Trip.Biz, the full-service travel management company powered
by online travel agency Trip.com, takes the approach of
"all-in-one" travel management—including the leisure or personally
beneficial out-of-policy components a traveler might want to add to their trip.
A judging panel at The BTN Group's inaugural Business Travel
Show Asia Pacific event last month named Trip.Biz the winner of the event's
Innovation Faceoff, with accolades given, in particular, to the TMC's ability
to separate out and keep personal charges during an employee's trip in the
system. It's part of what Trip.Biz product director Terence Eng said was the
company's strategy to extend mobility from the time of booking throughout the
entire journey, balancing the needs of the traveler and traveler manager.
"When mobility stops, leakage happens, and that applies
to both the traveler and the travel manager," Eng said.
That starts, of course, with content, with Trip.Biz making
available content from multiple global distribution systems as well as New
Distribution Capability, low-cost carriers and direct APIs. The TMC also
enables booking of rideshares, train travel and airport transfers within the
platform, ensuring those are visible and within policy, according to Eng.
To further encourage travelers to stay in-platform, Trip.Biz
has introduced a "co-payment" feature that allows travelers to pay
personally for aspects of their trip that don't fit into policy. For example,
if a traveler wants to upgrade to a premium seat on a flight or train ride that
is not allowed by their policy, Trip.Biz at the checkout page can calculate the
amount that was allowed within policy to be paid by corporate payment methods,
and the traveler can pay the difference to be paid with their personal payment
method, Eng said. A traveler similarly could pay for extra days at their hotel
themselves with the co-payment method.
"Because of all this, we keep track of everything
through the mobile app, and duty-of-care can be offered," he said.
That capability was what judges at the event highlighted in
their choice of Trip.Biz as the Faceoff winner.
"That split of business and leisure travel in the same
application allows the traveler to be able to move between their personal and
business with a clever way of splitting the costs," Avis Budget Group for
the Pacific region head of sales and past Innovation Faceoff winner Kurt
Knackstedt, one of the event's judges, said upon announcing the winner. "A
lot of people have tried to solve that in the past, but it seems like you guys
have cracked it."
Eng said such features help drive high adoption among
clients, with one global client reaching 95 percent platform-wide adoption
within two years. He said another global client reported 17 percent savings
from the OBT offers within Trip.Biz as well as in increased efficiency through
reduced reconciliation time.
Additionally, Eng said sustainability remains top of mind
for clients, and Trip.Biz has developed customized ESG reporting that clients
can use to enforce carbon budgeting at the individual or department level. If
someone reaches beyond their carbon budget, that can trigger a notification so
they can look for alternatives to stay within budget. Those budgeting controls
are currently in use with one client, and Trip.Biz plans to expand their
availability to all clients soon, Eng said.
Another upcoming development for Trip.Biz is an AI chatbot,
planned for launch in June. Trip.com Group already has an AI agent embedded in the Trip.com OTA platform, and this will expand that capability to the business side.
"As soon as the booking is made, we can offer
recommendations on the journey itself," Eng said. "If you book a
hotel in London, it can suggest restaurant recommendations around the
area."
That will also tap into the co-payment capabilities, such as
suggesting activities in an area if a traveler has extended their trip into the
weekend.
Besides Knackstedt, judges for the Innovation Faceoff
included MSD International director of JCAP operations, travel meetings card
and fleet Adeline Kang; Elvin Lee, Service Now's regional travel manager for
APJ; and global corporate travel professional Pramod Shetty. Other participants
in the Faceoff included Acai Travel, Travog Corporate Travel, WegoPro and
Zenmer.