Introducing the latest myCWT product and service enhancements
Building on our digital, omnichannel myCWT platform, our new products and services will simplify travel management for you and your employees – anytime, anywhere, anyhow.
Note: Featured services may not be available in your country at this time. Please reach out to your CWT representative for more details.
Hear from Chief Product Officer, Erica Antony as she shares the key product highlights of 2024, along with the key areas driving innovation.
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2040: Baseline, Boom or Bust
As we enter an era of rapid transformation and unprecedented challenges, it is essential for travel managers, meeting & event planners, and corporate decision-makers to look ahead and frame our current strategic thinking with a clear vision of the future. Business travel and meetings and events (M&E) are poised for significant change over the next decade and a half, driven by a complex interplay of sustainability goals, technological advancements, evolving work models, and geopolitical dynamics.
In this paper to mark the 10th anniversary of our Global Business Travel Forecast, we explore, for the first time, a long-term vision of the future and potential trajectories through three distinct scenarios, each offering insights into how these forces should affect policy-making, budgeting and priorities. By examining these scenarios, we can better understand the diverse possibilities that lie ahead and the strategic imperatives required to thrive in each potential future.
Based on trajectory data analysis and interviews with industry leaders, behaviorists and climate tech founders, this forward-looking approach enables us to anticipate changes, strengthen our strategies, and make informed decisions that align long-term objectives. It is through this lens of foresight and adaptability that we can build resilience, seize opportunities, and navigate the complexities of the future.
We invite you to reflect on the insights presented, and consider how your organization can prepare for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Together we can ensure that travel and meetings remain catalysts for growth, scalability and sustainable practices.
- Scenario development is both an art and a science
- Megatrends Shaping the Future of Business Travel, Meetings and Events
- Sustainability goals the new crux of corporate policy
- Technology Revolutionizes Travel Management
- Modern work models spark new travel patterns
- Changing demographics open doors to new opportunities
- Three Scenarios: Base case, boom and bust
- Future-proofing strategies
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CWT GBTA Global business travel forecast 2025
When it comes to pricing, global business travel has finally reached an enduring, higher baseline. Prices will continue to rise in 2025, but only moderately, so expect a period of normalized growth.
However, this pricing environment, one of marginal gains and price regularity, is fragile. Global leisure travel has now realized a lot of its pent-up demand, while corporate travel has been resurgent, with 2024 edging at preCovid levels.
There are many factors at play, whether its volatile oil prices, labor costs and constraints, inflationary pressures, and geopolitical factors. As this elevated baseline edges upwards, albeit marginally, travel budgets will come under increased scrutiny, especially as travel patterns and attitudes change.
It’s why business travel can’t be viewed in a silo, and the true value to an organization must be fully realized. This forecast can help with those calculations.
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Capitalize on emerging technologies in corporate travel
Technological advancements are accelerating at an unprecedented pace. How will emerging innovations like Generative AI, blockchain, and self-sovereign identity (SSI) transform corporate travel?
BTN and CWT probed global CEOs, travel managers, industry consultants and tech experts on the promises, questions, and expectations these innovations raise and how they are set to reshape traveler experience, cost control and service delivery in corporate travel and events.
Download and discover
- The technologies that will have the greatest impact on corporate travel in the next 2-5 years
- How these emerging technologies are poised to control costs, enhance service and security, and boost efficiency
- The critical challenges, opportunities, risks and roadblocks each innovation raises
- What travel managers, buyers and experts anticipate from these innovations
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Promoting sustainable travel – Everyone’s business
Are you familiar with the term ‘flysgskam’? Maybe not, but if I tell you it is the Swedish neologism that describes the shame we ought to feel about flying, I am sure you will immediately know what I am talking about.
The flight shaming movement started in late 2017, when various Swedish celebrities pledged to give up air travel, and has gained worldwide prominence thanks to the young activist Greta Thunberg.
Moving with the times, the travel industry has been working now for several years on how to make trips more sustainable. From electric planes to single-use plastics reduction, suppliers are heavily engaged encouraged by a growing number of customers who are hyper aware of the need to adopt sustainable practices that respect the environment.
