The business travel market was getting impatient. American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is beginning to provide some tangible answers. Since the creation of the joint venture with the Certares group and the Qatar Investment Authority in 2014, the business travel agency has been moving forward in disguise, delaying according to some in using this new financial windfall, the 900 million dollars contributed by Certares and others. The picture is now clearer. A few days after installing Doug Anderson, the former boss of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, as CEO, the American giant made the acquisition of KDS official on Tuesday. The technology specialist in business travel, made in France, thus becomes the new IT guarantor of American Express GBT.
"This will open up new opportunities for both our businesses, and allow us to bring KDS innovation to more businesses than ever before," predicts Philippe Chérèque, chief commercial and technology officer of American Express GBT. "Together, GBT and KDS are able to offer more end-to-end, high-performance, user-friendly and integrated solutions to a greater number of customers, mastering both online and offline experiences through a single package," he adds.
The agreement made official on Tuesday 30 August between KDS and American Express GBT should result in an acquisition by the end of 2016, or more precisely during the last quarter. It could be followed by further announcements, with the business travel agency referring to an investment strategy designed to "build a leading suite of online and digital services at the heart of the company's core technology platform for business travellers".
It now remains to be seen what impact this acquisition will have on the market, and in particular on companies using technology other than KDS's recently redesigned Neo tool, or clients of other corporate travel agencies. "We look forward to leveraging the support and assets of GBT to bring the best solutions to their customers, while continuing to provide our existing customers and partners with excellent products and services," said Dean Forbes, CEO of KDS.
