Navan is targeting unmanaged business travellers with a new AI travel assistant app, Navan Edge, built on Navan's data and infrastructure.
Navan Edge – free to any traveller, making it open to business travellers whose companies are not on the Navan platform – lets travellers book "hyper-personalised" trips via chat in the app, based on traveller preferences, loyalty programmes and itinerary parameters, according to Navan.
The app will also be able to manage disruptions, such as rebooking a seat, alerting a hotel of a late arrival and moving a dinner reservation when a flight is cancelled. Users have access to human support agents when necessary, according to Navan.
As of its launch announcement on Monday, Edge is available in the US and is able to support only hotel bookings. Expansion to manage flight bookings and restaurant reservations will "roll out soon," according to a Navan spokesperson.
Navan estimates the potential market of individual business travellers at $56 billion, and Navan CEO and co-founder Ariel Cohen said the company is well-positioned to deliver a large language model tool for travel, with its data from millions of bookings made by 10,000 companies.
"That conversational interface needs to operate on top of unbelievably complex infrastructure connecting hundreds of suppliers, global travel infrastructure that Navan spent a decade to perfect to an enterprise scale," Cohen said in a statement. "Navan Edge is built to deliver what business travellers value most: the confidence that their trip will match their standards and specific needs, the ability to be productive on the go, and the freedom to enjoy the journey."
The app joins a growing field of business-travel-focused travel assistant technology offerings. FCM re-launched SAM in August as a travel assistant but without a booking component. BizTrip.AI launched last summer and recently drew a minority investment by Sabre Corp.
Steve Singh's Madrona Venture Group is competing with Otto the Agent, which opened up to wider use last December after nine months of beta testing, offering bookings and travel management with integrations from Spotnana and Booking.com.
Meanwhile, Amadeus last week acquired AI corporate travel assistant SkyLink, with plans to "enhance and extend" its capabilities and North American customer base.