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Avenir

Score7.2 out of 10

8 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Avenir?

Direct Travel is a business travel management provider supporting corporate travel management companies in the U.S. Avenir: Travel Edition is a travel platform powered by technology from Spotnana and backed by Direct Travel’s service.

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Categories & Use Cases

Product Demos

Avenir Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Avenir has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 8 ratings of Avenir's features
View all Avenir features

Top Performing Features

  • Reuses Traveler Information

    The service offers a means of saving and reusing individual traveler information to make it easier to book future travel for the same traveler.

    Category average: 6.8

  • Loyalty Programs

    The service implements its own loyalty program and/or allows users to participate in established hotel/airline loyalty programs.

    Category average: 7

  • Travel Alerts

    Alerts when travel changes along an itinerary with SMS, a messaging application, and/or other phone channels

    Category average: 7.1

Areas for Improvement

  • Consolidated Invoicing

    Centralized invoicing and payment features so users can price travel and pay for their itineraries using multiple payment methods.

    Category average: 5.9

  • Centralized Itinerary Management

    A centralized place for users to manage their entire travel itinerary.

    Category average: 6.5

  • Readily Available Support

    Support teams readily available to help resolve any booking-related issues, or general questions about the product.

    Category average: 5.6

Avenir Reviews

What users are saying about Avenir.
View all Avenir reviews

Pros

  • Centralized platform for all business travel reservations and costs
  • User-friendly and intuitive online booking interface for flights and hotels
  • Effective enforcement of company travel policies through customizable restrictions

Cons

  • Inconsistent customer service responsiveness, especially for off-hours requests and email
  • Difficulties with booking modifications and applying flight credits
  • Frequent and uncommunicated changes in account managers

Avenir by Direct Travel review - 1-year user.

Incentivized
Frederique NijenhuisView profile
Travel Manager in Human Resources at Conrad N. Hilton Foundation (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have now used Avenir for a little over a year and are very happy with it. It is much more intuitive and easier to navigate than our previous travel booking platform. It is very responsive, and accurate and we get real-time data. Finding detailed info on airplane equipment, the various rates, seating, etc is easy to find. Supported by ISOS and Sherpa (duty of care and visa info). One of the best parts is that you (the Admin) can adjust the policy and settings, add employees, etc. without having to talk to the TMC to handle that.

Pros

  • Avenir is visually pleasing and easy to navigate
  • Workflows work well and travelers can have 'arrangers', 'aprovers'
  • Direct Travel's agents are competent, responsive and friendly. DT is going all in on Avenir and have hired more, and trained their agents.
  • You can purchase seat assignments in the platform, it recognizes loyalty status.
  • The app and the desktop mirror each other and can be used interchangeably.

Cons

  • While they have a large inventory of flights and hotels (we book remote destinations), agent assistance is sometimes needed to ticket flights on small carriers.
  • DT is working on expanding their inventory. Rail service in the US or Europe is lacking.
  • Details on their itineraries can take too many scrolls or downloads to find. PDF itineraries should be better titled.

Return on Investment

  • Lower and simpler booking fees than our previous TMC
  • Happier travelers and arrangers as this is more intuitive, similar to consumer booking platforms
  • Strong reduction of hours spent on phone w/ TMC to problem solve by both Admin and travelers.
  • Short hold times on phone and they have a chat function.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

SAP Concur and American Express Global Business Travel Neo Platform

Other Software Used

UKG Ready, Salesforce Agentforce 360 for Nonprofits, Namely

Happy Travelers Easy to Navigate and Book

Incentivized
Melissa Stone
Executive Assistant + Travel Program Manager in Corporate at HGA (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization started using Avenir by Direct Travel to move towards an online travel management program. Before that we were using a small, 2-person travel agency and as our business scaled to 1,200+ people we realized we needed a different system. We've now been using Avenir for almost 1 year and have gotten great feedback from all our users. Specifically for its ease of use, great customer support and accessibility from a phone or computer.

Pros

  • Easy to review travel options and book online.
  • Accessibility to travel agents via email and phone.
  • Detailed options when it comes to hotel options with the ability to choose your preferred hotels and have local rates loaded directly into the system.

Cons

  • Adding hotel address to automated calendar appointments.
  • Improved sorting functionality on flights - like Google Flights. I often use Google Flights to source flights then go to Avenir to find/book the flights. Example: can't apply multiple sorting functions like Duration + Departure Time.

