Articles tagged “american express”

Deferred payment models are nothing new, but as travel recovers, airlines and others in travel need to find innovative ways to accept payments. It's far from certain that this payment model will help speed up a recovery, or prove to be another huge burden for customers.

Now that the investor winners and losers are clear, Hertz is tasked with the even harder job of retooling the business to adapt to a diminished business travel environement — at least in the short term.

In Skift's top travel stories this week, Expedia agreed to sell Egencia to American Express Global Business Travel, IHG is shedding subpar properties, travel needs to push for vaccine equity, and India's travel industry and people are suffering.

There may be momentum behind the travel industry's recovery, but plenty of uncertainty is still ahead. Now is not the time to drive customers away with sneaky, overnight devaluing of loyalty points.

Despite the inroads ridesharing companies, such as Uber and Lyft, have made against the car rental giants, Hertz's re-emergence from bankruptcy is now triggering a bidding war. Ridesharing and car rentals often have different use cases, but it's never too late for legacy players to mimic, partner, and otherwise adapt.

The Covid-19 pandemic proved that brands that are able to quickly evolve their offerings to meet the shifting needs of customers are the ones that will not only survive, but come out stronger through their ability to adapt. The importance of embracing agility is one lesson brands can take into 2021 and beyond.

This deal makes sense. With fewer consultants on the horizon, use some tried-and-tested artificial intelligence to take the strain and help employees book their own tickets.

These eventual cuts will be as good an indicator as any of the pandemic's impact on corporate travel volumes for 2021. Other agencies, in other regions with less strict employment legislation, may not be that far behind.

Don't count your deals before they've hatched. Coronavirus has killed valuations of many companies, and deals along with them. On the other hand, some companies, such as Grubhub, are in the right place at the right time.

Relations are getting testy between American Express GBT and deep-pocketed investors that are backing out of a big deal. Regardless of the outcome of a lawsuit being argued in a Delaware court, Amex GBT should have plenty of money at its disposal to go shopping for strategic investments in business travel later this year.