With a combined travel booking and management platform and a long list of clients already, Barcelona-based TravelPerk appears to be already making its mark in the business travel market. BTiQ spoke to co-founder and CEO Avi Meir.
When were you launched?
TravelPerk was founded in January 2015.
How many people are working for the company?
There are currently around 150 employees, which is 220% growth in one year.
Sum up what your company/product does in one sentence
TravelPerk is a next generation, all-in-one, travel booking and management platform, covering everything from booking to accounting and reporting, all in one place.
Why is it unique?
We have the largest bookable inventory, as our platform integrates to multiple GDS platforms and most major leisure travel website meta-search engines. So users have every booking option that is available anywhere, with the most competitive rates.
Our #1 rated customer support team sit in our offices, and are treated as a core part of the business and company mission.
Our all-in-one platform covers everything from booking to reporting, where all travel management can be done in one place — cutting down on time and upping savings. Users are able to search and book in the same platform, as opposed to being redirected. Travel managers are able to get actionable insights into travel activity and spend with our advanced reporting function. Travellers get trusted support for anything from changing a flight to lost baggage, which can be requested either through the platform or by calling us.
As far as we know, we are the only ones with a truly robust option to book trains across the EU, inside the platform, without limited inventory or redirects.
Moreover, we offer unique features such as a single itinerary, travel expense app integrations and free changes and cancellation services at no additional cost. As part of the experience, our concierge service allows special requests to be added to a booking for no extra charge, such as a vegetarian meal, a special room request or a late checkout.
What problem does it solve?
There's space to optimise in an industry still dominated by traditional travel agents, TMCs, as well as legacy corporate booking tools, and to significantly improve user experience, integration, inventory and pricing.
TravelPerk sets a completely different standard of travelling for business, with an easy to use platform, which puts travel managers back in control. With less micromanagement, less overhead, and more visibility and control, while liberating the travellers to travel as they please (within policy), and turning business travel management into a task users actually enjoy.
What platforms is it available on/can integrate with?
Our inventory comes directly from dozens of direct integrations to multiple GDS platforms like Amadeus and Travelport, online leisure travel sites like Expedia and Booking.com, and meta search engines like Skyscanner.
We offer integrations to expense tools like Expensify and Google apps, and we are experienced in developing custom integrations for bigger enterprise customers, that are specifically designed for each business' individual needs, such as expense management tools, accounting, or HR directories.
What markets is it available in?
TravelPerk is available globally, and the platform is currently localised in English, Spanish, German, and French. We have customers in over 50 countries, and support is also available anytime, anywhere.
Which companies are using it already?
We currently have more than 1,000 customers, mid-market, and they range from SMEs to small enterprises. From some of the world's fastest growing start-ups including Typeform, GetYourGuide, N26, Hotjar, Blinkist, to companies well over the 1000 employees line including Transferwise and Adyen, to companies such as CityJet, Volotea and Uber.
What do travel managers/companies like about it?
We save the time wasted in searching multiple websites for the best deal, endless emails back and forth with travel agents and travellers, and struggling to get employees to comply with policy or having to book for them to make sure.
With TravelPerk, users can find the best travel options all in one place - search, book, pay, invoice, report, without ever leaving the app. All employees' travel documents and preferences are already in the system and easy to manage, and booking a trip for five people is a simple drag and drop. Support is provided 24/7 via phone, email or chat, so travellers and travel managers can rest assured.
Our inbuilt policy and approval workflows allow travel managers to configure their travel policies once, and then let the programme run on "autopilot". Travellers can book for themselves while policy is always respected, saving a lot of time and effort, offering travellers the flexibility and freedom they seek. Companies can customise spending limits and workflows, to allow employees to book their own travel with predefined and transparent booking preferences. Travel managers no longer have to micromanage travellers, while they get better governance and control over budget and spending.
The visibility of the platform keeps them constantly informed with access to all travel data, and with only one monthly invoice we drastically reduce their workload.
Why do travellers like it?
The traveller can self-book their preferred option (or call customer services if they prefer) and they have the freedom to choose from anything, and buy it at a click as long as it is within policy.
They then have full visibility and access to their itinerary and live support. Customers can come straight to our customer support team, rather than delaying time and creating extra work by putting in the call to their travel manager.
What are your growth plans?
Our growth plans are as aggressive as they have been to date. We were recently mentioned as the fastest growing SaaS company in EU and 7th in the world by Saas1000. We are transitioning from a start-up in corporate travel to a contender for market leader, and our vision is to eventually become the biggest corporate travel platform in the market.
We are growing 30% month over month and will maintain this growth rate for at least another year. We are expanding our global presence and opening offices in new countries this year, starting in Europe.
We plan for employee size to almost double this year.