BELLEVUE, Wash., May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Expedia® Corporate Travel, a full-service travel management company operated by Expedia, Inc. EXPE, today announced its solution for corporations with heavily managed travel needs. Slated for general availability in June, the enhanced version of Expedia® Corporate Travel provides stronger policy controls and enhanced reporting functionality, as well as a broad range of inventory options. This upgrade from Expedia's current offering will be provided at no cost to existing customers.

"Today's announcement marks a significant evolution as we can now address the entire corporate travel market, including companies with more heavily managed needs," said Matt Hulett, vice president of Expedia® Corporate Travel. "Since our initial launch in November 2002, businesses of all sizes have joined Expedia® Corporate Travel. We can now fully support them with one of the only offerings in the marketplace that integrates full-service travel management with superior proprietary technology – all at tremendous cost-savings compared with traditional solutions."

Policy

The enhanced version of Expedia® Corporate Travel supports companies' travel policies with several features that enable a travel manager to efficiently administer control over employees' travel to drive maximum savings. Corporate negotiated rates for air, hotel, and car are each offered alongside Web fares, Expedia's special hotel rates, and published fares in a single display. By providing this integrated view of all options, Expedia helps increase online adoption because travelers see a full range of travel possibilities.

Expedia's technology platform layers strong policy levers on top of this comprehensive set of travel options. Search results will optimize and "up-sell" a company's in-policy options and preferred suppliers by repeatedly displaying them first and denoting out-of-policy options with a red flag. Companies can require travelers who book out of policy to specify a reason code – customizable by the company and specific to air, hotel or car bookings – that explains their justifications for breaking policy. When a booked itinerary does not follow policy, an e-mail notification system can push an alert to the travel manager and any other designated employee, such as a supervisor.

Travel managers can easily configure these and other policy settings for all travelers or create multiple traveler groups – for example, a group for VIPs and executives and a group for general travelers – each of which can have varying levels of policy and payment types. Policy controls can also be customized based on type of travel: air, hotel, and car.

Reporting

Also new to Expedia® Corporate Travel is an enhanced reporting wizard that provides granular detail on travel spend on a daily basis. Travel managers can view timely, reconciled data on all bookings in one location, whether booked online or via an agent. Expedia will offer new report templates that offer insight into traveler activity and policy compliance. Among the new templates is an "In Progress Report," which tracks on-the-road travelers and their whereabouts, if needed in case of emergencies.

Expedia's reports can drill down to departmental and individual-traveler level of detail. To get a comprehensive understanding of the savings that Expedia offers, reporting can be used to compare savings based on a company's pre-determined lowest logical fare versus the lowest fare offered by Expedia or the fare chosen by travelers.

"The Expedia® Corporate Travel solution has already helped my company achieve cost-savings and a level of convenience that were previously difficult to attain," said Patti Devine-Beckwith, office and logistics manager of Gen Con LLC, a producer of premier hobby gaming conventions. "We look forward to implementing the enhanced version of Expedia because the new policy controls and reporting features will provide further insight into our travel spend so that I can identify additional ways to reduce costs."

Expedia® Corporate Travel for companies of all sizes will also include the following new features:

  • Flexible data collection – enables a company to collect all of the data it needs and view it via reporting and within traveler profiles. The data includes tracking codes, which map travelers to departments, business units or any other organizational unit, as well as custom data fields, which are configured by the travel manager to integrate project codes, employee numbers, and any other required information into the booking tool.
  • Bulk loading of profiles – allows traveler profiles from any Global Distribution System (GDS) to be seamlessly loaded into Expedia(R) Corporate Travel, facilitating a quick implementation.
  • Online Travel Manager Resource Center – provides account setup guidance, traveler adoption tools, and other helpful materials.

The latest version of Expedia® Corporate Travel builds on previously announced service offerings, including its standard Corporate support level, Custom support level with dedicated agents, International desk, and Executive Services options.

For more information on Expedia® Corporate Travel, please visit or call 1-866-328-0110.

About Expedia® Corporate Travel

Expedia® Corporate Travel is a full-service travel management company operated by Expedia, Inc., the world's leading online travel service and the eighth largest travel agency in the U.S. Expedia® Corporate Travel provides a full-service option for businesses by bringing together the best of technology and corporate support in a complete, single-source solution. Business travelers have access to specialized tools, while companies can take advantage of rich management and reporting features. Expedia is a majority-owned subsidiary of USA Interactive USAI. CST: 2029030-40

NOTE: Expedia and the airplane logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S., Canada and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.