Return on Investment

  • It has taken out the middle man in travel planning, so now employees are empowered to book their own travel whenever they want.
  • It's a cost savings for our company since we're now paying one trip fee which includes changes and modifications to all pieces of a trip. Versus when we had travel agents and were charged a fee for every change made within a trip.
  • It's great for safety, being able to see when and where our travelers are at any given time.
  • It has streamlined our internal event planning process so the event planners can see when people are traveling and how much their flights are.

Usability

Other Software Used

Deltek Vantagepoint

A solid travel management solution for midsize companies.

Incentivized
Malin LucaView profile
Chief of Staff in Information Technology at Victory Live (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a growing organization of about 150 people that needs a centralized travel solution. The Avenir product provides management reporting and condition-based results by employee type, making the process much more streamlined than before.

Pros

  • Quick response times.
  • Solid management reporting.
  • Open to feedback.

Cons

  • Some flight and hotel results do not appear despite falling within the price and availability parameters.
  • Last-minute changes during off-hours are not immediate with customer service - understandable, but can be problematic.

Return on Investment

  • Streamlined reporting.
  • Centralized invoicing and payment via corporate card.
  • Customer service.

Usability

Avenir Streamlined Insightful Adaptive.

Incentivized
Verified User
Manager in Human Resources (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Avenir has proven to be a valuable resource for the firm, offering expanded content that supports a broader range of travel and booking needs. Its enhanced capabilities provide greater flexibility and a more comprehensive user experience, streamlining the booking process for our professionals. Additionally, the tool’s ability to adapt to the firm’s evolving needs is a significant strength. Its flexibility allows it to align with changing business requirements, support policy updates, and better serve the diverse needs of our teams. Overall, it is an effective solution that continues to add value through both its expanded functionality and adaptability.

Pros

  • Whenever I bring an issue to the attention of my account manager, it's quickly in front of support or development. The response is always fast, with expectations clearly set.
  • With enhanced content, I don't get the "I found it cheaper on xxx.com" emails.
  • I now have people using the tool who were previously "tool-averse." People I expected to continue using agents FOREVER.

Cons

  • We have a different approval process for international travel. I wish there were a more direct way for leadership to receive those itineraries without me having to intervene.
  • I would love to be able to simply process exchanges with a name change. We have multiple airline contracts that allow name changes. The process with Avenir is arduous. Wishing big here, it would be nice to have bookings that meet certain parameters. If all conditions are met, the canceled ticket is automatically applied to the new ticket.

Return on Investment

  • Faster bookings. Our professionals are busy! The less time they spend booking travel, the more time they have to do their job.
  • Improved reporting over our former agency. I have much better visibility into our travelers' activity, spend, and airline contract performance.
  • Improved user satisfaction in the booking process. I have a countless number of our professionals contact me to compliment the new processes.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

SAP Concur, Deem, Egencia and Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense Management

Regular Avenir user and her opinion about it.

Incentivized
Verified User
Administrative Assistant in Professional Services (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Avenir fairly regularly to book travel & hotels on behalf of my executives. The online platform is also great for quickly looking up flight and hotel pricing, and it's user-friendly for checking the status of booked trips for my whole company. Obviously, being able to use an online platform and book things myself is much easier than having to physically call a travel agency, so that's handy!

Pros

  • User-friendly platform that is easy to navigate and book, and normally shows up-to-date pricing.
  • On the rare occasions I've had to call the company in an emergency, the team member who helped me was efficient and quickly resolved the weather-related cancellation issue for my team.
  • The confirmation emails normally come within 2 hours of booking.

Cons

  • The customer experience when emailing the team is quite different from using the platform or even getting someone on the phone.
  • Email replies sometimes take 6+ hours or days, or they're not acknowledged.

Return on Investment

  • Our whole company has recently transitioned to using the platform for booking (and expense tracking), so it's been great to have all company bookings in one centralized location now.
  • Being able to go into one platform now and make changes to flights/hotels for the team has been incredibly helpful, instead of having to go through each airline and getting their login information to make changes on their behalf.
  • Again, the time spent getting loyalty logins for each airline, keeping track of them for the whole team, and then booking flights through one site and hotels through another has really streamlined the process for not only the travel arrangers but also the team who book for themselves.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

American Express Global Business Travel Meetings & Events

Other Software Used

Microsoft 365 Copilot, Dynamo Software, SS&C Intralinks DealCentre

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