Egencia has just unveiled some enhancements to its global business travel platform and Hilton has just announced (another) new brand, Signia.
But don't TMCs announce enhancements and hotel companies, new brands as often as passengers take to social media to complain about Ryanair?
Enhancements and brands are hardly news these days but these two have an interesting link.
The Egencia platform upgrade includes something called "Egencia Air and Hotel packages". By adding a hotel booking to an air booking — a cost-saving tactic often advocated by corporates — the traveller is then able to access "special hotel rates" and properties "that may otherwise be out of policy".
In other words the traveller is incentivised to add a leisure element to a business stay, the data and incremental cost is easily identifiable for the corporate to distinguish between the two elements of a trip and the TMC can potentially earn more commission.
Signia looks like an evidence-based decision, a focus group leader's dream. Signia's hallmarks include design-led public spaces such as the lobbies which can double as "social destination", "destination bar" and "signature restaurant". Despite those descriptions which are reminiscent of leisure travel marketing, the aim seems clearly to attract business travellers as the rooms are high-tech, not only in having digital key access and temperature control but sleek connectivity including personal device streaming.
Initial launch cities are all-US — Orlando, Indianapolis and Atlanta — and more expansion is planned. The brand has clearly been developed to attract meeting business (all will have a minimum of 500 rooms and premium meeting space) but with an emphasis on "wellness facilities" and "a carefully curated portfolio of hotels in top urban and resort locales", the objective is surely also to tempt that business traveller/conference delegate into extending their stay.
Egencia's initiative indeed show how important attention to the traveller's needs as well as the corporate's budget is becoming. Its platform enhancements also include a feature called "Hotel Conversations" which allow a two-way conversation between hotel guest and property about anything from check-in times to requests for sparkling, not still, mineral water in the room.
Corporate managers have rightly addressed that traveller welfare can be promoted by supporting bleisure as well as managing travel costs.
As their intermediary and supplier partners also seek to support bleisure, they may need to re-open the conversation about who is the customer.