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Machine Learning Unlocks Savings for Egencia Customers

Egencia optimises the booking experience, applies machine learning to create more savings for its customers

4 min
Posted: 14 November 2019
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  • Egencia Savings Finder for Air has unlocked more value from business travel programmes by automatically rebooking tickets at lower fares, saving customers millions of dollars since its Spring launch; Egencia estimates total savings could double by the end of 2020.
  • Egencia Smart Mix for Hotel has helped customers save hundreds of thousands of dollars by optimising search and sort results; Egencia estimates customers could save over a million dollars by mid-2020.

Bellevue, Wash., November 14, 2019 – Today Egencia® announces savings for its customers driven by Egencia Savings Finder for Air and Egencia Smart Mix. Additionally, the company is announcing the pilot of Egencia Savings Finder for Hotel.

Savings Finder for Air unlocks more value for corporate travel programmes by applying machine learning technology to automatically track price variations and rebook tickets without any action from the business traveller or arranger. When Savings Finder identifies a lower rate within an average of the first seven days of booking[1], it automatically rebooks the reservation with the same amenities and ticket class. Since launching Savings Finder for Air earlier this year, customers have saved millions of dollars. Based on these results, estimates indicate total savings could double by the end of 2020.

“Companies want to wring every bit of value from their business travel budgets,” said Mark Hollyhead, Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Customer Success at Egencia. “Building innovations like Egencia Savings Finder lets us help our customers maximise the value of their travel programme. Every dollar saved when an Air or Hotel booking is reshopped at a lower rate adds up, allowing our clients to book more trips and spend more time engaging suppliers, engaging clients and engaging employees.”

Following the success of Savings Finder for Air, Savings Finder for Hotel will be available in pilot to a limited number of customers in Q4 2019 with a target of Q1 2020 for general release. The new capability leverages a similar approach as Savings Finder for Air, including automatic reshopping and rebooking of a reserved hotel room with the same amenities if a price drop is discovered.

Growing the portfolio of machine-learning based features benefiting customers globally, Smart Mix uses powerful algorithms and machine learning to provide business travellers a quick, intuitive shopping and booking experience. The feature intelligently analyses data from simple to complex scenarios and may factor in the personal preferences of each traveller, along with the company’s travel policy, to deliver smarter search results.

Since launching in the spring, Smart Mix for Hotel has helped Egencia customers save hundreds of thousands of dollars, to date. It is estimated customers across Egencia could save over a million dollars by mid-2020.

Smart Mix is also applied when searching for flights. Based on optimisation driven by Smart Mix, the number of flights selected in the top 10 search results in North America improved by 13 percent since Egencia Smart Mix for Air was launched this summer, clearly indicating relevancy is just as important as price.

“We know business travellers don’t have time to sort through, what could be thousands of results, to find the best option at the best price within their policy,” said Alex Kaluzny, SVP and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Egencia. “Egencia is committed to delivering innovative solutions, like Egencia Smart Mix, that simplify the booking experience and help our customers save time and money.”

Travel managers can see the benefits of Savings Finder and Smart Mix are delivering to their corporate travel programmes in the Egencia Analytics Studio. The data visualisation and analytics service gives travel managers instant access to savings data per quarter, including both overall savings as well as breakdowns across top routes. It unlocks the maximum potential of a managed travel programme, creating additional value for the company and its travellers in a virtuous cycle.

About Egencia

Egencia is reimagining business travel management to make business travellers happier and corporate travel programmes more successful. Egencia offers more personalised experiences through curated access to the world’s most relevant travel options. Putting our customers at the center of everything we do, Egencia provides exceptional customer care and innovative travel manager tools to increase savings and compliance. Egencia serves businesses large and small in more than 60 countries. Connect with us on egencia.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and see what we’re reimagining next on our blog.

Media contacts

Brandie Gonzales | Global Senior Comms Manager | bragonzales@egencia.com

Siarah Khan | Global Senior Comms Manager | sikhan@egencia.com


[1] North America rebooks during the initial 24 hour ‘void’ window

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