Corporate Traveller has launched ‘Traveller Hub’, an interactive resource providing extensive up to date Covid-19 travel information. This comes as the brand’s focus and commitment to duty of care has been further underscored by the results of the second poll in its multi-national ‘State of the Market’ study.
The poll revealed that traveller and supplier health and hygiene is a top priority in a post-Covid-19 world, with 59% of participants saying this is the main change they are planning to make to their travel policy. Duty of care obligations ranked the second most dominant area for change (44% of respondents), while consolidation of bookings through a TMC emerged as a third priority, with 21% saying that they would not shift to higher levels of online booking adoption.
Asked to rank which triggers would prompt resuming business travel, easing or lifting border restrictions came top with 93% of respondents saying it has significant or some impact. However, the second trigger (89%) is ‘our organisation deems it safe to travel and this is reflected in our travel policy’.
As a result of these findings, Corporate Traveller launched ‘Traveller Hub’. Users can search by supplier category, country or region for the latest news on border changes and restrictions; airline routes and safety procedures for travellers; hotel re-openings and hygiene measures; as well as rail travel and car hire announcements.
The Traveller Hub also include tips, frequently asked questions and useful links to help customers plan and pack for their next trip safely. It features a live interactive map, delivered by travel safety specialist Sitata, which shows areas to avoid, number of Covid-19 cases per country, recovery rates, and local social distancing rules.
In addition, Traveller Hub incorporates an innovative AI conversation-based messaging tool on the home page provided by cutting-edge technology developer Landbot. This powerful chatbot is embedded in the site and enables users to seek answers to any coronavirus-related travel questions in a live chat environment.
The Traveller Hub is fully integrated within Corporate Traveller’s Your.CT technology platform. It can also be accessed via Sam, the AI-based mobile app used Corporate Traveller clients’ business travellers.
“The second poll of our State of the Market survey showed that there is definitely an increasing sense of our clients needing to travel, but whilst the situation around Covid-19 remains unpredictable, with possible second waves and local lockdowns, it’s clear that duty of care, hygiene and safety are going to be the dominant considerations for our customers going forward,” said Oz Desai, GM Corporate Traveller. “We are therefore even more focussed on giving clients the best possible support and resources in this respect and are excited to announce the launch of Traveller Hub as just one new development in our enhanced duty of care offering. Traveller Hub will enable clients to quickly find out anything and everything they need to know about planning a business trip in these challenging times.”
A total 1600 business travel managers, bookers and travellers in EMEA, Asia, the Americas, India, Australia and New Zealand were surveyed again in the second poll in June 2020. The purpose of repeating the study within one month of the first poll was to enable both TMCs to gauge any shift in clients’ business travel intentions as countries continue to review lockdown restrictions, implement quarantine periods or air corridors, and airlines and hotels introduce hygiene measures.