation Travel and Egencia going to market with the products and services we have will be a winning formula for choice, value and experience in the travel industry’.

Paul Abbott, Amex GBT’s CEO, said: ‘Bringing Amex GBT and Egencia together will create a winning formula that will define the future of travel. We will provide unrivalled value, choice and experiences to customers. Unrivalled value because, together, we’ll have the best content and deliver the best savings. Unrivalled choice because no one comes close to the breadth and depth of solutions we will offer. And unrivalled experiences because we have the best people and technology in the industry’.

To learn more, read our press release announcing the acquisition here.

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