Egencia, the business travel arm of Expedia Group, has
added global Wi-Fi as a benefit for clients through its Egencia Advantage
program.
Through partnerships with hundreds of mobile carriers and
internet service providers, Advantage now offers Wi-Fi access in more than 120
countries.
“There are two areas that are important for Wi-Fi. One would
be just the security and knowing you are actually connected, while you are
working, to a secure connection, knowing that not every publicly available
hot spot is secure and compliant with your company’s obligations,” says Andrew
Dyer, vice president of global supply-lodging at Egencia.
“And the second is traveler convenience. Depending on the
destination you are traveling to, there may or may not be secure or reliable
Wi-Fi, or data roaming may be extremely expensive.”
To access the participating providers, companies purchase
pocket Wi-Fi devices that their employees can use while traveling.
Egencia launched the Advantage program last November to
provide specialized services for business travelers beyond
their flight, hotel and ground transportation needs.
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In addition to the new Wi-Fi offering, Egencia clients can
access visa processing services, airport lounge access, parking, air delay
claim compensation and travel risk management assistance through the Advantage
portfolio.
Dyer says Egencia is continually pursuing new partners to
expand the Advantage offerings.
“We are going after three buckets of third-party
partnerships,” he says.
“One bucket would be those that can help you optimize your
travel program as a travel manger or as a client. One bucket would be
increasing traveler comfort and convenience and that sort of thing. And the
third bucket would be helping protect travelers, keep them secure, that kind of
area.”