January

Tweet In travel procurement terms, “Strategic Sourcing” has traditionally been defined as the standard bidding process for airline, car, hotel and travel agency services. With the dramatic changes emerging in travel distribution technology, strategic sourcing can take on new meaning. These changes reflect the urgent need of traditional airlines (AA,UA, DL) to lower distribution costs and the emergence of lower […]

Tweet I was interviewed last week by Bob Tedeschi from the NY Times. The article appeared in today’s issue and can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/31/technology/31ecom.html It is significant that a general media publication such as the NY Times has recognized the changes in travel distribution as a news worthy. 2005 seems to be shaping up as a year of radical […]

Tweet The noise around alternate distribution is getting louder. The United Airlines meeting last week has triggered a new urgency to look at new distribution alternatives, but many TMCs face significant challenges in this march toward GDS bypass. There are a number of issues this trend has surfaced: (1) One crucial question is whether these new platforms from ITA Software, […]

Tweet This week, United Airlines is holding a summit entitled “Letting the GNE Out of the Bottle.” (GNE is entities acronym for GDS New Entrants). Corporate buyers, TMCs and solution providers have been invited to UA’s headquarters to discuss alternative distribution. This meeting demonstrates how serious the major carriers are about lowering distribution costs. ITA software and G2Switchworks are among […]

Tweet Given the new year and turbulent changes already announced in 2005 (e.g. Delta’s fare simplification), I thought it would be a good time to publish my top ten 10 predictions for 2005 in the world of travel technology: 1) GDS bypass becomes a viable option – Multiple travel conferences this year have alternate GDS players front and center. I […]

Tweet The recent fare simplification initiated by Delta Airlines and matched by American and others signals a new chapter in corporate travel management. For years carriers have complained about the ineffectiveness of many corporate discount programs. Trade organizations such as ACTE and NBTA have endorsed the concept of fare simplification. Now that we are seeing the first signs of widespread […]