CWT To Evolve in Mobile Space
by Lark GouldCarlson Wagonlit Travel is no newcomer when it comes to reaching mobile-minded business travelers in search of solutions while on the road.
The company launched the CWT To Go app last year and has added functionality since then, making the app increasingly popular among its clients’ managed travelers.
Travel Market Report spoke to Patrick Andersen, president of Americas for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, about how mobile technology is changing the game.
Andersen, who succeeded Håkan Ericsson in the post in January, also discussed how CWT is preparing for the future by focusing emerging technology that can satisfy the demand of travelers within a landscape of compliance.
What the key trends are you seeing in corporate travel?
Andersen: Mobility is very much part of the digital trend, and that trend is something we are acutely aware of.
Then there is ‘PHAT’ data – the smarter you can be in looking at the data, the more nuggets you can uncover. [PHAT data is the next wave of data analytics, a step up from “Big Data.”]
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Also, we are looking at service. We can spend time talking about how digital technology is changing the landscape, but we need to look at how these changes are affecting the booking process.
Describe the issues and opportunities you see in corporate travel.
Andersen: We see more opportunities out there than issues. Issues make way for opportunities. For instance, hotel compliance is still pretty fragmented. We are still seeing some consumer behavior that is not conducive to booking hotel and air at same time, and there are opportunities to make this easier.
We own Worldmate, [a trip planning app], and we just got a hotel booking capability built into the platform. There was no booking function before that – it was all about itineraries on the go, what amenities were nearby and what flight alerts the traveler needed. We are about to implement mobile hotel booking capability, and air bookings are to follow next year.
What’s ahead for open booking practices and policies at CWT?
Andersen: We look at open bookings and ask, ‘what is the value?’ There have been a lot of discussions around those. We did an analysis in 2013 that clearly showed such programs would not generate savings.
Also, we see that the time people spend to shop for travel is really wasted. You must have a TMC who can do it efficiently. Still, in our private lives, we are used to using tools that are quite consumer-friendly, so we have a benchmark for using these types of tools in the business travel space.
CWT needs to make sure the experience we offer is consistent with what users are getting in other apps. And we think we are getting there, as we are building mobile technology from scratch with those functions in mind. We hope to bring this friendly technology to the desktop environment as well.
Changing technology is not easy, but our online adoption rate is 60% and online bookings are part of the mix of channels and may increase over time.
How does current growth in business travel affect TMCs and agencies, especially at the negotiating table with suppliers?
Andersen: Customers negotiate preferred supplier deals, and we facilitate those deals with compliant booking channels. We can do two things. Our customers can analyze their spend – and decide when to benchmark deals. We can also help with the negotiating. We are very good at that. Once those deals are done, they become part of the customer supply chain.
What’s on the horizon for CWT as it embraces the opportunities presented by mobile technology?
Andersen: Looking at CWT and where mobile technology is going, we are focusing on the year 2020, when we see seven million devices out there – 80% of which will be smart.
Microsoft predicts 85% of service will be provided digitally. We need to design for that world. Our digital solutions must provide for that, but the human interface will not disappear.
There will be a time and place when a traveler will need special assistance, and CWT will provide it at the right point where needed. Hit a button on the phone and the interactive face of Jane from CWT pops up.
