Concur Connect enables one of the world's largest hotel groups to provide Concur clients automatic delivery of e-folio data directly into expense reports
REDMOND, Wash., January 17, 2008 - Concur (NASDAQ: CNQR), the world's leading provider of on-demand Employee Spend Management services, today announced that business travelers using Concur® Travel & Expense can enjoy the convenience of e-receipts from IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group) [LON: IHG, NYSE: IHG (ADRs)] hotel properties delivered directly into their expense reports.
Concur clients also have access to thousands of IHG properties, enabling their employees to book reservations and participate in loyalty programs from within Concur’s online travel booking services.
Through Concur® Connect – a global program connecting suppliers from around the world to over $35 billion of spend driven by Concur's over 6,200 clients – IHG joins a growing list of travel suppliers that not only provide Concur clients with broad access to travel inventory, but are also feeding complete electronic folio data in the form of e-receipts directly into Concur Travel & Expense. With the participation of one of the world’s largest hotel groups, Concur Connect now provides more connections to hotels, airlines, and rail providers than any other corporate travel booking system.
Concur e-receipts – exclusively available to Concur clients – are complete electronic versions of the paper folio receipts traditionally delivered to hotel guests upon check-out. Concur Travel & Expense automatically captures this data – along with itinerary data entered at the time of booking and corporate card charges incurred by the employee – and reconciles it all within one seamless travel and expense management process. The resulting Smart Expense™ is a trusted transaction that requires no additional human intervention and is essentially approved and ready for reimbursement. For the vast majority of these transactions, the need for employees to edit – or companies to audit – an expense report is eliminated.
“More and more Concur clients are demanding frictionless business travel transactions, and Concur Connect is the engine that enables leading travel suppliers to deliver a richer and more meaningful experience to their corporate clients and business traveler guests,” said Rajeev Singh, president and COO of Concur. ”Concur shares IHG’s commitment to providing business travelers with complete and direct access to travel content along with the innovative services they need to make their lives easier. Concur continues to set the pace by delivering exclusive and industry-changing innovations like e-receipts and Smart Expenses, which enable One Touch Business Travel™ and help our clients drive even more costs out of their businesses.”
“IHG recognizes the unique challenges that business travelers face today, and we continually strive to look for new and innovative ways to make life easier for our guests,” said Jill Cady, vice president - worldwide sales, IHG. “We are delighted that our properties are now highlighted within Concur’s services as e-receipt enabled. Now, the millions of business travelers using Concur’s services can quickly and easily book their hotel reservations at any of our over 3,800 hotels, participate in the IHG’s Priority Club Loyalty Program and of course, enjoy all the benefits and convenience of Concur e-receipts – ensuring that their entire business travel experience with IHG is world-class.”
Through Concur Connect, IHG is providing Concur clients with access to IHG hotels including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo®. Based on open-standards, Concur Connect is a set of interfaces delivering content from multiple distribution and supplier systems. This platform gives clients exclusive access to services otherwise unavailable though traditional managed travel programs.
About Concur
Concur is the world's leading provider of on-demand Employee Spend Management services. Concur enables organizations to globally control costs by automating the processes they use to manage employee spending. Concur’s end-to-end solutions seamlessly unite online travel booking with automated expense reporting, streamline meeting management and optimize the process of managing vendor payments, employee check requests and direct reimbursements. Organizations of all sizes trust Concur to help them control spend before it occurs while eliminating paper and optimizing supplier relations. Concur’s unified approach to managing employee spend delivers a 360° view into all employee expenses, helping companies globally enforce policies and monitor vendor compliance, while delivering unprecedented control and valuable insight. Concur's suite of on-demand services reach millions of employees across thousands of organizations around the world -- streamlining business processes, reducing operating costs, improving internal controls and providing enhanced visibility and actionable expense analysis. More information about Concur is available at www.concur.com.
About Concur Connect
Concur® Connect is a global program that connects suppliers from around the world to over $35 billion of spend driven by Concur's over 6,000 clients. By participating in this program, this growing list of leading travel suppliers are able to provide Concur clients with direct access to their travel inventory and deliver complete electronic folio data in the form of e-receipts directly into Concur Travel & Expense. Concur’s growing list of direct connect and e-receipt vendors, includes airlines like Air Canada, AirTran Airways, JetBlue Airways, Virgin Blue; hotels such as Hilton, IHG, Marriott and Starwood; car rental companies including Hertz, Avis/Budget and Enterprise; rail providers VIA Rail, SNCF, Rail1, Die Bahn and UK Rail; and OpenTable.com for restaurant reservations – providing Concur clients with access to the industry’s broadest selection of travel content.
About IHG
InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (IHG) of the United Kingdom [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is the world's largest hotel group by number of rooms. IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises, through various subsidiaries, over 3,800 hotels and more than 571,000 guest rooms in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world. IHG owns a portfolio of well recognized and respected hotel brands including InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza® Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn® Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express®, Staybridge Suites®, Candlewood Suites® and Hotel Indigo®, and also manages the world's largest hotel loyalty program, Priority Club® Rewards with over 37 million members worldwide.
Press Contact: Stefanie Johansen, Weber Shandwick for Concur, 425.452.5468, SJohansen@WeberShandwick.com