Joining other suppliers in the Concur TripLink ecosystem, Amtrak’s recently unveiled partnership with SAP Concur will help deliver enhanced visibility and travel management into the passenger railroad service company’s bookings.
An SAP Concur-commissioned survey of 1,100 respondents showed that the majority of finance managers and business travelers alike anticipate a “boom” in business travel within their own industry by the end of 2022, with business travelers being slightly more optimistic in that boom. Conducted by Wakefield Research, the survey found that finance managers were generally in agreement about the value of business travel, with 88{8bf2b29f36318f0ac46ab1cc03d7035abce669a1cea16c9ed62389a818fa22fd} stating that employees’ inability to travel has resulted in a revenue loss for their organisation. Additionally, it was revealed that just under half of business travelers believe that their company would be unable to survive beyond this year unless there was significant growth in business travel.
As travel plans continuously change and with numerous online travel booking options now available, it is indeed vital for companies to keep track of their business travelers and their travel spending patterns. With this, SAP Concur’s global network of connected suppliers aims to deliver the visibility, control, and flexibility necessary for businesses’ productive and safe journeys. To meet the needs of its customers, SAP Concur has been working with major airlines like United Airlines, British Airways, Lufthansa, and American Airlines to provide content and view bookings via the Concur Travel online booking platform or directly on the websites of the airlines through Concur TripLink.
Amtrak Joins the Concur TripLink Supplier Ecosystem
The Concur TripLink solution, which was introduced in 2013, was established to support travel managers in achieving a more comprehensive view and greater control over their managed travel programs. Because of the increasing number of visionary and innovative enterprises that are utilising the solution in conjunction with a growing network of suppliers, the solution has evolved into an ecosystem that is used by more than 14,000 customers and around 11 million business travelers worldwide.
Furthermore, Concur TripLink enables companies to:
- Ensure that their policies may be applied to direct supplier spend
- Inform managed travel programs through aggregating travel data
- Gain access to negotiated rates and incremental supplier content outside the Global Distribution System (GDS)
As part of a new partnership with SAP Concur, Amtrak — a passenger train service that provides medium and long-distance inter-city rail travel — has recently been added to the roster of organisations within the Concur TripLink supplier ecosystem. More than 300 trains per day serve over 500 destinations on Amtrak’s massive network of 21,000 route miles spanning 46 US states, the District of Columbia, and three provinces in Canada.
Rail service providers are offering a new content channel for business passengers to choose from as corporate customers focus on their sustainability goals and look for ways to streamline their travel and expense initiatives. With this, Amtrak maintains its commitment to improving energy efficiency and mitigating carbon emissions, which are both critical for corporate travel sustainability projects.
According to the statement released, Amtrak and SAP Concur’s partnership will enable Concur TripLink customers to link their Amtrak Guest Rewards accounts to their SAP Concur profiles in order to earn points for reward travels, upgrades, and other benefits. Among the well-known names in the travel industry Amtrak is joining with are Avis, Booking.com, Delta Airlines, Hertz, HRS, Hyatt, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Marriott International, Sixt, Trainline Europe, and Southwest Airlines, which announced its integration with Concur TripLink last November 2021.
