PARIS and LONDON and MUNICH and BRUSSELS, March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Egencia(R), an Expedia, Inc. company, today announced the next steps of its mobile strategy and investment for 2011 and the upcoming launch of new mobile features and capabilities for business travellers and corporate clients. Additionally, Egencia, in partnership with Business Travel Media Group, today released a mobile safety and security strategies report, uncovering best practices that organisations can leverage to protect their travellers while on the road.

"We continue to listen and support the needs of our clients and their travellers, working to provide the tools and technology necessary to help them maximise time and increase efficiency," said Rob Greyber, President, Egencia. "In today's fast-paced global marketplace, business travellers need immediate and relevant information combined with on-the-go functionality. Today's announcement is just one step in our ongoing investment and innovation in the mobile space. We will also release shopping and booking capabilities supported by strong policy management later this year."

The new mobile experience will be available via iPhone App and Mobile Web, ensuring usability for all web enabled phones. This will happen in the second quarter of 2011 and will include:

- Smart Itinerary: the application follows the traveller throughout the trip, providing information that is relevant to the current stage of the traveller's journey

- Flight schedules and online check-in

- Interactive maps for all trip segments, including specific directions to hotels, and one-touch access to Google Maps search for local businesses

- Real-time, location relevant flight alerts (including flight delays and cancellations)

- Destination alerts: updated information on security issues, weather, and natural disasters.

- Click-to-call Egencia customer service: easy access to get a travel agent on the phone.

- Weather forecasts relevant to the traveller's locale

- Full support for eight languages: US and UK English, French, French Canadian, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch.

"Today, our business mobile experience has changed: it is no longer just about checking emails, but about a greater interaction between the traveller and their mobile device," said Christophe Pingard, Senior Vice President, Egencia EMEA and APAC. "Having access to meaningful information and guidance is critical. For example, our mobile destination alerts provide business travellers with insight on security and weather issues in advance so they can make informed decisions about their travel plans."

The company will be releasing a wide range of mobile capabilities later this year, which will include additional shopping and booking capabilities and additional native device support.

After integrating Traveller Tracking and Travel Alerts to its own booking platform, Egencia still focuses on travellers' security and safety and expands this priority to mobile strategy: Egencia, in partnership with Business Travel Media Group, today released the mobile safety and security strategies report to ensure travel executives and travellers maximise the use of their mobile devices to increase their emergency preparedness.

The strategies report uncovers solutions to meet the challenge of locating and communicating with corporate travellers while on the road. Travel managers should provide sanctioned mobile tools in their travel program and encourage employees to use these recommended platforms, tools and channels. Other strategies and best practices highlighted in the report include:

- For international travellers, ensuring mobile devices function properly in foreign countries

- SMS messaging options if cellular bandwidth is clogged due to an emergency

- Travel alerts via text messaging

- Advanced mobile safety strategies for employees who travel to high-risk countries

Further insights into Egencia's mobile strategy announcement are available upon request. For the full, Egencia and Business Travel Media Group, Mobile Safety & Security Strategies Report, visit: https://www.egencia.co.uk/public/uk/en/promotion/landing-mobile-and-secu...

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)