Flight Centre Makes Two New Technology Investments
Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX:FLT), one of the world's largest travel companies employing more than 20,000 people worldwide with over 30 brands in 23 countries, today announced two new investments in its "Labs" program that will help bolster its capabilities to incubate and bring to market emerging travel technologies to its corporate brands.
These two additions further increase the initiatives portfolio in key areas such as mobile and artificial intelligence ("AI") and increase the program's footprint to the technology development hubs of Barcelona and Bangkok.
Sam :], the award winning mobile app already used by many of FLT's corporate brands in several markets, has been fully acquired. FLT secured an initial 25% holding in Sam :] in 2017 when it acquired its holding in Paris-based 3Mundi. As a result of the deal, FLT has now become the sole owner and licensor of the product and will continue to drive the product roadmap to meet the needs of its corporate customers globally.
"We're thrilled to bring the Sam :] team fully into the Flight Centre family," said John Morhous, Chief Experience Officer, FCTG Corporate Brands. "We've worked closely with the team and product for many years now and look forward to continuing to drive mobile innovation through the platform". Sam :] is currently used within FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveler, Campus Travel, and Stage and Screen Travel, across 40+ FLT markets.
In addition, FLT has increased its investment in 30SecondsToFly and its Claire product. FLT will have 2 year exclusive use of Claire in the large global TMC category, and the product will be fully integrated into Sam :] to provide AI-powered chat and booking capability for customers. The investment will increase FLT's stake in 30SecondsToFly to approximately 10%.
"Having worked with Flight Centre for a few years after their first investment, we know that they are an excellent investor and we're very pleased that they have led our latest financing round. FLT has given us great help in building technology for TMCs and they fully support our plan to scale into the TMC market and establish Claire as the new standard for TMC call centre automation. We are looking forward to implementing our technology for more of their customers." said Riccardo Vittoria, CEO of 30SecondsToFly.
FLT demonstrated its latest iteration of these technologies during the Business Travel Show in London, on February 21st and 22nd. The show featured the launch of the Sam :] platform for the Corporate Traveler brand within the UK, with the Claire booking engine directly embedded into the platform.
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About Flight Centre
After starting with one shop in the early 1980s, Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) has enjoyed remarkable growth to become a $20 billion business consisting of more than 30 brands. One of the world's largest travel agency groups, it has company-owned operations in 23 countries and a corporate travel management network that spans more than 90 countries. FCTG was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 1995 (ASX: FLT). Flight Centre Travel Group employs more than 20,000 people globally and has a total of almost 2800 businesses.
About our Labs Initiative
The "Labs" initiative is our dedicated business travel technology centre based in strategic locations around the world working on some of the most exciting and engaging solutions in the corporate travel sector. Sam :] our global mobile travel assistant, and the latest in AI functionality, are just some of the latest enhancements to our offering being deployed across our corporate brands. These development processes can include anything ranging from a commercial relationship to full acquisition of a business and/or creation of proprietary technology products.
Our current Labs in Boston, London, Barcelona, and now Bangkok, are complemented by FCTG's leisure technology investments, including the acquisition of Umapped in 2018, and membership in the Plug and Play corporate incubation program in the travel and hospitality sector, where FCTG was awarded its corporate innovation award in 2018.
About Sam :]
Sam:] is an IOS and android application that supports travellers with itinerary management, intelligent notifications and capabilities for live chat between consultants and customers.
Other key features include the ability for travellers to:
• Automatically sync calendars and TMC data, allowing travellers to view, change or cancel trips
• Integrate all trips in a mobile itinerary
• Receive alerts and notifications both before and during their trips
• Integrate their travel arrangements with other apps and providers; and
• Chat directly with their dedicated corporate travel manager
About 30SecondsToFly
30SecondsToFly was established in San Francisco in 2015 with offices in Bangkok and has developed Claire as a booking engine driven completely by AI-powered chat and trip curation. Key features include:
• Air and hotel booking engine via mobile interface and a chat-based booking flow
• Air and hotel A.I. driven trip selection
• Omni-channel agent tool with actionable presentation layer for consistent experience between online and offline bookings
• Integration with company and traveller profiles; and
• Simpler travel policy management
Media contact: Allison Wallace allison.wallace@flightcentre.ca / +604 202 0872