Ground transportation mobility platform Jyrney earned the judges' top honors at the 2022 Business Travel Innovation Faceoff at Business Travel Show Europe in London.
The judging panel—which included Microsoft travel technology Steve Clagg, Service Now EMEA regional travel manager Carine Morin, EY innovation and technology leader Ian Spearing and Jack Dow, CEO of Grapevine and the winner of last year's faceoff—rated Jyrney the highest among nine competing presenters at the show. Clagg said the company is "poised to become the advanced decision engine for picking, managing and buying all ground transportation."
Manchester, U.K.-based Jyrney has developed an API as well as a white-labeled platform that can connect travel professionals to thousands of available ground transportation options, including taxis, chauffeured vehicles and car rental suppliers. Last month, it partnered with the U.K.'s Advantage Travel Partnership to launch a mobility hub through which Advantage's travel management company members can offer bookings to clients via Jyrney.
The judging panel praised Jyrney's data aggregation capabilities, application of advanced analytics and its rebooking capabilities, which can monitor dispatch data and move travelers to a different provider if their service is running late. They encouraged Jyrney to expand around its sustainability options and consider adding capabilities to include in-house mobility options, such as corporate shuttles.
Jyrney CEO Daniel Price, who presented on behalf of the company, said ground transportation presents a giant revenue opportunity for TMCs, as it currently represents less than 3 percent of all transactions. The opportunity is even stronger as companies switch to work-from-home or hybrid office setups, he said.
"The daily commute is now a weekly trip, and it's a business trip," Price said.
Judges also gave honorable mentions to two presenters: Arise, a distribution technology provider that connects hotels to TMCs and online booking tools; and TripStax, a travel technology provider that connects a variety of business apps to a central data processing core for easier integration and data management. Other presenters at the faceoff included Cytric by Amadeus, Corporate Traveler, HRS, Simard, Table4one and TripShift.