Both Navan and travel booking technology Vibe have
separately announced launches of Model Context Protocol servers that enable
functionality through users' preferred AI environments.
Navan initially is deploying its MCP—a
standard that lets AI models connect to external data sources and software—as
a "read-only experience" for travel data, letting travel and finance
administrators use conversational prompts in Claude, ChatGPT and other
MCP-compatible systems to query about their data with conversational prompts.
For example, they could ask for a summary of each department's spend by
category for a certain period or could ask to identify which global team has
the highest out-of-policy spending level, according to Navan.
Eventually, Navan will broaden capabilities to allow expense
approvals and travel policy updates through the systems as well as
travel-booking capabilities, the company said.
"Navan’s MCP is an important step in bringing our
entire ecosystem directly into employees' everyday workflows," Navan
Travel Marketplace SVP Dane Molter said in a statement. "We’ve built this
using over a decade of Navan’s data, making it one of the most context-aware
MCPs for travel and setting the stage for even more functionality in the
future."
Vibe, which provides online booking technology to travel
management companies and other travel sellers and resellers, also has launched
an MCP server, enabling corporate travelers to book and manage travel through
their preferred AI platforms, including ChatGTP, Claude and Microsoft Copilot,
the company announced. Travelers can use the tools to search flights, hotels
and rail options, book and pay for travel, manage itineraries and connect with
corporate travel policy information while staying connected to TMCs' approved
content and processes.
The MCP layer lets TMCs offer clients AI travel search
without having to build their own AI infrastructure, the company said.
"This is not about replacing the TMC," Vibe
co-founder and chief technical officer Matthew Chapman said in a statement. "It
is about giving TMCs the tools to remain central, relevant and competitive as
booking behavior changes."
U.K.-based TMC ITG Business Travel is Vibe's first client
live with the technology, and the TMC currently is testing it with corporate
clients, according to Vibe. In a statement, ITG Business Travel managing
director Mat Cook said the MCP server "gives us the ability to compete in
a rapidly evolving AI landscape without the significant investment and
technical resource usually required to build this type of capability in-house."