In fact, Deloitte’s Global Millennial Survey 2019 has found that climate change is the greatest concern for millennials and we have been asked more questions than ever before by clients concerned about how to connect the dots of more sustainable travel programs.
Conscious of the importance of addressing these needs, sustainability is at the top of the travel industry agenda. In fact, at the end of last year, CWT sponsored a session on the topic during the GBTA Conference held in Munich.
As one of the panelists, I had the opportunity to witness how professionals from different segments of the travel industry got together to identify critical drivers for change, key opportunities to improve sustainability, constraints preventing their implementation and the role travelers, buyers, travel management companies (TMCs), airlines and accommodation suppliers play in bringing these ideas to life.
When it came to the role of TMCs, attendants agreed that actors such as CWT had a unique position to drive change. As intermediaries between customers and suppliers, they can drive consistency and make sure strong standards are set in the industry.
The participants also agreed on TMCs’ importance when it comes to advising companies on how to build greener travel policies and help them enforcing them through tools such as targeted messaging, gamification, and tools that narrow the available options and offer travelers only the more sustainable ones.
At CWT we are seriously committed to being a positive force for change in the world. Combating climate change is an emergency that requires collective and concerted action from all parts. As responsible actors, our role in the industry is focused on providing our clients with the right tools and services so buyers can measure and manage their emissions through reporting, and our customers can build more responsible travel programs.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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CWT partners with Timeshifter to offer jet lag solution for traveling employees
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, announces partnership with Timeshifter® – The Jet Lag App®. Timeshifter gives business travelers the ability to create their own personalized jet lag avoidance plans based on sleep pattern, chronotype*, itinerary, and personal preferences – such as pre-travel adjustment, or the use of melatonin for even faster adaptation.
“As a frequent business traveler, I know the jet lag routine all too well. I tend to be tired, awake, and hungry at the wrong time, and it can be difficult to recover from a trip,” said Patrice Simon, CWT’s Vice President of New Product Development. “We are thrilled to offer an innovative solution that empowers traveling employees with personalized jet lag plans to increase their productivity during business meetings abroad.”
Jet lag is a very common culprit of efficient job performance, family disruption, and good health while traveling across multiple time zones, and 93% of passengers traveling on long-haul flights said they struggle with jet lag, according to a study by Conde Nast Traveler. Timeshifter is founded on real sleep and circadian neuroscience. Based on 63,607 questionnaires collected from travelers using Timeshifter, only 3.62% struggled with jet lag when the advice is followed.
Timeshifter is developed with Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Steven Lockley. Dr. Lockley has worked for more than a decade applying circadian science to NASA astronauts to alleviate their jet lag and improve sleep and alertness when training overseas as well as helping to shift their sleep rhythms prior to shuttle launches.
Timeshifter is available to CWT clients around the world that want to include a jet lag solution in their travel program.
*A person’s chronotype is the propensity for the individual to sleep at a particular time during a 24-hour period.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
About Timeshifter
Timeshifter® – The Jet Lag App® – is developed with world-renowned scientists, based on the latest research in sleep and circadian neuroscience. The same technology used by astronauts and elite athletes to perform at their best, is now available to you. With Timeshifter, you can get personalized jet lag plans based on your sleep pattern, chronotype, itinerary, and optional preferences such as pre-travel adjustment or the use of melatonin for even faster adaptation. Timeshifter incorporates a real-world Practicality Filter™, ensuring that the advice is realistic and easy to follow; there is also a unique Quick Turnaround® feature for business travelers who want to be at their best during short business trips that are not long enough to allow full adjustment. An intuitive notification system provides the simple yet powerful advice, even while in-flight. -
CWT appoints Linda Creighton as VP, Customer Business Finance
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, has appointed Linda Creighton as Vice President, Business Finance for its Customer Organization. In her newly expanded role, Linda and her team will be responsible for driving improvements not only to CWT’s business support activities, but also in the elevation and improvement of pricing and profitability analysis work.
