Egencia Launches Egencia® TripNavigator for iPhone

BELLEVUE, Wash., Nov. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Egencia®, the business travel brand of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), today announced the worldwide launch of Egencia® TripNavigator, a "smart travel companion" app for business travelers. Egencia TripNavigator improves travelers' in-trip experiences by displaying a contextual, actionable view of the itinerary and integrating real-time trip alerts to reduce friction as travel plans change, expectedly or unexpectedly.  

"Consumer brands have set a high bar with leisure travel apps that travel management companies, like Egencia, need to meet in order to drive sustained use of corporate travel apps," says Rob Greyber, president of Egencia. "Egencia TripNavigator brings the best consumer travel experience to the enterprise user, serving as a must-have mobile travel assistant with integrated access to Egencia Customer Service when help is needed."

As mobile adoption grows around the world, corporate travelers are turning to their smartphones and tablets for help. In fact, a recent Future of Travel survey from Expedia® and Egencia found that 18-30 year-olds are far likelier than 46-65 year-olds to consider mobile devices to be central to their travel experience.

With a consumer-grade interface, Egencia TripNavigator incorporates technology from the Expedia brand's acquisition of Mobiata®, a creator of best-selling mobile travel apps, with a design that has been optimized for the more complex world of business travel.  Developed with feedback from Egencia customers, the app provides travelers with step-by-step navigation, much like a GPS device offers driving directions, and features, among other things, access to Egencia's robust global hotel inventory.

Egencia TripNavigator provides a clear and interactive view of the traveler's current trip by delivering relevant information based on the trip timeline. TripNavigator calls out important information and the logical action a traveler should take next. For example:

• It is time to check-in for your flight and a check-in action;
• A hotel has not yet been booked for your trip with an option to book a hotel now;
• Remember to fill up your rental car including an interactive map to guide a user to nearby gas stations;
• Your flight is delayed or cancelled along with actions to book a new flight or a room at a local hotel; and
• A major event (with details) is impacting your travel plans and options to connect with an Egencia Travel Consultant.

According to the Global Business Travel Associations' quarterly outlook report, companies and individuals will spend more than $1 trillion on business trips in 2013—the most ever, and rising in the years ahead. As more employees travel, navigating change throughout their trips remains constant: gate changes, flight delays or cancellations, extended trips or shortened trips.

Egencia TripNavigator is initially available to Egencia clients on the iOS platform, followed by a native app for Android phones in early 2014. Any user, including non-Egencia clients, can download the app and take it for a test drive via the "Explore" option available on the "Sign In" screen.

SMARTER SERVICE, WITH A TAP
"Time is of the essence to business travelers," says Mark Hollyhead, Egencia's senior vice president of the Americas. "Seeing the dreaded 'Flight Delayed' or 'Flight Cancelled' alert brings added stress to any business trip. As travel plans change, it's here in our new TripNavigator app where Egencia travel consultants are poised to help—when travelers need us most. With a tap of a finger, you can feel safe in the knowledge that an agent will call you back in a defined amount of time and will be aware of the problem you are facing."

Egencia TripNavigator offers a standard 'click to call' functionality that is available to travelers worldwide.  For select travelers in the U.S., the app also offers a "Callback" option under Egencia® AssistMe that gives Egencia Travel Consultants additional information about mobile callers ahead of the call, including: name, company, role, and the traveler's specific itinerary. Travelers are greeted by name for immediate engagement rather than having to authenticate who they are and the itinerary they are calling about.

"Our road warriors test-drove Egencia TripNavigator and applaud the hip app for its sleek interface and how intuitively it addresses common travel inquiries," says Rudy Lim, director, procurement, Colliers International. "TripNavigator makes business trips less stressful especially with the built-in Egencia AssistMe callback feature. That's a gem for our travelers, and a customer service feature we believe is a travel industry game changer for Egencia."

U.S. based travelers also benefit from Egencia Mobile Flight Exchange which enables them to easily exchange airline tickets from 27 airline partners via their mobile devices. Multi-destination and enroute ticket exchanges are supported. Egencia Mobile Flight Exchange is incorporated into the U.S. version of the Egencia TripNavigator app and also available via mobile web.

Egencia AssistMe with Callback option and Egencia Mobile Flight Exchange will be rolled out more broadly in markets outside of North America in future months.

About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. brand
Egencia is a leading full-service travel management company delivering innovative corporate travel solutions and expert local service to more than 10,000 clients in more than 60 countries around the world. As part of Expedia, Inc., the world's largest travel company, Egencia provides forward-looking companies with the ability to drive compliance and cost savings in their travel programs, while meeting the needs and requirements of the modern business traveler. For more information, please visit www.egencia.com or follow us on Twitter @Egencia.

Egencia and the Egencia logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  © 2013 Egencia, LLC.  All rights reserved.  CST # 2029030-50; CST # 2083922-50.

Image with caption: "Egencia® TripNavigator offers a standard 'click to call' functionality that is available to travelers worldwide.  For select travelers in the U.S., the app also offers a "Callback" option under Egencia® AssistMe that gives Egencia Travel Consultants additional information about mobile callers ahead of the call for immediate engagement." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131105/MM10318-a

Image with caption: "Egencia® TripNavigator is the new "smart travel companion" app for business travelers and features nearly 200,000 hotels, making shopping and booking hotels easier for travelers on the go." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131105/MM10318-b

Image with caption: "U.S. based travelers that use Egencia® TripNavigator also benefit from Egencia Mobile Flight Exchange which enables them to easily exchange airline tickets from 27 airline partners. Multi-destination and enroute ticket exchanges are supported." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131105/MM10318-c

Image with caption: "Egencia® is a global full-service travel management company and in a unique position as part of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel company. We are committed to making the experience for business travelers better - from planning, to booking, to completing the trip - while giving corporations what they want in terms of policy control, reporting and duty of care. Clients benefit from our global integrated technology, insights from business and leisure travel, unrivaled content and tailored, local service. Today, Egencia serves more than 10,000 clients in more than 60 countries. For more information, visit www.egencia.com." Image available at: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130916/CG79319LOGO-a

SOURCE Egencia

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