Meetings technology platform Troop, which this year shortened its name from TroopTravel, is in the midst of a pilot program offering the service though travel management company Egencia, Troop co-founder Dennis Vilovic told BTN. If successful, Troop would roll out the new offering to customers on a larger scale in 2021.
Troop's platform locates cost-efficient meeting destinations based on attendees' origin points and corporate travel policies. Neither Vilovic nor Egencia offered further details of the pilot, but Vilovic said other TMCs are exploring ways to integrate the Troop service.
"By having a platform which pulls a lot of different data points together, you can provide a better service to your customers," he said of TMCs. "It is a key focus for next year to build that ecosystem of partners to offer this seamless experience of an end-to-end solution for the customer."
Just prior to the pandemic, Troop added local transportation options to its platform, including public transit, rail and car for consideration when determining an optimal meeting location. During the pandemic, Troop rebranded, improved its user interface and user experience, and enhanced its product, Vilovic said.
"The big thing that has changed is the way we look at meetings and events," Vilovic said. "We've developed a scientific methodology around planning and addressing what we call the four Ss: safety, service, sustainability and savings. We feel these are four key criteria for any meeting planning."
Troop now feeds different data points in each of these four categories, he said, and those points can be rated. Figures for each category is aggregated into one score, with which users can rank locations.
"The end result the technology produces is a very personal result for [a client's] specific use case," he said, adding that Troop takes into account travel restrictions in finding destinations. Once a destination is selected, "[planners] can talk to their meeting participants and tell them that the planning is based on data points, and they can say why they made certain decisions. Companies are able to really empower their travelers with confidence to actually have meetings again. [Because] there is no doubt that virtual cannot replace certain elements of in-person interactions, which is the basis of business travel or meetings and events—the relationship building, the networking. It's very difficult to achieve virtually."
Vilovic claimed Troop since January has tripled its customers, tripled its workforce from three to nine, and has seen an increase in year-over-year revenues.
"We are fortunate," Vilovic said. "When I talk to people, everyone thinks that since we are in the meeting and event space, that we are suffering. But we were lucky that in our case, that was not the case."
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