Reporting into Michelle Frymire, CFO, Linda now joins CWT’s Financial Leadership Team as well as the CWT’s Customer Leadership Team.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to promote Linda to this new role, where she will undoubtedly make an immediate impact,” said Michelle Frymire. “Linda has been a hugely valued member of the CWT finance team for many years and I am particularly impressed with her ability to lead a financial function in a complex, industry-leading business, while maintaining an unrelenting focus on serving and advocating for his company’s customers.”
Over the last 23 years, Linda has held several senior leadership positions within CWT, having joined as Manager, Operations Analysis in 1996 before being promoted to Director, Pricing in 1999, VP Global Pricing & Client Finance in 2005, VP Finance Transformation in 2013 and VP Business Finance – Americas, GCG & Pricing in 2018. Prior to joining CWT, Linda spent 13 years at Thomas Cook Travel holding several finance, financial analysis and accounting managerial positions.
Linda holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Dayton.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
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Future of Payments: Could expense reports be on the way out?
Buying things is pleasurable. Unless it’s for work.
Hoarding receipts for coffee and lunch; the finance team picking their way through them and making sure everything squares up at the end of the month: There are no winners when it comes to filing expense reports.
A new podcast episode of Business Travel (On the Fly) delves into the global payments landscape with Dave Holmes, VP for Payments at CWT.
He tells host Christine Kashkari about the vicious cycle many traveling employees face, “If you think about pain points, it’s really three things,” he says. “One, remembering to hold onto those pesky receipts then dealing with policy exceptions. So filling out, for example, the explanations or justification sections within a specific item on an expense report. And then lastly, most importantly, it’s our own procrastination. We’ve all been in situations where you’ve gone on a business trip for a week, had great meetings, but now it’s Friday evening and you’re on that flight home. And the only thing that you can think about is getting home to spend time with your family or starting your fun weekend. And so the last thing on your mind is that monster of an expense report. So you just put it off, right?”
But according to Dave Holmes, the cycles may be ending. The pace of transformation in the payments industry is accelerating. In the episode Dave talks about:
- The future of conversational commerce or being able to purchase through your messaging app.
- How new payments technology, such as virtual cards and mobile payments, make the process of reporting expenses more seamless for business travelers and keeps them in compliance, while enabling travel managers and companies to gain greater visibility and anticipate travel spend.
- Why China is leading the way in mobile payments usage and what we can learn.
Listen Business Travel on The Fly on Spotify, iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Rules and rewards: Is there a business opportunity in GDPR?
GDPR (the European General Data Protection Regulation) has given rise to a transformational shift in the way companies deal with online privacy, but to some, it is still seen as a regulatory burden.
The initial impulse to design and implement GDPR programs has, for a large part, been driven by the fear of massive fines.
It may not always be obvious to companies what business opportunities can be derived from GDPR compliance to attract and retain and business and stay current in a world where algorithms, machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence are being developed at breakneck speed. Finding the right balance between the need for innovation, heightened privacy expectations and financially-sound models is one of the keys to successful digital transformation.
In that regard, is data privacy restricting data scientists’ innovative genius? Or does it contribute to new opportunities for a thriving and sustainable digital landscape, for the long term?
Now that most of the ‘heavy lift’ has been done with GDPR, businesses can focus on turning these new rules into rewards with consumer-centric processes built around transparency, trust and ethical practices. GDPR provides an opportunity to fine-tune business approaches.
Take an impact approach
Business opportunities lie in defining one’s own justified vision of privacy impacts from a contextual perspective. From there, companies can develop innovative business development models to differentiate their offering with privacy and thus consolidate user trust and maintain high compliance standards. This fits into the privacy-by-design principle under GDPR. The approach fosters data governance structures that assess data risks from the outset of a data project to enable new data-handling and management practices that benefit the consumer as much as the data subject.
