BCD Travel is the latest travel management company to roll out a platform dedicated to tracking and assessing risk arising from the pandemic.?
Dubbed the Informed Traveler, the project is envisioned as "a wide-ranging global initiative aimed at helping travellers, travel managers and agents make smart decisions amid a landscape of constantly changing rules, laws and procedures," says BCD.
The Informed Traveler gives those stakeholders access to real-time information including destination risk alerts, airline and hotel policies, ground transportation protocols and travel restrictions from more than 800 sources, BCD says.
Information is delivered across "all traveller touchpoints," including the agent point of sale and the TMC's TripSource mobile travel booking and management app.
The Informed Traveler is rolling out in phases. The first phase, available now, includes agent access to destination content and travel requirements, a Covid-19 information hub accessible from TripSource.com, itinerary communications and mobile notifications.
The second phase, launching in August, will enable users to enter itinerary details to access more trip-specific information, according to BCD.
The new resource is based on "extensive traveller research and customer interviews that illustrated a change in the way travellers plan for a trip," BCD explains.
Key among those post-Covid travel changes is the increased importance of what BCD calls "the decision phase," when a traveller evaluates variables such as risk, cost and route before deciding whether to book the trip.
The subsequent "preparation phase" 每 during which the traveller monitors potential changes in guidelines and requirements between booking and traveling 每 also has taken on new importance, the TMC adds.?
The Informed Traveler launch follows announcements this week by?American Express Global Business Travel,?Deem?and?TravelPerk, each of which has added new Covid-19 data monitoring and risk assessment capabilities for corporate travel clients.