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Carlson Wagonlit Travel Launches CWT Agency+Card Reporting to Help Travel Managers Increase Compliance and Boost Savings

Matched agency booking and credit card data offers greater visibility into overall travel spend, enabling organizations to better manage compliance and increase leverage during supplier negotiations.

PARIS, April 23, 2008  -  Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), the leading travel management company, today launched CWT Agency+Card Reporting to help travel managers optimize total travel spend, increase preferred agency and corporate credit card compliance, and enjoy greater leverage with suppliers. Unlike similar solutions that focus only on air travel, data from CWT bookings is matched and compared to actual credit card expenditures for rail, hotel and rental car services as well. This latest CWT offering is available as an enhancement to the award-winning CWT Program Management Center, the company’s Web-based central gateway to the information and performance metrics travel managers need to optimize their travel program.

CWT Agency+Card Reporting was designed with flexibility in mind. To that end, CWT can process data feeds from all major credit card providers, enabling clients to use the corporate card that best meets their company’s needs. CWT is working with TRX, a global leader in travel technology and data consolidation, to support clients in their personal choice.


Managing compliance
Several metrics, interactive dashboards and reports, which are available in multiple languages and currencies, provide both high-level and in-depth information to better manage agency and credit card compliance.

Four metrics track the percentage of air and hotel transactions made through CWT, as well as those made with the mandated corporate credit card. These metrics are compared to the goals established for each in the travel program. Drill-through functionalities provide trend charts and graphs, as well as reports identifying the top 10 non-compliant travelers for the current month, previous quarter and on a year-to-date basis.

Two interactive dashboards for air and hotel spend drill down further to show the percentage of matched transactions (i.e., transactions that are booked through CWT and paid for with the mandated corporate credit card). They also indicate the percentage of unmatched transactions and identify the travelers most responsible for them. This enables travel managers to take targeted action such as communicating directly with non-compliant travelers to remind them of specific aspects of the travel policy.

For a more complete picture, seven in-depth, transaction-level data reports are one click away from the dashboards. They include an agency compliance summary for air/rail,
hotel and car rental transactions, as well as two agency non-compliance reports that identify travelers who are booking outside of CWT. This information provides travel managers with explanations for non-compliance and enables them to take necessary action, which might include adapting their organization’s travel policy.

Three additional spend reports for air/rail, hotel and rental car consolidate all bookings to capture total travel spend and increase leverage during negotiations. By indicating actual rates versus negotiated rates, these reports also help travel managers address discrepancies with suppliers. Lastly, by shedding light on non-compliant traveler preferences and amenities, this information can be used to negotiate better terms and conditions with new or existing suppliers.

The final report is a hotel supplier summary showing all matched and unmatched spend for key properties and chains. This more complete picture of hotel volume also helps optimize negotiations.

A variety of new metrics and reports will be released later in the year.


Significant flexibility for clients
In addition to being able to choose their credit card provider, CWT clients who subscribe to CWT Agency+Card Reporting can opt to receive data from any or all of the 17 countries (1)  where CWT Agency+Card Reporting is offered. Reports are available in multiple languages (2) and travel managers can switch from one language to another while online. The choice of currency is also left up to the user.

Furthermore, clients can personalize the home page and Reporting Center page of the CWT Program Management Center by adding CWT Agency+Card Reporting dashboards among those they consult most often. In addition, all reports can be viewed and analyzed online or easily downloaded and saved.

Commenting on his company’s role in the development of CWT Agency+Card Reporting, Trip Davis, president and chief executive officer of TRX said, “ We are delighted to be working with Carlson Wagonlit Travel on this industry-leading initiative. By enabling CWT to offer clients matched and compared booking and credit card data from all major card providers, TRX is helping to deliver actionable insights and added value in an increasingly complex business travel market.”

Loren Brown, CWT chief information officer and executive vice president, Technology & Product Management, reiterated the company’s goals on behalf of its clients: “Compliance is a cornerstone of effective travel management and an increasingly important priority for our clients. By offering them complete and accurate booking and credit card data through the CWT Program Management Center, we are helping them increase compliance while streamlining the management of their travel program.” Mr. Brown also noted that information security was an important concern for CWT. “We are pleased to note that TRX meets the required data protection standards to safeguard client data,” he said.


About Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) is a global leader specializing in business travel management. Present in more than 150 countries, CWT serves companies of all sizes, as well as government
institutions and non-governmental organizations. By leveraging both the expertise of its people and leading-edge technology, CWT helps clients derive the greatest value from their travel program in terms of savings, service and security, and provides best-in-class service and assistance to travelers. CWT services and solutions comprise four lines of business: Traveler & Transaction Services, Program Optimization, Safety & Security, and Meetings & Events. CWT has 22,000 employees worldwide. In 2007, sales volume for wholly owned operations and joint ventures totaled US$25.5 billion. For more information, please visit www.carlsonwagonlit.com.


Media Contact:
Kim Derderian
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
+33 (0)1 41 33 60 44
kderderian@carlsonwagonlit.com

(1) CWT Agency & Card Reporting is available in: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
(2) CWT Agency & Card Reporting is currently produced in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese.

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