American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) has launched a high-impact new solution designed to transform how companies manage travel and expenses for non-employees. Currently listed on the NYSE as GBTG, the company has really taken a great initiative towards solving an age-old expense hurdle with its all-in-one, easy to use platform.
Solving Non-Employee Travel And how to address it
Today’s businesses interact with a variety of vendors who aren’t on full-time company staffs – interns, job applicants, contractors and consultants – and yet they lack standardized procedures for tracking their travel and the costs that come with it. In an in-house Amex GBT poll of 100 client managers, 87% reported that their clients lack a proper or efficient way to manage the guest travel.
The Guest T&E platform was created to fill this void with an easy, organized, safe option for guest travel and reimbursement.
A Seamless Experience from Booking to Reimbursement
The new solution is an all-encompassing solution that supports a guest’s travel end-to-end. As soon as a traveler is invited, they can safely build their own travel profile and self-manage bookings via Amex GBT’s business travel marketplace. This do-it-yourself capability takes a load off the administration for corporate travel managers.
To simplify payment and budget management even more for corporates. Companies can create virtual cards based on predefined budgets. The guest then uses these cards for both booking and on-the-road expenses, while enjoying full financial visibility and no longer having to out of pocket.
On the managerial front, the platform features AI-based tools for receipt scanning and intelligent expense justification. These instruments automate the data inputting process and help facilitate quicker expense approvals. Real-time posting to company finance systems also means that there’s zero friction between the corporate cardholder and the finance department.
Empowering Managers and Event Coordinators
For multi-guest business trips—it could be for a recruiting trip, an internship program, a special event, etc.—managers can create travel events, send guest invites, generate travel rules and monitor real-time expense activity from within the portal. This feature is also useful to give you more visibility across your travel operations and save time.
Forward and reverse auction modes fit the needs of both ad-hoc trips and recurring business, with the platform able to offer the same solution for small and large businesses across all industries.
Focused on Experience, Efficiency And First Impressions
Evan Konwiser, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Amex GBT, explained that managing guest travel is often complicated and disorganized for companies. He suggested that it also represents a missed opportunity for organizations to leave a strong first impression on their guests. He noted that the Guest T&E platform was specifically developed to address these issues, ensuring both travelers and organizers benefit from a polished, secure, and efficient experience.
There’s also 24/7 travel support built into the platform, so guests can get help right away if they encounter any issues during the trip. It’s an important safety net for those new to business travel or in unfamiliar surroundings.
Availability and Integration Available for Use with Existing Platforms
This T&E solution for guests is currently offered to customers on Amex GBT’s Neo and Egencia platforms and is fully supported at U.S. points of sale. The rollout is part of Amex GBT’s broader strategy to digitize and modernize the business travel experience, particularly as more companies lean into flexible and hybrid workforce models.
As customer demands and additional features are added, the company might broaden the availability of the platform internationally.
A Strategy to Make Work Better in The Future
This has never been more crucial, as non-employees continue to make up a greater share of the workforce, including external contributors and non-traditional workers. Amex GBT’s Guest T&E platform answers this with an easy-to-use interface and enterprise level control and automation.
By attacking an understudied aspect of business operations, the platform highlights Amex GBT’s focus on innovation, streamlining and user happiness. For organizations seeking to provide a professional travel experience to every guest—from invitation to reconciliation—and without the headache and the risk—of full compliance costs—Guest T&E offers everything the modern event requires.
The post American Express GBT Launches New Platform “Guest T&E” to Simplify Guest Travel and Expense Management, Everything You Need To Know appeared first on Travel And Tour World.
