ARLINGTON, Va. -- SatoTravel and Gelco Information Network formed a
partnership to develop an automated travel management tool that
they say will speed up the trip approval and ticketing processes
for civilian government agencies.
The technology will integrate SatoTravel's reservations system
with Gelco's Travel Manager, an Internet application designed to
ensure that government travelers comply with travel policy.
Travel Manager includes a rules-based approval engine that
informs the traveler of the appropriate government air fares and
hotel per-diem rates eligible for reimbursement.
When the itinerary is approved, a manager at the government
agency must then phone or fax the travel agent, notifying the agent
to book the trip according to pretrip approval rules on Travel
Manager, said Mike Premo, vice president of strategic relationships
at SatoTravel.
The new system will transfer data automatically from Travel
Manager directly to the CRS and alert the agent, said Premo. At
that point, the agent can book the trip.
Once the trip is booked, the appropriate data are sent back to
Travel Manager, where the information resides in an electronic
expense report that the traveler completes after the trip.
Premo said that the system can reduce costs for a government
agency because managers no longer need to collect pretrip approval
reports and send them along to the travel agency.
"This partnership offers government agencies a powerful solution
that lowers costs and allows personnel to concentrate on [their
core competencies]," said Jon Klem, chief executive officer of
Gelco's expense management group.
Also, Premo said the new system will save time for travel agents
because they no longer have to re-key itinerary information into
the traveler's profile on the CRS.
The system is available now for government agencies, but only is
compatible with Sabre.
Premo said SatoTravel's long-term plans involve developing
versions of this product for Galileo and Worldspan, but there is no
timetable for that.
SatoTravel, recently acquired by Denver-based Navigant
International, is one of the nation's leaders in government travel
management.
Minneapolis-based Gelco provides Web-based solutions in travel
expense management for government agencies and corporations.
Gelco said Travel Manager is used by some 120 federal
agencies.
In addition to Travel Manager, Gelco offers ExpenseLink, a
travel expense management tool for corporations.