Carlson Wagonlit Travel is rolling out Price Tracking worldwide, following a successful trial that delivered savings of up to two per cent of total travel spend.
The Price Tracking technology continually monitors prices for flights and hotel rooms, checking them against existing bookings.
Whenever it identifies savings, CWT cancels and re-books for less, providing clients with the best possible deals – and delivering significant savings.
“This technology can save our clients up to two per cent – that’s a huge sum of money for any company with a sizeable travel programme,” said Patrice Simon, Carlson Wagonlit Travel chief technology officer, strategy and new product development.
“Best of all, it’s largely automated, running in the background 24/7, delivering savings every single day.”
The service is the result of a partnership between Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Yapta, a provider of airfare and hotel price-tracking services.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel tested offerings from a variety of competing technology providers, and found Yapta consistently out-performed all others, in some cases by a wide margin.
Initial trials in the US were very successful, and the scope for savings across the rest of the world is even greater, given the fragmentation of offerings across Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
Currently, Carlson Wagonlit Travel counsellors manually rebook approximately one in 20 itineraries with the same flight or hotel at a lower rate.
Fully automating the process will further improve that rate.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel is committed to an ambitious global expansion of Price Tracking, targeting thousands of clients around the world over the next 18 months.