ORLANDO -
Completing its integration of Rosenbluth International, American
Express renamed its corporate travel unit American Express Business
Travel and introduced new products.
The name change
-- the former name was American Express Corporate Travel -- better
reflects the company's ability to serve clients of all sizes,
officials said. American Express plans a new branding and
advertising campaign with the tagline, "Experience
Matters."
Speaking at a
press conference early Monday morning at the National Business
Travel Association (NBTA) conference here, Pamela Arway, American
Express executive vice president and general manager, business
travel North America, said the company "flipped the switch" a day
earlier on the blending of the American Express and Rosenbluth
back-office systems. That culminated the nine months it took to
complete the largest ever integration of two travel management
companies, officials said.
In the process,
American Express retained 98% of Rosenbluth's former clients,
according to Ron DiLeo, who heads corporate travel for American
Express Europe. DiLeo formerly was Rosenbluth's chief operating
officer, corporate travel.
The
Rosenbluth/American Express integration is reflected in the product
offerings, including the eClipse Advisors procurement consulting
services, which were formerly delivered through Rosenbluth. Other
products include American Express Online (a booking platform);
Preferred Extras (negotiated rates on air, car and hotel bookings);
Global Security Suite (to track employees traveling); Corporate
Meetings Solutions (meetings expense management); Global TRAX Suite
(to engineer savings that would have been lost in unused airline
tickets); and Intelligence Reporting Suite (a reporting
tool).
A new icon that
American Express unveiled as part of the new branding campaign
reflects on what American Express views as its focus on saving
clients money on the total cost of the trip and not just the
transaction fee. The icon is a pie chart showing that transaction
costs represent just 3% of total travel expense.
"I hope we are
not in an environment where the total focus is on this silly $5
transaction fee" instead of total travel spending, Arway said in a
press conference at the NBTA event.
Clearing other
matters up, Arway claimed that American Express processes 40% of
global online bookings. American Express is an online travel agency
and a travel management company, as well, she said.
In a related
development, American Express Commercial Card doubled the countries
for which it provides detailed expense data and not just summary
data. It is adding 41 countries -- all in Latin America and the
Caribbean -- for this "enhanced reporting," bringing the total to
80.
Also, in
December, Global Information Services will release "Variance
Report-Billed Vs. Booked," a series of reports that details
travelers charged expenses "versus the cost captured at the point
of reservation."
"This will ID the
mavericks" who think they may be helping their company by booking a
lower fare, but may be unaware of things like override agreements,
said Anre Williams, executive vice president, U.S. commercial
card.
American Express
is hoping to use the Variance Report product to prod card clients
to use American Express travel agency services and vice versa.
Variance Report is free to clients who use both, but there will be
a fee to clients who don't, officials said.
To contact
reporter Dennis Schaal, send e-mail to [email protected].