Expedia.com Expedia® Corporate Travel Facilitates Best Practices in Business Travel Management with Corporate Governance Assistance; for Customers
VANCOUVER, Canada – May 3, 2005 – In a keynote address at today’s Association of Corporate Travel Executives 2005 Global Conference, Expedia® Corporate Travel president Matt Hulett proclaimed that the company is proactively leading business travel industry emphasis on corporate governance best practices by providing technology-enhanced visibility, control and automation of business travel programs. “Power tools”, such as Expedia® Corporate Travel’s recently announced TripController™ solution and additional policy control and reporting features, are part of its EPower™ service platform that helps companies of all sizes by streamlining and automating auditing, authorization and reporting functions that may assist in meeting Sarbanes-Oxley financial reporting and internal control requirements.
“On-demand business solutions such as Expedia Corporate Travel empower companies with greater control, in-depth visibility and automation of processes,” said Steve Cakebread, CFO of Salesforce.com, a customer of Expedia® Corporate Travel.”The EPower platform demonstrates Expedia Corporate Travel’s leadership in giving customers like us the clearest degree of visibility into their corporate travel transactions and performance, all in a real-time, tightly managed environment.”
Sarbanes-Oxley is one of the more recognized components of the U.S. government’s growing concern in the corporate environment for increased accountability and more rigorous internal financial controls. While the increased scrutiny required under Sarbanes-Oxley forces public companies to reassess and improve the quality and transparency of their financial reporting and auditing functions, it also brings an opportunity for these companies to optimize costly and inefficient tasks involved in the compliance and reporting process. A corporate travel program, which typically represents the second-largest controllable business expense according to industry groups, is one specific area where automated, real-time reporting and authorization tools can save time and money by improving visibility, control, and fraud management capabilities.
The EPower™ platform includes robust and forward-thinking “power tools” that provide Expedia® Corporate Travel customers with greater control, visibility and access to better manage their travel programs. TripController™, one of the platform components, is a new feature that set a higher industry standard in travel approval and auditing by offering companies better, faster and easier trip authorization and reporting processes through automation and real-time technology. In addition, Expedia® Corporate Travel’s on-demand reports include instant views of traveler itineraries, transactions and trip approvals, and can be customized along with policy controls to match each individual company’s requirements. The EPower™ platform’s ability to set spending limits and make real-time audits also enable companies with these stronger safeguards the capabilities to help prevent unauthorized travel transactions and fraudulent booking behavior.
Aside from its technology-powered solutions, the human element behind Expedia® Corporate Travel’s service offering also drives compliance and travel cost savings for companies. The Corporate Consulting Managers that work closely with each Expedia® Corporate Travel customer serve as an additional check and balance by helping to assess which EPowerTM tools make sense for the company’s procedures and culture, which helps further automate processes, provide actionable reports and establish best practice travel policies. Policy compliance and authorization protocol are also consistently followed, whether the transaction is conducted online or by phone, since Expedia® Corporate Travel booking agents and travelers both use the same user-interface.
“Companies that are leveraging best practices in business travel and enforcing a more tightly managed program structure can easily see the cost-saving and productivity bonuses associated with Expedia Corporate Travel’s standard high online adoption rate,” said Matt Hulett, president of Expedia® Corporate Travel. “As time and financial costs related to independent audits and regulation compliance continue to pose problems for some companies, Expedia Corporate Travel is making an early move to help control and keep down travel program costs while encouraging a ‘culture of compliance’ with our customers.”
For more information on Expedia® Corporate Travel, TripController™ and additional EPower™ “power tools”, please visit http://corporate.expedia.com or call 1-866-328-0110.
About Expedia® Corporate Travel
Expedia® Corporate Travel is the leading on-demand full-service travel agency based on the total number of customers booking through the same technology, whether online or agents-assisted. Operated by Expedia, Inc., the world’s leading online travel service and the fourth largest travel agency in the U.S., Expedia® Corporate Travel brings together the best of technology and corporate support in a single-source solution that drives down costs. Business travelers have access to specialized tools, while companies can take advantage of rich management and reporting features. Expedia, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI). CST: 2029030-40