Reconcile the data subject with the consumer
In many cases a data subject (as defined under GDPR as the identified or identifiable individual whose personal data is processed) is a consumer receiving goods and services. The rise in individual awareness on GDPR rights (the ‘data subject’s rights’) is noticeable. A recent report by the European Data Protection Board, the ‘Chief European Regulator’, cites an increase in individuals’ GDPR rights’ awareness by 20% between 2015 and 2018, and reaching 58% currently. Envisaging GDPR access requests and user preferences as integrated consumer grade business services may help reinforce consumer satisfaction and thus commercial benefits.
A new business partner?
There has been a fundamental shift in the online user’s decision-making power as a result of GDPR. In certain cases individuals have applied privacy preferences as a result of their distrust in how companies use their personal information, amidst reports on major data scandals. GDPR may provide businesses with opportunities to collaborate more closely with the individual as a co-partner in key decision-making. Search engines, for example, are having to redefine how users are granted full choice and control with respect to online advertising. In doing so, they can approach regulatory requirements as a collaborative partnership with the user, resulting in new business benefits.
The saying goes that “you went to bed as a services company and woke up as a data company”. Another saying is that data is the new gold. This may well hold true by shifting our mindset from seeing GDPR as a regulatory burden to understanding the benefits GDPR investments can procure for long-term digital success.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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CWT appoints Erica Antony as Chief Product Officer
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, announces the appointment of Erica Antony as Chief Product Officer. In this newly created role, Erica will provide dedicated leadership and focus to drive CWT’s product strategy and offerings in the market. She will report to Patrick Andersen, US EVP & Chief Strategy and Commerce Officer at CWT.
“Erica is an exciting and welcome addition to the CWT team, bringing her successful track record of understanding customer needs and passion for delivering innovative solutions,” said Patrick Andersen. “In this new, dedicated role, and focusing on the ‘E’ in our B2B4E approach, Erica will use her skills, energy and motivational abilities to deliver a stream of new products with the increasing alignment for which our customers are looking.”
Erica’s primary focus will be to evolve CWT’s customer-centric product approach, optimizing organizational design and spearheading the company’s go-to-market strategy. Working closely alongside both Patrick Andersen, and CWT’s Chief Technology Officer, John Pelant, she will also be responsible for further augmenting CWT’s voice of the customer.
Erica brings exceptional product management and leadership experience garnered over more than 15 years in customer-focused roles, most recently as Vice President of product management at Workfront, a leader in online work management software. Prior to that, she held senior development roles driving product strategy and major transformation initiatives at various global technology companies, including Symantec, Veritas and Arcserve.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in both Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse and is an alumna of Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
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Love is in the air – When tech became stronger than arrows
We might think business trips are not the most ideal scenario for romantic encounters with stress, fatigue, and jet lag pumping through our veins, but let’s not underestimate the power of love.
Dating apps are seeking to connect people in all places and, when it comes to love, the sky is not the limit.
Some opened the dating scene years ago and expanded it to commuting journeys and air travel. If you google it, you will be surprised at the vast number of alternatives on offer.
If you are in a relationship and are of a certain age, probably this will sound crazy to you – it does to me – but, on second thought, what a great way to kill the hours on a long-haul flight, wouldn’t you agree?
They say love is around the corner, so why not at 31,000 feet? At the end of the day, Cupid has wings and can hit you at the most unexpected times and places.
Keep your eyes open, because love can turn up when you least expect it and, if you are not the conformist type, take fate into your own hands and use technology to pave the road. Regardless of the outcome, you surely will have a great story to share with your friends back home.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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The power of predictive thinking in driving program compliance
Imagine if you have a crystal ball that tells you what’s in store for you in the future. People who opt to know often do so in order to be prepared for what’s to come. But those who believe the future is in their hands would use this knowledge to prepare. You’re not simply steeling yourself for what’s coming, you are actively taking the necessary measures to improve your outcome.
We encounter predictive modeling on a daily basis in our personal lives – whether it’s Amazon telling us what we need to buy or Spotify playing just the right music we want to hear on a rainy afternoon, or Facebook picking the stories you want to read right now on your newsfeed.
