INSIGHTS AND INNOVATION

Driving results through insights and open innovation

DIGITALLY TRANSFORMING BUSINESS TRAVEL

CWT helps you navigate the dynamic innovation waters, separating the most promising ideas, technologies and developments from the ones that are just hype. With a clear strategic vision for innovation, we are delivering a digital difference that helps meet your evolving needs, brings you clear insights and helps improve your results. CWT continues to transform business travel through innovation, empowering you to solve today’s challenges while preparing your managed corporate travel program for the future.

Fresh ideas and collaboration fuel development

Building on a foundation of open innovation

Innovation starts with ideas. The best ideas for enhancing CWT’s services, technologies and program offerings aren’t created in a vacuum or even within a single team. In fact, we believe in an open innovation system that invites fresh ideas from many sources. The way we gather and vet these ideas leads to solutions that help you achieve your program goals and be more successful. Our open innovation approach includes:

Collaborating with forward-thinking third parties, including incubators, accelerators and startups, to find breakthrough ideas.
Championing a culture of innovation with our more than 18,000 employees.
Engaging our customers in this process so we can better target the most promising ideas and innovations to help you achieve your objectives.

"Through open innovation, CWT is “creating enhanced value propositions and multiplying our pace of transformation.”

Kurt Ekert, president and CEO

Keeping a finger on the pulse of Silicon Valley and beyond

Fostering the next generation of travel technology

CWT continually looks for ways to solve your travel program’s challenges today, while influencing the way business travel looks tomorrow. Our open innovation approach enables us to collaborate with incubators and start-ups located in technology hubs around the world—including Northern California’s Silicon Valley—to accelerate development of the next generation of travel technology. These relationships put CWT at the forefront of progress, helping us to:

Find the most promising and innovative startups, ideas, technologies and digital platforms.
Nurture the growth of an entrepreneurial community that is creating new technology and services specifically for the business travel industry.
Create a better experience and more value for you.
Shape, expedite, test and scale real solutions that benefit your travel program and your employees.

Proactive service helps travelling employees manage the unexpected

DISRUPTED TRIPS GET BACK ON TRACK QUICKLY

Flight delays, missed connections and cancellations can lead to traveller stress, lost productivity and unexpected time away from home. On the days when things don’t go according to schedule, CWT Trip Disruption helps your travelling employees get back on track quickly. This service proactively monitors flight statuses 24/7. Whenever the technology detects a disruption, a CWT travel counsellor contacts the affected employee and rebooks the flight when possible to keep the traveller moving. This service helps build employee confidence in your travel program and enhance their experiences.

CWT never stops innovating for you

WHAT’S NEXT?

CWT continually identifies, nurtures, pilots and scales innovations with the goal of making your life easier, your travel program better and your employees more satisfied with their travel experience. With a primary focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and the “internet of things,” we’re also exploring ideas, concepts and technologies related to flight delay prediction, ground transportation aggregation, and price prediction and forecasting.

We’re testing how chatbot technology can give travellers new ways to find information and receive service from us via the instant messaging apps they already use. Chatbots use AI and natural language processes to respond to requests, perform tasks, enhance user convenience and increase service consistency.

Via the internet of things, we’re evaluating ways to personalise the hotel experience and enhance guest satisfaction using beacons, immersive technologies and our award-winning mobile app. We are testing how we can use connected devices to facilitate service, enhance traveller convenience and provide an employee-preferred experience.

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