American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) announced the launch of a new platform to manage end-to-end guest travel and expense (T&E).
The new Guest T&E platform addresses challenges faced by businesses across multiple industries when facilitating travel and managing trip expenses on behalf of an individual who is not an employee of the organisation. It is scalable and flexible to adapt to guest-specific needs as guest travel covers a wide range of use-cases – from recruitment and intern programs to independent contractors and business advisors. In an internal survey of 100 Amex GBT client managers, 87% responded that their customers do not have a streamlined or standard way across their business to manage non-employee travel and expense.
"For many companies the guest travel and expense experience is complex and messy for the people that manage it and an overlooked opportunity to make a good first impression for the people using it,” said Evan Konwiser, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Amex GBT. “Our new Guest T&E platform solves for this by seamlessly integrating to simplify budgets and booking, expenses incurred on the trip and then reconciling it all seamlessly on the back end with secure, flexible tech that can be used once or multiple times depending on need.”
Managers, and event organisers can save time and gain transparency with the ability to seamlessly create events, invite guests, set travel parameters, and track expenses in real-time. Travelers can have a frictionless experience with the ability to securely complete their own profiles, self-book their travel through Amex GBT’s business travel marketplace, and benefit from 24/7 travel support.
Key platform features include:
- Easy guest traveller booking and ability to seamlessly create events and invite guests
- Travelers can securely complete their own profiles and self-book through Amex GBT’s business travel marketplace
- 24/7 travel support
- AI powered technology that supports automatic receipt scanning and smart expense justification
- Near real time expense workflow with accrual and posting data to finance systems
- A virtual card can be issued to travellers to use as a payment method for travel booking and for on-trip expenses using the pre-defined budget set by the person requesting the travel.
The platform is currently available to customers using Amex GBT’s Neo and Egencia solutions and is supported at the U.S. point of sale.
