TripActions Debuts Savings Suite For Corporate Travel

TripActions is rolling out a new savings suite to help corporates access discounts, cost-controls and other tools, a Thursday (May 27) blog post said.

Called “Hello, Savings,” the program intends to try and bridge the gap for corporate travel payment needs as the world recovers from the worst of the pandemic.

One feature will include automating the transference of tickets that aren’t being used. According to the blog post, there’s around $10 billion in unused ticket value from COVID-19-related cancellations last year. Ten percent of them have already expired.

Under the usual rules, only the original traveler can use the unused ticket. However, TripActions stats showed that many unused tickets have the names of travelers who aren’t employed by those companies anymore. The new feature will help transfer tickets to an active employee.

Another feature of “Hello, Savings” involves the soft dollar funds which operate like credits, where companies apply them to ancillary purchases like charge fees or paid seats. TripActions’ new suite automates that process and makes it easier not to lose the soft dollar funds, which could expire without being used due to the formerly manual processes.

A third feature is cost control, with the price-to-beat feature. The blog says this feature works to measure market rates and adjust the policy based on the inventory available.

Finally, there are also exclusive discounts available, which can work for hotels, cars and flights.

TripActions Liquid general manager, Michael Sindicich, told Karen Webster that the possibility of business travel recovering seems better than ever as vaccines make it more possible to go out again. According to TripActions’ calculation, business travel was up 17 percent by late April. It had also been averaging 13 percent growth since January.

Sindicich also went on to say it was important for the new digital solutions to take hold, particularly ones that put the employee at the center for expense management, such as in its new partnership with Visa. The partnership will also make it easier to issue cards.