Israel-based technology company Combtas is targeting the UK corporate travel market by opening an office in London.
Combtas, which was founded in 2007, has created a series of business travel tools including pre-trip budget management and expense reporting, travel data analysis and an online booking system linked to companies’ policies and negotiated rates.
The company has already signed deals with the major GDS operators including Sabre’s corporate booking tool Get There.
Combtas’ CEO Avi Krudo (pictured) said: “We wanted to enter the UK because it’s very smart market - we know that customers are looking for such solutions through their TMCs which can save money through control and approval processes.”
Krudo said that the system concentrated on ensuring pre-trip approval by checking bookings to ensure they comply with corporate policy and budget limits as well as using any appropriate negotiated rates.
“It’s all about pre-trip approval and ensuring budget control,” said Krudo. “With most solutions everything is looked at after the trip rather than before.
“By checking the booking before the trip, the customer can save money. We have around 300 customers globally which have made an average saving of 23 per cent on their travel budgets since working with us.”
Krudo added that the system gave travel managers more visibility on what their travellers were doing.
“The travel manager will see what you choose and also which options within policy that you decided not to choose,” he said.
“They will also be able to see the bigger picture – for example: if you do last-minute bookings within four to five days of travel then it’s very expensive but if you book 10 days before travel then the cost goes down 30 per cent.”
Krudo said it was planning to be “aggressive” within the UK market and then wanted to move into the US.
combtas.com