Online bed bank Laterooms is to launch a new service targeting the corporate travel sector with the promise of no booking or modification fees.
The brand, which part of the TUI Group travel firm, said that it was offering a “fully-integrated” online platform for companies, which would “challenge traditional travel management solutions”.
Laterooms.com for Business will be fully unveiled later this year but the company said it was releasing “key functionality” ahead of this launch in the autumn. The UK-based online travel agency first set up a business travel service in 2006.
Greg Mannix, Lateroom’s head of corporate, said the move aimed to “raise the bar” in travel management.
“After building up years of expertise in the corporate travel industry, we know exactly what these customers are looking for,” he said.
Features to be offered as part of the first-phase launch include a new automated tool to help clients claim VAT expenses from hotel stays.
There will be a new account area allowing users to make online bookings, including access to corporate rates, and a summary section detailing all travel activity. Users can also set up a credit account that will be billed at the end of every month.
Laterooms is offering discounts on parking and taxis for corporate clients through partnerships with suppliers such as NCP and Cabfind.
Mannix added that the new service would “streamline the corporate booking experience, and provide very significant cost savings for our clients”.
“This first stage of improvements will pave the way for the full service launching later this year,” he added.
Laterooms said that the full corporate travel service will include data analysis tools to enable the reporting and managing of budgets and spending, as well as providing management information data and a new rewards system for clients.
The OTA is currently up for sale after parent company TUI said in May that it wanted to “divest” LateRooms.