BCD Travel prepares to debut reinvented TripSource app with promise of “an even better user experience every step of the way”

15 July, 2019

Global travel management company BCD Travel is preparing to launch a new version of its TripSource mobile app with the promise of an "entirely new" offer that has been "built from the ground up" and leverages latest mobile technology to deliver "a rich and intuitive user interface".

TripSource was originally designed to give BCD Travel clients and their travellers greater control over the trip experience and was launched more than five years ago at the start of 2014. It has evolved since that time, but significant technological developments, advancing passenger needs and the further rise in mobile usage, meant a major overhaul was probably required.

"When we set out to build the next generation of TripSource, we knew we had the opportunity to produce some innovative new features that would offer travellers an even better user experience every step of the way, before, during and after their trip," says Yannis Karmis, senior vice president product planning and development for BCD Travel.

The next generation TripSource app now allows travellers to securely shop, book and manage all aspects of their trip experience directly from their mobile device. "With over one million travellers using TripSource, the goal was to reimagine the app experience. The new app had to accommodate more functionality and scale for an ever-changing industry," adds Mr Karmis.

BCD engaged the help of a leading design and usability business to embark on a "next generation travel experience" that would rival the best consumer apps on the market. After several months of intense research, design and development, the new TripSource experience was released under trial to a subset of travellers.

The mobile app acts as an extension of BCD's TripSource traveller engagement platform and the new version offers a much improved interface to support travellers from trip planning, booking and itineraries to duty of care and disruptions. The enhanced functionality allows travellers to self-book, cancel a trip and store receipts and BCD says its planning and booking capabilities help drive travellers "to make smart and timely booking decisions".

A new linear design and navigation allows travellers to scroll though their trip in timeline order, including flight details and status updates, hotel and rental car reservations, even dinners and meetings - with inline policy reminders, phone numbers and maps, while the development platform allows new features to be introduced "even faster and more frequently," says BCD.

The new app will be made available to all travellers from mid-July 2019 across over 113 countries and in five different languages. BCD's customers have the option of co-branding the app with their own company logo and colours and of customising a mobile travel policy for quick reference on the road.