American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) has launched a travel management platform which it claims provides personalised service with an understanding of “unique traveller preferences”.
The TMC said its new service ‘First’ will provide travellers with personalised business trip planning, continuous monitoring and means its agents will be “virtually alongside the traveller 24/7”.
GBT said ‘First’ identifies a caller by any of the traveller’s numbers and ensures the agent has all relevant information and preferences to anticipate and address the traveller’s needs.
This could include information such as most popular journey, favourite hotel, whether the traveller wants lounge access, in-room wifi or what restaurant they like visiting at a destination.
GBT’s senior VP of global service delivery Joanna Macleod said it’s this level of personalised service that makes ‘First’ different from other similar platforms from rival TMCs.
“Our customers are constantly on the move, some travelling up to 40 times a year or more. These ‘next generation’ travellers want 24/7 access to dedicated travel counsellors who really know them,” said Macleod.
“First provides access to a single, dedicated team of deeply experienced travel specialists who are available any day, any time, no matter where the traveller is located, and who can take all those unique traveller preferences into account without ever having to ask the same question twice,” she added.
In July GBT completed its $900 million joint venture deal with an investor group led by New York-based Certares.
American Express Global Business Travel division is now 50% owned by American Express with the other half of the joint venture being controlled by Certares.