AmEx Global Business Travel Partners With Lyft

Jersey City-based American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), a JV that is not wholly owned by American Express, announced the availability of a ground transportation platform that offers access to more than 750 ground operators in more than 2,000 cities in 18 countries. Integrated options include black cars, taxis, limos, airport express trains and shuttles, plus ridesharing via a recently announced partnership with Lyft – the first integration of its kind between a ridesharing company and a travel management company.

The platform equips clients with a GDS-agnostic solution that captures and manages ground bookings in one place, regardless of whether the booking was made online, offline or via the Amex GBT Mobile app.

“Traditionally, ground spend has been a blind spot for travel managers. GBT clients saw 95%+ leakage through out-of-policy booking channels for ground bookings in 2017, resulting in lost opportunities for our clients to negotiate on that spend and ensure traveler compliance. Our ground transportation platform is the first solution of its kind for booking via a seamless user experience that meets both the content and choice expectations of travelers and the core needs of travel managers, all in one place” – EVP of Global Supplier Relations for American Express Global Business Travel, Michael Qualantone.

The new GBT ground transportation platform offering includes: (1) ability to shop, compare rates and book in one place for black cars, taxis, limos, airport express trains and shuttles, and ridesharing with Lyft, (2) access to 24/7 global customer service and negotiated supplier discounts, (3) flight status monitoring in real-time to ensure smooth and timely transfers, and (4) access to reporting and benchmarking data to create visibility into spend and program value; to name a few.