Provider: Serko
Company Type: Technology provider
Regions Served: North America
Target Market Segment: Unmanaged travelers, SMEs
Corporate Users: Pilot launch with U.S-based SMEs
Total Users/Seats: Unknown
Total Annual Bookings: Not fully launched for enterprise users
Total Transaction Volume Annually: Not fully launched for enterprise users
Set Up / Implementation Fees: None
Ongoing Fixed Charges: None
Transaction Charges: 3 percent protection and support fee
Update Frequency: Continual release
EXECUTIVE TEAM
- Darrin Grafton, CEO
- Matt Gerrie, COO
- David Holyoke, Chief Product Officer
- Brett Dowling, VP Revenue NORAM
- Jo Phipps, SVP Product Corporate
- Nick Whitehead, CMO
[Editor's Note: Serko represents Zeno, GetThere (acquired from Sabre in Jan. 2025), Booking.com for Business and Serko.ai. According to the company, the combined Zeno and GetThere tools support 900,000 user seats and transact 9 million bookings annually. These tools, however, are not the future for Serko. The company is in the midst of developing Serko.ai, which it has positioned as an eventual replacement for both Zeno and GetThere. Serko.ai has been in beta testing phases since April 2026 with individual users, with a focus on the traveler experience. The company displayed demos of both the traveler interface and the program administrator interface at the Global Business Travel Association conference in August. Serko.ai exited beta in October and began taking pilot users for U.S.-based programs. The company chose to profile Serko.ai in the long-form information below.
A BTN interview with chief product officer David Holyoke earlier this month revealed a lot of vision, but also much to build on the roadmap before it could support enterprise users. Additionally, Holyoke said the company initially would configure the tool to enable Serko to go direct to corporates and not require a TMC partner; that said, the direct-to-corporate version will have human agent support for “edge case” bookings and World Travel Inc. is currently providing that. World Travel also partners with Serko.ai for on-trip and after hours service. It has adopted the platform to power its own new SME booking platform Spree.
Given Serko.ai's very recent launch into SME-oriented pilot programs, BTN was unable to speak to active users at the time of publication. The feedback from buyers and consultants focuses on the capabilities of Zeno, GetThere or both. Serko executives said working with customers and users of the legacy tools shaped the development of Serko.ai.]
WHAT THE COMPANY SAYS
According to the company, Serko.ai is a "self-running travel program" built from the ground up—not on legacy Zeno or GetThere code—on a network of specialized AI agents to remove manual approval chains and legacy friction. A supervisory “personal assistant” agent hands tasks to dozens of specialist agents for flights, hotels, policy, loyalty and more. A context agent allows users to pick up where they left off days later.
The platform's interface is split into two panels, with chat on one side and results on the other. It works on a single process: prompt, results, checkout, with everything in a single cart.
Travelers describe trip needs in plain language and receive a detailed list of five options tailored to their preferred air carriers, seats, hotels and loyalty programs, with the ability to either refine choices conversationally or view full results. Rather than blocking out-of-policy options, it ranks them lower with explanations, allowing bookings to proceed while giving administrators alerts and audit visibility.
Traveler profiles combine fixed details with preferences that adapt over time based on booking behavior. For example, optimizing results for a traveler that has a stated preference for 6 a.m. flights but consistently chooses an 11 a.m. flight.
Serko.ai provides travel managers with a dedicated AI chat assistant interface where they can ask questions about current travel spend in plain language, pull spend reports on demand, locate where employees will be over the next 48 hours. An admin console also allows managers to control user access.
The platform interprets travel policy from uploaded documents or plain text, flagging contradictions and suggesting fixes for gaps.
Serko.ai monitors itineraries for flight changes and shortlists rebooking options before travelers reach the gate. It offers "stress-free cancellation" in partnership with Hopper, providing full cash refunds to a traveler's organization for flight cancellations made up to three hours before departure or hotel cancellations made before check-in. This began as a free offering, but now carries a small fee per booking—even if the service is not used. However, that same capability allows Serko.ai to automate exchanges, modifications and cancellations, without the need for a human touch or agent-assist fee.
Content Strategy
In its initial launch, Serko.ai delivers only air and hotel content. Executives say rail and car rental are coming and that they will be incorporated into multi-modal itineraries, allowing the agent to compare flying, driving and train travel based on traveler needs and organizational priorities.
Air & NDC: In its initial launch, Serko.ai is pulling its air content from aggregators. It expects to add direct connect relationships with carriers during Q4 2026.
Hotel: [Editor’s note: BTN currently has a question out to Serko on this section. It was unclear whether the information provided referred to an overall content strategy for Zeno and GetThere, or if it was specific to Serko.ai]
Innovation & Roadmap Claims
According to executives, Serko.ai’s product development moves through distinct, staged rollout cycles to transition corporate travel from a rules-heavy administrative burden into a self-running, conversational program.
Serko.ai, which currently only features air and hotel content, expects to add car rental and rail in Q4 2026. World Travel is an authorized reseller and Serko's agreements with additional TMCs that already resell Zeno or GetThere will gradually be re-contracted to extend the relationships to Serko.ai.
Serko is currently developing an interactive policy workspace for line-by-line natural language policy editing, a trip review and audit view with benchmarked price-distribution charts across four key travel areas and a program adoption report that tracks compliance against available alternatives over time. It expects to roll out admin-initiated cancellation to allow travel managers to cancel non-compliant bookings.
The company says in the future, users will be able to engage with the agent through voice, email, Slack, WhatsApp and other preferred channels. Serko is also exploring integrations with workplace assistants and advanced AI models. Serko.ai's architecture is designed to make its technology easy to embed in other platforms.
WHAT CONSULTANTS SAY
Consultants were unable to provide detailed feedback on Serko.ai owing to its recent launch. Instead, they provided feedback on GetThere or Zeno.
Consultants said GetThere was once a market leader, stable and highly configurable for policy and approval rules, custom messaging and branding. Its lack of innovation and resultant gaps in functionality have led to drops in usage during the past decade. "It has not really adapted to the wide range of content channels that are needed in a modern platform," one consultant told BTN. Another posited that Serko's acquisition of GetThere may help the company gain a stronger foothold in the North American market for rolling out its newer tools.
Consultants said Zeno's hotel content from Booking.com is a "genuine asset." BTN assumes that asset has carried over into Serko.ai, given the close relationship between the products. But editors have an active inquiry out to understand Serko.ai’s more comprehensive hotel content strategy.
WHAT BUYERS SAY
Buyers declined to discuss the Serko.ai offering in detail, given they had only seen demos of the platform. One buyer representing a large multinational said they were skeptical about the Serko.ai's ability to service truly global clients, even as it matures. A different buyer said they didn't understand the company's strategy to launch the tool with just air and hotel content before securing rail and car rental. Buyers said they have yet to be given concrete guidance on the transition or migration away from GetThere or Zeno to Serko.ai.