While the call to action in these instances is simply to buy or to read, in business travel, the power of being able to predict traveler preferences and forecast prices have a much greater impact on what you do with that (fore)knowledge.
A lot of data collecting, computing, and analyzing go into the more than 85 indicators and metrics we use to make our predictions. They include historic travel data sets, along with public data on commodity prices and macro-economic indicators, among many others. We take into account things we can anticipate with certainty (holidays) and those that are as fickle as, well, the weather, literally.
Using proprietary algorithms, these data points are used to identify patterns and correlations that, in turn, help us generate robust predictions for a company’s future travel spend, down to the number of trips and cost per trip.
Armed with this data, businesses can course-correct before the budget is spent and reallocate resources accordingly – whether in response to anticipated peaks in traveler demand or to encourage travelers to use alternative airlines or hotels. At the same time, negotiations with suppliers are done with the advantage of knowing how to adapt your targets and caps. The number of suppliers being managed can also be limited or expanded using a forecast modeled on your special set of variables in the future.
On a more nuanced level, the power of predictive thinking is in being able to drive stronger program compliance. How? By developing personalized itineraries for travelers based on what we know from previous behavior and interests. But we don’t stop there. We also throw into the mix what we anticipate will be future trends in the market that impact supply and demand. This creates a virtuous cycle of compliance that isn’t reliant only on historical facts but incorporates many forward-looking indicators. Using the same data sets, we can, also, conversely, anticipate a non-compliant traveler and accurately predict a trip’s chance for success based on its return on investment.
As we will demonstrate time and again, the power of predictive thinking is in how expansive it is in scope, yet incredibly targeted in its utility.
In our succeeding blogs, we will show you predictive analytics in action and share specific experiences – from challenges to outcome – that’s predicated on accurate predictions.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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‘We don’t talk anymore, like we used to do – 4 reasons why messaging is such a popular way of communication
Technology is changing our life – from how we work to how we shop. It is even defining the way we interact with each other and build our personal relationships. Take Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez as an example. It seems they don’t talk anymore, like they used to do. Is it maybe because now they message each other? Jokes aside, messaging is becoming a popular way of communication nowadays. We all rely on different technologies to keep in touch with our loved ones and messaging tools are also widely used in the corporate work gaining traction over emails. So, if this is true for our personal and professional life, why should it be any different when it comes to engaging with companies?
We share with you four reasons why messaging is a must if you want to keep up with the times:
- It helps you to increase your clients’ experience and satisfaction rate. Can you imagine to be able to interact with providers through a dedicated app, a mainstream messaging app such as Facebook Messenger or a website? Thanks to our messaging service, our clients’ traveling employees can always interact with us no matter the channel they choose. This simplified service has allowed us to unlock new possibilities, move forward together with our clients and achieve a 90% satisfaction rate from our existing users.
- It is made for ‘the fast and the furious’. Nowadays we all expect to engage wherever and whenever we are to get answers, ask for advice and take action in a consistent, seamless way. And, we want it now. Messaging allows immediacy. No need to wait for email replies or spend time waiting on the line. 88 % of our clients say our messaging service requires less effort compared with other channels such as email and phone. In fact, we also have found that some clients have achieved up to a 20% displacement from email to messaging in their first year of usage.
- It can be integrated into platforms that customers used daily. If you are going to create a messaging service to interact with your clients, you do not need to create it from scratch. You can use existing platforms so your customers will not need to download new ones. At CWT we have followed this approach and our messaging service is available through not only our platform – app and web, but can be made available through clients’ internal messaging platform such as Microsoft Teams.
- It is always on. With daily packed schedules, sometimes we need to request services at crazy hours of the day. And what happens when there is nobody that picks up the phone or get back to our emails? For us, who serve clients that travel all over the world with the time zone difference that thus implies, a messaging service it is a way to ensure we provide them with quick support every hour and day of the week.
