Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) was founded with a vision of eliminating a professional caste system based on acquaintance with the members of the national trade association in US. ACTE founders foresaw a global organization in which corporate travel buyers and suppliers were treated equally and could work together in a mutual partnership, developing a unique and valuable educational resource for business travel professionals.
ACTE now has members in more than 100 countries all over the world and it has grown to host or co-host more than 60 events reaching out to more than 30,000 executives, each year. With over 25 years of cognizance, ACTE has become a pioneer in leading the way corporate air travel is conducted.
What brought Mystifly towards ACTE was the similitude in our missions, providing an equal platform of mutual partnership to every corporate travel buyer and supplier. Founded in 2009, Mystifly focuses on applying the right mix of technology and inventive thought process to create solutions to disrupt and simplify air travel.
Travel is the second largest controllable expense in a corporate budget. 45 per cent of corporate travel managers want more service from their TMCs and OTAs, but don’t believe they can afford it. If this expense can be capped, companies can take care of many other projects which await approval. With Mystifly, TMCs, OTAs, Tour Operators and Consortias can find the cheapest airfare pricing from all over the world on just one single platform: MyFareBox. The booking companies can also hold multiple PNRs at a single time, on behalf of the client, to avoid uncertain PNR status.
This year too, Mystifly was an active participant at ACTE. We had a great time interacting with all the delegates across various domains in the airline industry. We understood how travel safety has increasingly become one of the chief concerns for travel management companies and we cheered for the announcement on the end on laptop ban on flights originating from the Middle East. Our team had a splendid experience in understanding how Mystifly’s services can be made more expeditious and accessible to customers in more nations. Our Vice President – Sales, Supply & Data Aggregation, Rajat Nagpal took also part in an education breakout session on “How to Envision a Robust Travel Technology”.
Rajat along with Frederick Saunier, Head of Corporate IT Asia at Amadeus GDS, shed some valuable light on how the travel buying behaviour has evolved over time. Rajat highlighted that the modern traveller thinks of price, service and benefit while buying an airline ticket. He also explained how the APAC region has leapfrogged all the other regions in technology adoption including chatbots, beacons and virtual assistance.
A well-known TMC, BCD Travel re-tweeted Rajat during the panel discussion.
You can watch full panel discussion here.
What are your thoughts on envisioning a robust travel technology? Let us know in the comments below.