Travel savings assessment

• US 7,788,116 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2005
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: American Express Travel Related Services Company, Inc. (American Express Company)
• Inventors: Parker, Michael, Sauser, Olivier, Di Florio, Dionino
• Primary Examiner(s): CAMPBELL, SHANNON S
• Application Number:
  US11/161,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20060069592A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,852 Days
• Field of Search: 705/5, 705/1.1, 705/10
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 Travel agencies

Abstract

A method and system for travel savings assessment is disclosed. The invention analyzes the total travel spend of an entity with many members, employees, or other personnel who incur travel costs using various metrics, estimates the savings that may be achieved by known or new entities, calculates and produces periodic reports that track an entity'"'"'s progress towards obtaining the estimated savings, and can also estimate the potential savings of an entity.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating an assessment of travel savings comprising:

creating, by a computer for facilitating said assessment of said travel savings, a plurality of multi-dimensional travel sectors based on first travel data, wherein said first travel data is related to known entities, wherein first travel data comprises historical information including air carrier, airport pair, ticket origin and service class;

determining a size of each of said known entities, wherein size is determined as a sum of all said multi-dimensional travel sectors for each respective entity multiplied by a total travel spend for each respective entity;

determining a destination type and a service class spend for said respective entity;

creating a plurality of clusters based upon said first travel data, said size, said destination type and said service class spend;

receiving, at said computer, second travel data associated with a new entity;

assigning, at said computer, said new entity to one of said plurality of clusters based upon said second travel data to create an assigned cluster, wherein said second travel data comprises said air carrier, said airport pair, said ticket origin and said service class; and

,

estimating, by said computer, published fares based upon travel sector pairs and travel frequency, wherein said travel sector pairs and said travel frequency are associated with at least one of said first travel data, said second travel data, or said assigned cluster;

generating, at said computer, a potential of savings (POS) for said new entity based on said assigned cluster and said published fares.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a host system for facilitating a savings assessment model.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving said first travel data related to known entities.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a travel savings assessment report for said new entity.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving said first travel data from at least one of credit card transactions, joint venturer and a travel agency.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising cleaning said first travel data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising integrating said first travel data from multiple sources.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said creating a plurality of clusters is repeated periodically.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting said first travel data prior to said creating said plurality of clusters.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting said first travel data prior to said creating said plurality of clusters, wherein said deleted travel data corresponds to said known entities who have traveled less than 10 travel segments in a year.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving second travel data includes receiving usage data for at least one travel carrier.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising calculating a decile within said assigned cluster for said new entity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said new entity is a known entity.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for facilitating an assessment of travel savings that, if executed by a computing device, cause said computing device to perform operations comprising:

creating, by a computer, a plurality of multi-dimensional travel sectors based on first travel data, wherein said first travel data is related to known entities, wherein first travel data comprises historical information including air carrier, airport pair, ticket origin and service class;

determining a size of each of said known entities, wherein size is determined as a sum of all said multi-dimensional travel sectors for each respective entity multiplied by a total travel spend for each respective entity;

determining a destination type and a service class spend for said respective entity;

creating a plurality of clusters based upon said first travel data, said size, said destination type and said service class spend;

receiving, at said computer, second travel data associated with a new entity;

assigning, at said computer, said new entity to one of said plurality of clusters based upon said second travel data to create an assigned cluster, wherein said second travel data comprises said air carrier, said airport pair, said ticket origin and said service class; and

,

estimating, by said computer, published fares based upon travel sector pairs and travel frequency, wherein said travel sector pairs and said travel frequency are associated with at least one of said first travel data, said second travel data, or said assigned cluster;

generating, at said computer, a potential of savings (POS) for said new entity based on said assigned cluster and said published fares.

15. A system for facilitating an assessment of travel savings, said system comprising:

a computer network communicating with a memory;

said memory communicating with a processor; and

said processor, when executing a computer program, is configured to;

create a plurality of multi-dimensional travel sectors based on first travel data, wherein said first travel data is related to known entities, wherein first travel data comprises historical information including air carrier, airport pair, ticket origin and service class;

determine a size of each of said known entities, wherein size is determined as a sum of all said multi-dimensional travel sectors for each respective entity multiplied by a total travel spend for each respective entity;

determine a destination type and a service class spend for said respective entity;

create a plurality of clusters based upon said first travel data, said size, said destination type and said service class spend;

receive second travel data associated with a new entity;

assign said new entity to one of said plurality of clusters based upon said second travel data to create an assigned cluster, wherein said second travel data comprises said air carrier, said airport pair, said ticket origin and said service class; and

,

estimate published fares based upon travel sector pairs and travel frequency, wherein said travel sector pairs and said travel frequency are associated with at least one of said first travel data, said second travel data, or said assigned cluster;

generate a potential of savings (POS) for said new entity based on said assigned cluster and said published fares.