GBTA Webinar: Increase Traveler Satisfaction and Value With a Modern, Personalized Shopping Experience

Corporate travel is evolving, with personalization emerging as a powerful driver of loyalty and convenience for business travelers.

A travel program needs modern technology, though, to create a better experience for travelers.

Spotnana’s partnership with American Airlines brings travelers enhanced offerings for a modern and seamless retailing experience.

On a recent Global Business Travel Association webinar, Spotnana VP of Strategy and Partnerships Johnny Thorsen was joined by American Airlines Director of Airline Retailing Technology Anthony Rader to discuss how the partnership between American and Spotnana is delivering modernized traveler experiences.

A recording of the webinar, conducted by the Global Business Travel Association, is available here.

Here are the top three takeaways from the webinar.

Spotnana simplifies corporate travel

By bringing travelers the widest array of choice within the structure of their corporate travel policy, Spotnana brings a personalized experience to business travelers for the first time.

This approach also allows travel suppliers to build deeper relationships with their customers.

Spotnana’s direct connection into American’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) API allows customers to access elevated content alongside inventory from other carriers, all within their corporate-approved online booking tool.

Spotnana show travelers the same fares found on the American Airlines website.

“In many distribution eCommerce businesses, we hear a lot about the focus on the last mile,” said Anthony Rader, Director of Airline Retailing Technology at American Airlines. “It’s no different for us in the travel ecosystem. The last mile is that third-party corporate booking tool that the customers are booking in. Airlines and technology aggregators can innovate all we want, but this innovation really isn’t brought to life without the customers being able to see it in the display and in the booking tool that they use.”

A traveler’s seat map, for instance, will reflect their loyalty benefits on American flights. Negotiated rates, with discount amounts visible, are also displayed during the flight search process. This means your travelers don’t have to book directly for specific discounts and amenities.

Programs improve traveler satisfaction and compliance by enabling travelers to book trips that reflect their preferences.

Spotnana makes changing flights easy

Legacy technology infrastructure in corporate travel limits not just the travel inventory that business travelers can find, but the serviceability of flight bookings once they are made.

It’s uncommon for a flight booked on a corporate online booking tool to be changed or canceled by the traveler who booked it. This impacts not just travelers, but the agencies that support travelers and the airlines that have to manually process the changes.

Spotnana has been built with a modern order management system for trips that goes beyond the traditional unstructured Passenger Name Record used by airlines, allowing for an unprecedented level of flexibility.

“Once you have data structure, now you can do a lot of intelligent services, relatively automated; you can integrate with other systems,” said Thorsen. “You can send the airline more information when it’s relevant. The airline can even deliver services back to us that we can run against the orders and very quickly identify which bookings are qualified. It’s all fully automated, no human involvement at all.”

Travelers using Spotnana can change and cancel American Airlines flights directly from their mobile device.

Spotnana’s deep integration with American provides travelers additional flexibility and enhanced offerings. Key benefits include the ability to purchase ancillary products in advance, modify or cancel trips on a self-service basis, view corporate negotiated rates, unlock access to Preferred and Paid seats via a comprehensive seat map, and receive relevant shopping results tailored to AAdvantage® membership benefits by using Spotnana’s app or website.

Spotnana creates new capabilities to enhance the traveler experience

Spotnana offers one-click enrollment for U.S. residents to join American’s AAdvantage® loyalty program seamlessly at the time of booking.

“As we go forward, we will take innovation to a whole new level,” said Thorsen. “Whether it’s disruption management waivers, where corporates and airlines agree on a number of trip specific benefits they have on a daily basis, or letting the airline know that certain trips are more important than others, so they can react and support the traveler accordingly. All of these will start flowing in on top of the basic price and seat capabilities of NDC.”

“We’re just scratching the surface,” said Thorsen. “The possibilities are endless.”

Want to find out more about how Spotnana is simplifying travel? Listen to the webinar here.