JPMorgan Takes Connected Commerce to Travel

JPMorgan Chase is putting together its own full-service travel business, The Wall Street Journal wrote Saturday (July 30).

JPMorgan has been bought a booking system, a restaurant review company and a luxury travel agent. The bank, one of the flagship U.S. financial institutions, has also built its own airport lounges and hired thousands of travel agents. And there will be a new website launched as well.

It’s all happening as the travel industry becomes ever more important for banks and credit card issuers.

The WSJ report said JPMorgan executives think the bank might be able to capture $15 billion in bookings in 2025, which would be five times what it handled before the recent purchases. That would make it the third-biggest travel agent in the country, based on 2021 volumes, per stats from Travel Weekly.

The report noted that this is still far smaller than the parent companies of the top two travel agents, Booking.com and Expedia — both of which manage more than $70 billion.

JPMorgan’s goal is to turn the travel customers into “lifelong Chase fans” who will spend more with the bank.

JPMorgan also already has a stake in travel, with its credit cards letting customers build up travel rewards and cashing them through the bank’s Ultimate Rewards booking site.

See also: JPMorgan Says US Consumer in ‘Great Shape’ but Macro Is Deteriorating

PYMNTS wrote that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said on a recent earnings call that U.S. consumers are “in great shape” even if the economy does go into a recession.

“Even if we go in a recession, they’re entering that recession with less leverage in far better shape than they did in ’08 and ’09 and far better shape than they did even in 2020,” he said.