Amadeus has announced that software giant Microsoft will use the
Cytric by Amadeus booking and expense platform for its employees.
The deal, announced at Business Travel Show Europe in London
on Wednesday, will see Cytric initially deployed to a "selected
group" of Microsoft employees.
This first phase includes the roll out of Cytric Easy and the integration of Cytric Travel into Microsoft 365, allowing users to plan trips and share travel details with through applications such as Microsoft Office or Microsoft Teams.
"This
milestone lays another foundation block for integrating technology into
the travel booking and in-destination experience," said Microsoft global travel director Eric Bailey. "We want to simplify every aspect of business travel for our employees, Cytric does this with its intuitive user experience."
Microsoft has an ongoing partnership with Amadeus as part a joint vision and wider collaboration. BTN recognized Bailey as Travel Manager of the Year in 2015 in part because of Microsoft's incubation work with Amadeus to integrate travel booking into existing Microsoft workflows. The
two companies announced a multiyear global strategic partnership in
2021 to develop products and solutions designed to "create smoother
travel experiences in the future."
"We are focused on
applying innovation to support Microsoft and we believe Cytric by
Amadeus will push the boundaries of what the corporate travel sector has
seen until this point," said Amadeus Cytric Solutions executive vice
president Rudy Daniello.
In a separate deal, Melia Hotels
International has become the first company to begin rolling out Cytric
Easy from Amadeus to its employees.
Jose Maria
Dalmau, vice president, business development, at Melia Hotels, said:
“Being able to find and book a flight, hotel or car without leaving
Microsoft applications is a game-changer and we’re excited to be helping
Amadeus further define new features for Cytric Easy.