CTM enhances Lightning with new seat maps and smarter rail reservations

Corporate Travel Management (CTM) has unveiled a major upgrade to its Lightning online booking tool, introducing seat maps and advanced reservation features for UK rail. 

This development sees a shift in the corporate travel booking experience for business travellers via train. 

Through its partnership with Evolvi, CTM has completed migration to the Rail Delivery Group’s new Rail Availability and Reservation Service (RARS).

It now has new functionality that makes rail travel easier to plan, book and manage. 

With the launch of seat maps, Lightning users will now be able to view and select their preferred seats directly at the time of booking.

The upgrade also introduces the ability to reserve seats near colleagues when travelling together, further enhancing collaboration and productivity for teams on the move. 

This move by the firm also sees it among the first UK travel management companies to adopt this new RARS-powered functionality.

“Rail travel is a critical part of the corporate travel mix, and business travellers rightly expect the same level of choice and transparency as they do when booking flights or hotels,” said Michael Healy, CEO of EMEA at CTM. 

“By integrating seat maps and smarter reservation tools into Lightning, we’re making the booking process more intuitive, efficient and traveller-friendly, while ensuring organisations maintain visibility and control over their travel spend.”