We might not talk anymore, like we use to do, but sure we text like never before. Don’t you love innovation? As a Business-to-Business-for-Employees Platform, we do.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
- It helps you to increase your clients’ experience and satisfaction rate. Can you imagine to be able to interact with providers through a dedicated app, a mainstream messaging app such as Facebook Messenger or a website? Thanks to our messaging service, our clients’ traveling employees can always interact with us no matter the channel they choose. This simplified service has allowed us to unlock new possibilities, move forward together with our clients and achieve a 90% satisfaction rate from our existing users.
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CWT Appoints Laura Watterson as Senior Vice President, Talent & Rewards
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, has appointed Laura Watterson as Senior Vice President, Global Talent & Rewards. In this newly created role, Laura and her team will provide enterprise-wide thought leadership and counsel to senior executives on talent acquisition, talent management, learning and development, as well as compensation and benefits. Additionally, Laura will build strategies and initiatives that position the CWT business for even greater growth, innovation and impact, and plan for the workforce needs of today and into the future.
Laura reports to Catherine Maguire-Vielle, Executive Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer, at CWT.
“Laura’s extensive track record in the talent and rewards areas, as well as her global experience with large corporations, are attributes we were seeking in this critical role,” said Catherine Maguire-Vielle. “As the CWT business evolves, so does the need for innovative talent strategies. With Laura’s experience and deep knowledge, we believe we will be able to drive the continued growth of the business with a talent and rewards-first approach. I look forward to welcoming her to our team.”
Laura joins CWT from Johnson Brothers Liquor Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she served as chief human resources officer from 2018. Laura began her career at General Mills Inc in 2000 and has since held several positions of increasing responsibility, including Global Director of HR at Philips Electronics, the leading electronics manufacturer and VP Talent and Culture at Aimia, the global loyalty marketing and analytics company. Laura has a proven track record of delivering positive impact in multiple industries and Fortune 500 companies through superior human resource management, implementing innovative talent movement processes to improve depth and deployment, and creating sustainable people infrastructure.
She holds a Master’s in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Arts in French from Washington and Lee University.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
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Podcast: Imagine if expense reporting disappears
If there’s one bane that unites business travelers from Singapore to Switzerland, it’s submitting expense reports. Could this tedious chore be on its way out? Dave Holmes, VP for Payments at CWT, talks us through innovations in global payments technology that will make paying for, and accounting for, work trip expenses much more interactive – and much less of a pain.
[buzzsprout episode=’2785885′ player=’true’]
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CWT unveils its messaging service to the market after an initial launch with over 20 clients
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, has announced the launch of a messaging service on the myCWT platform. This new, text-based channel allows clients’ employees to quickly and conveniently reach a CWT counselor 24/7 from their desktop, mobile device or other third-party client approved messaging app.
“CWT’s travelers can make bookings, retrieve itineraries and resolve queries, anytime, anywhere at their convenience whether that is at a noisy airport or at their desk,” said Niklas Andreen, CWT’s Chief Traveler Experience Officer. “With our messaging service, automation is combined with service from our travel experts to offer a hybrid approach, making good on our promise of being the world’s first B2B4E platform (Business-to-Business-For-Employees).”
Traveling employees access myCWT messaging in both the myCWT app and on the web, with more interfaces to come in 2020. Travelers can create new bookings, make changes to existing ones, cancel bookings, resolve other queries as well as retrieve and amend their itinerary through the unique combination of technology supported by highly skilled travel counselors.
“We are always looking for innovative ways of enriching the travel experience of our clients’ employees and driving travel program compliance,” said Kelly L. Kuhn, CWT’s Chief Customer Officer. “myCWT messaging offers amazing convenience, provides a fast response when you need urgent changes, and comes in a familiar, easy package. It reflects our three core brand promises – simplify travel, unlock possibilities and move forward, together.”
The service has been available to over 20 of CWTs global clients for nearly a year and has proven to be a great success. With minimal wait time and 24 hours, follow-the-sun availability, nearly 90% of existing users are satisfied with the service and 88% of them say messaging requires less effort compared with other channels such as email and phone. myCWT messaging will be made available in phases throughout 2020 to all CWT clients wanting to provide their travelers with access to this convenient service.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.