Recognizing the transformative potential of NDC technology, American recently declared its commitment to offering its best third-party content solely through NDC connections. Travel management companies (TMC) without NDC-enabled technology risk missing out on a substantial 40% of the airline's content. 

"American is committed to delivering modern retailing experiences to travel retailers and corporate customers utilizing NDC technology. We can serve customers better than ever before through NDC, offering access to the best network, providing tailored product offerings, and connecting them to our premier travel rewards program, AAdvantage®"

Neil Guerin, American's managing director of Airline Retailing

With this NDC connection, airlines are able to offer personalized features and products, which drives loyalty and convenience. TravelPerk is modernizing business travel through this technology by enabling travelers and companies alike to  benefit from more flight options and lower costs compared to legacy TMCs.

Jorge de Puig, VP of product operations, highlighted TravelPerk's commitment to driving modernization in the travel industry saying, “With a focus on the traveler’s booking experience, TravelPerk has consistently been at the forefront of modern TMC technology. Our long-term NDC strategy began in 2018 with partners like Lufthansa Group, British Airways, Iberia, Air France, Vueling, Finnair and others, and we are proud to continue this commitment with our newest connections with American Airlines and Singapore Airlines. It is our top priority to provide the best experience, prices and availability for our travelers. TravelPerk is able to deliver these fares because of its technology commitments through NDC. We will continue to lead through this transformation and modernize business travel while driving IRL connections."

Attending the Business Travel Show, June 28-29? Join TravelPerk’s Jorge de Puig de Olano on June 28, 15:40-16:40 as he accompanies executives from Lufthansa Group, Visa, Parexel International and T2RL to discuss, “Disrupted distribution – how to ensure you are accessing full airline content.”

The post <strong>TravelPerk and American Airlines Provide Modern Booking Capabilities Through NDC</strong> appeared first on TravelPerk.

A space designed with inclusivity in mind

With spaces designed for each personality type including those who need to interact with colleagues while they work to those who need more quiet areas to focus; the new office is our employee’s ultimate tool for productivity.

“I believe that investing in a great physical space for our employees is worth being bold about,” said Avi Meir, CEO, TravelPerk.

“That’s why we spent time contemplating the right office for our people. We wanted to give them a space that could accommodate all working styles and encourage in-person interaction. That’s what it means to have a company culture that revolves around in-real-life. It’s about providing the tools to work in a way that makes employees more productive while creating conditions for face-to-face interactions.”

Avi Meir, CEO, TravelPerk

Located in Barcelona’s vibrant 22@ innovation district, TravelPerk’s office spans five above-ground floors with relatively fewer desks (all sit-stand) and more open spaces. A wellbeing room, a gym, and terraces on every floor provide employees with diverse spaces to work from and allows them to take breaks in more comfortable areas. 

Employees and visitors access the building through a coffee bar called THE Platform, complete with an in-house barista serving speciality coffee which serves as a warm welcome.

Sustainability as a core focus

Plants and greenery all around not only makes the space more appealing, but it also helps improve air quality in the office. On top of this, TravelPerk has implemented smart, centralized lighting control so that lights are switched off at night and on weekends to maximize energy efficiency.

Secure parking for scooters and bicycles, along with charging spaces for electric cars and scooters, means employees are encouraged to travel to work in more sustainable ways. Moreover, solar panels on the roof of the building help reduce carbon emissions.

TravelPerk believes in those in-person connections to help drive the business and its employees’ development forward. 

“We wanted to design a unique space that would inspire people to bring out the concept for this project, which was centered around ‘the journey in real life’. Each space is designed to immerse employees in an experience related to this journey and connecting in real life. The design encourages innovation, promotes hybrid work through technology, integrates the values of sustainability and well-being, and cultivates a sense of belonging among the workforce,” said Miguel Fernandez, managing director, Tetris Spain.

The post TravelPerk’s Post-Pandemic Office Design appeared first on TravelPerk.

At TravelPerk, we want to close this gap. We want to encourage women to be part of a community where gender does not define their paths. We want to provide a space where they have equal opportunities to learn and grow.  

One way we get ourselves involved is by volunteering for CodeWomen. Last Monday, we invited CodeWomen to our Barcelona HQ, where we hosted their pair-programming session to provide guidance to female students. 

What is CodeWomen?

CodeWomen is a community for women by women. Founded by MigraCode in 2020, the initiative consists of a support group for female students who aspire to enter the tech landscape. Volunteers from different organizations help these students develop their technical skills and provide career advice and tips. 

What is MigraCode?

MigraCode is a tech academy for refugees and migrants in Barcelona. It was founded in 2019 and collaborates with various schools and companies across Europe to foster labor integration and social inclusion. MigraCode aims to give equal access to education, enhance work opportunities, build a community, and provide additional support.  

What is a pair-programming session?

Codewomen hosts two types of events per month. One for networking and learning and one for pair-programming. The latter consists of organizing sessions with students and volunteer coaches to give students guidance on the industry or skills they need, work on existing or initiate new projects, and provide general tips according to their interests. 

