Explore the full feature comparison
Compare the most popular travel management systems today.
Explore the pros and cons of Egencia's corporate travel management system and compare it to alternatives like Goodwings
Egencia, now part of Amex GBT, is a leading corporate travel management platform offering to simplify the complexities of business travel, aiming to provide corporate travelers with a seamless travel experience. However, there are areas where Egencia may not be the best fit for every organization. In this article, we’ll explore Egencia’s features, its strengths and limitations, and compare it to other popular travel management software for SMEs, like Goodwings.
What Egencia offers
Egencia is a well-established, comprehensive corporate travel management platform designed to streamline and simplify business travel, providing global reach and 24/7 support.Comprehensive Travel Booking
Egencia offers an all-in-one platform that supports booking flights, hotels, car rentals, and trains. Egencia also offers a mobile app allowing employees to manage bookings on the go, as well as group and guest booking options.
Reporting & analytics
The platform includes detailed reporting and analytics features that help businesses track travel spending, identify trends, and optimize travel budgets - admin users can build custom reports online.
Customizable approval flows
Egencia offers robust approval workflows that help businesses manage travel bookings efficiently. These features include multi-level approvals, AI-powered recommendations, real-time notifications, and customizable criteria to ensure compliance with company policies. The approval workflows are included as part of their standard service offering, with no additional cost specified.
24/7 Customer Support
Egencia provides round-the-clock support for travelers. Support is available via chat, email, or phone, and agents can access travelers' itineraries and company policies to make informed decisions. Additionally, Egencia offers AI-powered chat support, allowing travelers to receive immediate assistance.
While Egencia offers a solid basic plan, offering an end-to-end travel booking platform, 24/7 service, and advanced financial reporting features, there are significant areas businesses should be aware of before choosing the TMS.
What you should know before choosing Egencia
Additional costs
Certain Egencia functionalities, such as adding additional travelers and roles, custom reporting, policy integrations, risk alerts and account management, require higher-tier plans or additional fees. This tiered pricing structure can lead to unexpected costs for businesses seeking comprehensive tools without clear upfront pricing.
A user reported that Egencia agent calls could quickly add up: "The cost of the call-in assistance is steep, if you have teammates that are not tech-friendly and prefer to call in, this will add up. As well as if you need to call to have receipts pulled this can pile up as well. " (G2 review)
Lack of price transparency
Egencia's pricing model has been a point of contention for some businesses due to its lack of transparency and the additional costs associated with advanced features, as well as missing booking details and several price combinations, confusing travel bookers.
In contrast, Goodwings ensures transparency in pricing, without hidden fees. Our simple, customizable pricing structure shows you exactly what you get. You can check it out here.
User experience and booking confusion
Egencia offers a comprehensive travel management platform, but many users report significant usability challenges, particularly with its interface and booking system. The platform's interface is often described as clunky and non-intuitive, especially when handling more complex bookings (G2 review).
Booking confusion is also a commonly reported issue, with several users reporting that their reservations appeared to be confirmed, but later discovered they had not been finalized. One user shared, "I have faced situations in which my booking was not fully confirmed on Egencia, as the interface can be confusing to navigate at times. You want to ensure that all bookings are fully verified and not discover the day before your trip that your booking was not confirmed." (G2 review).
Other users have reported a similar issue: "Hotel I had booked a month earlier in their app, it turned out was not actually booked. Only found out when I arrived at the hotel after a long day. All rooms were full." (Trustpilot review)
Other customer feedback reviews list issues around lacking information, citing issues from not knowing which class you are booking, or missing important information in your itinerary (G2 review).
Technical glitches are another issue, with users frequently encountering error messages such as, "We were unable to complete your booking. Please try again later." (G2 review).
Limited sustainability features
As businesses increasingly prioritize corporate travel sustainability tools, many corporate travel management platforms like Egencia, TravelPerk, and Goodwings have integrated sustainability features. However, Egencia's sustainability offerings are limited compared to its competitors, who provide more robust tools for tracking and reducing carbon footprints.Egencia is strong in financial data - but not in emissions data. The sustainability features offered on Egencia is limited to basic carbon emission reporting features and displayed carbon footprint for flight options. Travelers do not have access to their own emission overviews or company targets.
Egencia recently introduced an updated carbon emissions calculation tool based on the calculation methodology from IATA, and have partnered with climate technology company Chooose to offer data measurement and carbon compensation opportunities, as well as Avelia, an independent platform offering companies help with scaling the use of SAF.
Though options are now becoming available for companies that need more granular emissions data, measurements, and offsetting, these premium sustainability features come at a hefty annual cost.
Goodwings, on the other hand, provides a compliance-ready sustainability suite. With one-click ESG-ready reporting, CO2 dashboards, AI-powered emissions tracking tools, and even the option to co-finance Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), Goodwings provides comprehensive tools for organizations seeking to minimize their environmental impact.
