A new partnership between Amadeus and Agoda will give travel agents access to pre-paid hotel content from 150,000 properties globally, a move expected to especially benefit business travel agents.
Travel agents all over the world will now be able to view Agoda’s content – available at the same price as Agoda’s website – compare it to other content through a single screen, and make bookings in one PNR combining other trip content.
Christian Lukey, head of hotels, mobility & insurance, Asia Pacific, Amadeus, said: “This is our first partnership with a B2C company in Asia, and an important one because it will enable travel agents to offer a (more) competitive and seamless service, while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.”
Access to the breadth of hotel content will be especially important for business travel agents. Efficiencies include the pre-paid nature of Agoda’s content on Amadeus, a sound option for employees without a company credit card, and combining the content on a single PNR with the employee’s other travel arrangements.
The major benefit, however, is the potential of reducing deviation from corporate policy.
“Every employer knows the frustration of having their employees book travel outside of the corporate policy – it’s hard to track, adds costs and makes it impossible for the employer to provide proper duty of care,” Amadeus said in a statement.
Citing research from American Express Global Business Travel, Amadeus said the top reasons why employees book travel outside of their company’s travel policy has to do with the location of their accommodation – to stay in the same hotel as the client, to be closer to the meeting/event location, or to stay in a safer location.
To encourage more employees to stay within policy, employers need to ensure their corporate travel provider has good accommodation options.
For Agoda, growth prospects in the business travel sector make the partnership with Amadeus an appealing one. Ernst Hemmer, senior director for Agoda said: “This partnership gives Agoda access to the global travel agent market and specifically the business travel sector, which is forecast to grow 5.8 per cent annually to reach US$1.6 trillion in 2020.”
