Kayak for Business has rolled out its complete new corporate offering, having signed up more than 3,000 companies since soft launching the product in February this year.
The free solution aggregates travel content from more than 2,000 sites and is now available in 60 markets and 28 languages.
The tool includes expense integration, an approvals process, reporting, price predictions and Kayak-sourced discounted corporate rates, while content includes air travel, hotels, car rental and rail bookings. Further ground transport options “will also be available soon”, said a Kayak for Business spokesperson.
Corporate travel policy can be applied to air and hotel bookings, “with cars and trains becoming available soon,” they added.
Unlike many business travel solutions Kayak for Business does not offer customer service. Amendments, cancellations and refunds must instead be processed via the provider with which a booking was made rather than by Kayak.
“This is a big reason that our service is free at the basic level,” said the spokesperson. “Our users can rely on existing customer service options, including supplier direct, online travel agencies, or utilise integrated higher service level providers for international flights with dedicated VIP service agents, such as business-class.com. We allow the user to determine the choice according to their needs, rather than paying for each employee/trip.”
Users are not able to load their own negotiated corporate rates, but Kayak negotiates and offers its own discounted rates, “providing a cost and time-effective solution that’s ideal for small and medium enterprises who might not have the resources to manage this directly.”
The organisation says global searches for mid-week travel this autumn are down around 40 per cent compared to 2019 but are up approximately 150 per cent compared to 2020.
In research commissioned by Kayak and conducted by YouGov, 44 per cent of Britons believe business travel is already back or will return by the end of the year.
“Domestic business travel should resume this September, assuming vaccination and infection trends remain on track,” said Steve Hafner, CEO Kayak. “Kayak’s ready to help with new tools and services for travellers and businesses alike.”
“When travel came to nearly a full stop in 2020, it gave us an unexpected runway to think about the future of business travel,” said Hafner. “Business travellers and their employers in a post-Covid world will demand even more flexibility, competitive prices and easy ways to blend business and leisure travel.”