Limited support for small to medium-sized businesses
While Egencia offers a comprehensive travel management solution tailored for businesses of all sizes, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) might find certain aspects less aligned with their specific needs.
- No free trials or free plans: For small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), one of the key challenges with Egencia is the lack of free trials or free plans. This can be a significant barrier for smaller companies that want to test the platform before committing to a long-term contract. Without the ability to explore the platform's features in real-world conditions, SMEs may feel pressured to commit to a plan without fully understanding how it aligns with their needs.
- Increased prices and limited access: Egencia’s pricing structure has increased over the past two years, particularly for smaller clients. Many companies may find that the initial costs are not fully representative of the ongoing expenses. With the acquisition of Egencia by American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), there is the potential for further price hikes or additional charges for premium features that were previously included. For SMEs operating on tighter budgets, this unpredictability can cause difficulties when trying to manage their travel expenses.
- Implementation and customization: Egencia’s setup process and customization requirements are extensive, and for smaller companies with fewer resources, the level of customization might be overkill. The time and investment needed to fully integrate Egencia into their travel program could result in inefficiencies and wasted resources, especially for SME's who may prefer a simpler, more intuitive platform that doesn’t require extensive negotiations, customization, or long-term commitments.
- Limited account management for smaller clients
Egencia offers account management and onboarding help for companies of all sizes. However, the availability and associated cost can vary based on your company's size and specific needs. While larger organizations get access to dedicated account managers for onboarding support, optimization of travel programs, and consultative services, if your travel spend is less than ~1M Euro annually, you'll have access to very limited account management, and these services will come at an additional cost.
Comparing Goodwings and Egencia
-
-
Egencia
|
|
Egencia |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Book flights, hotels, cars and trains |
|
|
|
Built-in policy controls |
|
|
|
Unlimited amount of roles, approval processes and custom fields |
|
|
|
24/7 agent support |
|
|
|
CO2 forecasting and reduction features |
|
 Feature is only available on certain plans or for an additional fee. |
|
Set up Carbon Budget |
|
|
|
Multi-factor emissions reporting |
|
Feature is only available on certain plans or for an additional fee. |
|
Log mileage and external bookings |
|
|
|
CO2 dashboard for travelers |
|
|
Looking for Egencia alternatives? Maybe Goodwings' award-winning travel management is for you.
If your organization is looking for an Egencia alternative that offers better sustainability features, cost transparency, white-glove service, high adoption and a more user-friendly experience, Goodwings might be the solution for you.
Goodwings seamlessly combines modern corporate travel management software with powerful tools designed to reduce your company’s environmental impact, without compromising on operational efficiency. Here's why Goodwings could be the best fit for your business:
Key Features of Goodwings
Cost Transparency and free plan
Goodwings has no hidden charges for advanced tools like unlimited travel policies, travel budget setting, or emissions reporting - our plans offer more features than any other in the market, in one easy-to-understand cost structure. Our free starter plan is perfect for any company that want to explore our platform, giving companies of all sizes an opportunity to use our core features at no cost.
Award-winning booking experience
Goodwings offers an award-winning booking experience, with a 95% average travel system adoption rate, and can onboard you in as little as 2 weeks.
Unlimited policies and customization
Goodwings offers unlimited travel policies, approval processes, custom fields, travelers, roles and more, on any plan, making it a great choice for SMEs looking for a flexible and easy-to-use travel management solution.
Self-service booking and in-app cancellation and changes
The Goodwings app enables you to book for yourself or others, change and cancel trips, see past and upcoming trip itineraries, check loyalty programmes and more, making it the perfect trip companion for employees on-the-go.
Expansive travel inventory and Low cost options
Our platform offers an unrivaled content library including GDS, NDC, and LLC, and lets you book air, rail, car, and hotels for yourself and others.
Comprehensive Sustainability Suite
From automated carbon reporting, easy carbon budget setups, ESG-ready reports at the click of a button, to AI predictive emissions tools and behavioural nudging, Goodwings offers tools that help organisations monitor, reduce, and offset travel emissions effectively. In addition to Goodwings' full sustainability suite, Goodwings also has optional co-financing options for SAF at reduced costs, ensuring your organisation can proactively support more responsible flying.
Your business travel should be future proof
Whether you're managing small team trips or scaling global operations, choosing the right travel management platform makes a significant difference in efficiency, cost control, and sustainability.
While Egencia offers a comprehensive solution for corporate travel management, it may not be the best fit for every business. For forward-thinking organizations, especially those looking for transparency, flexibility, sustainability features, and an intuitive user experience, Goodwings may be a stronger choice.
Book a demo today to see how Goodwings can help your business manage travel while promoting responsible travel practices.
Streamline your business travel with Goodwings
Get a quick intro to the Goodwings platform with our on-demand video demo.
