Egencia integrates Tripadvisor content

Press release – 29 July 2008 – Egencia Egencia today announced a range of product investments that enhance the customer experience by offering technology and information that’s accessible, easy to use and truly transforms their travel. Egencia will now provide the best-in-breed mobile flight information and bring the richness of firsthand travel experiences online to…

Press release – 29 July 2008 – Egencia

Egencia today announced a range of product investments that enhance the customer experience by offering technology and information that’s accessible, easy to use and truly transforms their travel.

Egencia will now provide the best-in-breed mobile flight information and bring the richness of firsthand travel experiences online to benefit travel bookers, business travelers and travel managers with the debut of Egencia On the Go and the integration of content such as hotel reviews, city guides and SeatGuru by TripAdvisor online.

“Today’s announcement is another milestone in our history of providing intuitive technology that makes the business travel experience easier and allows Egencia travelers to focus on business not travel,” said Simon Tam, senior vice president of product and technology for Egencia.

“These developments keep our customers informed so they can make better decisions throughout the travel process.  Meeting this demand is part of our promise to deliver innovative features that enhance the experience of today’s hard working business traveler.”

Egencia’s multifaceted global strategy for mobile applications aims to deliver the right information to travelers in the easiest and most convenient way for each local market.  In the US, the company has launched an application that delivers updated itinerary information via text, e-mail and voicemail to business travelers.

European business travelers, who are more likely to have powerful internet-enabled phones or PDAs, are able to access important data such as itineraries, flight schedules and local weather conditions from a mobile portal.  European travel managers also have the ability to approve trips via their mobile device.  In the future, these mobile applications will converge, allowing global clients to take enjoy the benefits of the mobile portal and real-time alerts.

“Being prepared is the best way to ensure a successful business trip,” said Susan Madden with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

“Much like other road warriors, our business travelers lead busy lives and are constrained for time.  Whether it’s information on a delayed flight or facilitating re-booking after a missed connection, Egencia On the Go provides our travelers with the real-time data they need to ensure every trip is as successful, rewarding and pleasant as possible.”

Egencia’s mobile advances come as research shows that travelers are growing ever more reliant on their mobile devices. The results of a recent Egencia survey show that 44 percent of business travelers access flight information from their mobile devices.  More than half of respondents (56 percent) receive travel alerts at least on occasion for their trips with 17 percent signing up for alerts every time.  Other information is starting to become more useful with travelers finding mobile access to hotel recommendations, maps, and other knowledge of the city very valuable (31 percent) or somewhat valuable (48 percent).

In addition to these new mobile offerings, Egencia is bringing valuable opinions and feedback of the online travel community to benefit travel bookers, business travelers and travel managers.  Egencia customers will now be able to read hotel reviews, destination guides and find the best seat on an airplane based on users’ opinions.  Egencia is introducing several tools to help customers make more informed decisions when planning travel:

* TripAdvisor City Guides: Gives Egencia business travelers access to detailed destination information from the largest travel community in the world.

* Hotel Reviews: Traveler feedback and commentary appears on the hotel search results page.  A blend of leisure and business traveler feedback further enables Egencia customers to make better decisions.

* SeatGuru by TripAdvisor: Color-coded, interactive airplane seating charts outline the pros and cons of different seats for more than 380 airplanes and 50 airlines.

Results from a recent business traveler survey, conducted by Egencia, show how user-generated content is useful to business travelers. Ninety-four percent of travelers surveyed said they found other travelers’ opinions to be somewhat or very valuable.  Seventy-four percent of those surveyed said they look online for hotel reviews from other travelers with 23 percent also checking out reviews about destinations.