San Francisco, CA, May 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deem, a leading mobile and cloud technology provider for the business travel industry, today announced the release of Deem Intelligent Attach. The artificial intelligence solution is available to clients as part of the newly released Work Fource platform, a next-generation software suite that offers a much-needed alternative to the present corporate online booking tools used by many businesses.
Low hotel attachment rates – the rates at which employees use company-compliant travel software to book hotels when booking a trip –continue to be a major stumbling block in corporations’ efforts to rein in business travel costs, a new study shows.
The report, entitled U.S. Business Traveler: How Loyalty, Technology and Preferred Channels are Impacting Today’s Business Travel, looks at a wide range of business traveler behaviors, including shopping, booking, the impact of loyalty programs, their understanding of company policy, their use of mobile technology and factors contributing to low hotel attachment rates.
“Low attachment rates are a direct result of sub-optimal booking tools used by travelers in their search for hotels - a problem Deem is solving with Intelligent Attach,” said John F. Rizzo, President and Chief Operating Officer, Deem.
Deem Intelligent Attach utilizes artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to analyze corporate and agency preferences, past traveler behavior, and employee profiles in addition to 200 million sentiments extracted from more than 60 million traveler reviews of more than 750 thousand hotels. The platform then matches corporate travelers with preferred hotels by presenting optimized accommodations from either the GDS or Booking.com.
“Travelers can quickly find lodging that meets their needs while using compliant tools and adhering to cost-conscious travel policies,” said Gadi Bashvitz, Vice President and Group Lead, Deem. “In early testing, Intelligent Attach increased hotel attach rates 16% for one of Europe’s leading online consumer travel agencies.”
The release of Deem’s Intelligent Attach comes on the heels of a report published by research firm Phocuswright and co-sponsored by Deem. The study shows that less than half of travelers book the hotel portion of their business trips using their company’s designated travel management tools. Instead, most travelers book their lodging outside preferred channels, skirting company policies, driving up overall travel costs and hindering duty of care.
“Travelers are booking out of channel because they don’t have the level of choice, are not presented with hotels that match their personal preferences and are within the company policy, or simply can’t find what they want,” said Tony D’Astolfo, Chief Commercial Officer, Deem. “As a result, they have to wade through hundreds of properties that are outside their desired location, preference and policies.”
The Phocuswright study finds that more than half of midsized companies have a travel policy, but convenience of hotels outside the corporate channel are luring travelers to book out of policy. Twenty-nine percent of moderately managed travelers are violating policy because of loyalty preferences.
“Despite everyone’s best intentions, the industry concurs that hotel attachment rates continue to lag,” said Rizzo. “While some companies are making improvements, most have attachment rates well below 50%. It’s clear this is a problem for almost everyone. It leads to increased use of non-preferred hotels and undercuts efforts to control corporate travel spending. Fortunately, we’re addressing the issue proactively with our Intelligent Attach technology.”
About Deem
Our mission is simple. We make business travel less complicated for travelers, less costly for employers and more profitable for service and content providers. Using our industry-leading software solutions, employees book travel and car service and report those expenses faster and more easily than ever before. Corporations control costs more effectively. Travel management companies deliver more engaging customer experiences. Car service operators benefit from new efficiencies and widen their customer reach. We've helped thousands of forward-thinking companies modernize their systems, improve travel management and save big money. Deem is backed by leading venture capital funds, and corporate and private equity investors. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with offices in Bangalore, India.
Attachments:
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d7a2a07-e8be-4c29-8c65-779dec0f9fdb