CWT innovating to help clients reduce costs and increase personalization

Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Solutions Group has today introduced four new proprietary products to help corporate travel managers both cut costs and engage their travelers in new ways.

The new products help reduce non-compliant spending, reclaim surcharges on corporate car rentals, analyze traveler data to reduce cost from traveler behavior and provide comprehensive ground transportation options.

Christophe Renard, Vice President of CWT Solutions Group Worldwide, said, “We are at the forefront of the travel management industry and to stay there, we need to constantly innovate. We are always looking for new ways to capitalize on data insights, and to find more efficiencies by being smart about relationships with both travelers and suppliers.”

According to CWT research, travel managers don’t have visibility over nearly a third of a company’s Travel and Expense (T&E) spend because it isn’t consolidated in a single data set. The resulting unmanaged spend takes control away from corporate travel managers, potentially increasing costs and reducing corporate buying power. CWT is helping travel managers take that control back.

Christophe explained, “Our T&E platform automatically consolidates all data sources, including from the travel management company, from credit card spend, and third party suppliers. We use that information to provide an immediate view of all non-compliant spending. We can also reconstruct the total cost of each trip. Travel managers can then have an accurate view of all spending, compliant and non-compliant, enabling them to adjust their policy as necessary, or simply make sure it is better communicated internally.”

As well as understanding T&E spend, it is also important travel managers have a deep understanding of their travelers. Studies show that managing their behavior properly can bring savings of up to 15 percent. It also helps provide more personalized communication options, which is exactly what travelers are increasingly demanding.

Christophe continued, “Our new traveler segmentation platform segments travelers’ behavior using key data including demographics, seniority and travel frequency information. It means travel managers can tailor their communication to each traveler, encouraging those travelers to comply with the policy. The end result is greater savings and a reduced overall travel spend.”

Suppliers are also very important when it comes to reducing cost. Car rental companies are including surcharges to corporate travelers when they should not; insurance and refueling fees are the key areas. CWT’s new audit solution examines all your car rental spending and identifies the savings you can claim back.

Christophe said, “We know exactly how to identify where the charges should be repaid and how to make that happen. The beauty of our car rental contract review offer is that there is no upfront fee to our clients. Instead, we share the recovered costs, with you getting the bulk of the savings.”

Travelers typically are given little or no guidance about local ground transportation - public transportation, taxis, rental cars and so on. The disconnect is that this makes up a significant part of unmanaged spend, as well as potentially adding to traveler confusion. CWT’s new solution gives travel managers the means to guide their travelers to the most appropriate form of transport. It is particularly important with the options changing fast, for example with Uber and Lyft disrupting the traditional market. This both reduces costs and can improve the traveler experience.

All of these new offerings are already available for CWT Solutions Group clients.