I want to be a volunteer. Where can I sign up?

You can see more information on how to get involved here. You can also reach out to our volunteers, Alexandra Yamaui and David Volart, to hear more about their experiences.

The post Helping female students discover tech with CodeWomen appeared first on TravelPerk.

A CFO’s career path: Huw Slater’s journey from astrophysics to British Telecom (BT Group)

Huw’s journey toward becoming an experienced CFO started in a surprising place: the University of Manchester’s physics department. Building on his lifelong interest in math and science, he graduated with his BSc in Astrophysics in 2003.   

So how did he shift his focus from the stars to the C-suite? After a chance encounter with a British Telecom employee and a conversation about rugby, Huw joined the company as a new graduate and kicked off his career in finance. Beginning as a Financial Analyst, he worked his way up to eventually become a Finance Director. Subsequently, he joined cloud content management company Box as they were expanding internationally pre-IPO. He then moved to Barcelona to take a CFO role at Typeform, before becoming TravelPerk’s CFO and COO.

While astrophysics and finance may seem like very different subjects, Huw has found some interesting parallels between the two. Both require strong analytical skills, and the ability to dissect complex facts and break them down into core ideas. They also both involve curiosity and asking the right questions.

In physics, velocity is the measure of both speed and direction. This applies to business as well: to obtain results, leaders need to combine speed with focus. Startup CFOs are tasked with maintaining a strong growth trajectory in an organization with many moving parts.

Another physics concept that ties in well with an executive’s responsibilities is entropy: disorder, uncertainty, or randomness. In business terms, this means managing the many distractions that come up every day. Paraphrasing Steve Jobs, Huw says CFOs must “say ‘no’ to 999 good ideas, so they can say ‘yes’ to one great one.”

How TravelPerk overcame the pandemic challenge

The COVID-19 pandemic was a major challenge for companies in nearly every industry, and travel was particularly affected. Fortunately, TravelPerk came out strong from the pandemic, without needing to make redundancies. So how did the leadership team manage this crisis?

As Huw reports it, the TravelPerk team had scheduled a board meeting for about 10 days before the first COVID-19 lockdowns started. At that meeting, leadership had to address the uncertain reality of the pandemic at a time when few people knew what the future would look like. They put together some strategic planning for different scenarios in two phases and decided to temporarily cut marketing and freeze new hires. They then agreed to give weekly updates to board members as the situation evolved, planning to make more significant cuts in two months if circumstances demanded it.

A key consideration here was long-term thinking. For example, while layoffs might have eased financial pain in the short term, they could have also hurt the long-term health of the company. Instead, the finance team aimed to make strategic cuts in areas that represented high cost savings and low impact. They also made some surprising choices, like doubling the size of the engineering team as an investment in future business success.

Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic created a need for new types of business travel. Travel-related spend tripled in 2021, and the market is expected to grow even more in 2022. As companies have shifted to full-time remote or hybrid models, there is now more of a need for internal meetings as distributed teams get together in person for offsites, team building activities, and more. In this context, the future of TravelPerk looks brighter than ever. 

Currently, TravelPerk is maintaining its core focus while creating more partnerships with companies like Soldo (a spend management platform with prepaid company cards). This way, we can provide customers with a 360° business travel offer, while staying true to what we do best. Using our SaaS software, finance teams can streamline their business travel programs, gaining control and visibility over budgets while business travelers maintain their autonomy. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. 

Why startup CFOs need to master clear communication

At TravelPerk, we’re all about in-person connection and communication. That’s why it’s not surprising that Huw mentions effective communication as one of the keys to succeeding as a CFO. 

Part of this involves strategic transparency. There’s no question that transparency is crucial in business, and people appreciate it — a Paychex survey showed that 83.3% of employees with very transparent employers were satisfied with their jobs. However, this need for transparency doesn’t necessarily apply to every single issue: the survey also showed that employees were mostly concerned with issues that directly affected them.

According to Huw, “extreme transparency” can quickly turn into a series of unwanted distractions. While teams absolutely need to know about key issues, overloading them with irrelevant information will simply waste their time. Truly effective communication is about delivering the right information, to the right people, at the right time. While this concept isn’t complicated, it does require commitment and work.

On the other hand, when it comes to goal-setting and targets, it’s better to err on the side of “overcommunication”. Huw recommends a radically open and honest approach to sharing progress and context. This way, teams can remain aligned and understand why targets have been set the way they are.

On a personal level, CFOs need to remember to give themselves the space they need to be effective communicators. Huw likes to set aside 45 minutes of “alone time” after he comes home to relax and rebuild his energy. However, he also finds that being around people can be energizing — during the lockdown, this became especially clear.

Setting goals and KPIs at a fast-paced tech startup

While highly-ambitious targets are appealing to investors, these targets also need to be realistic and achievable for the team. The goal is not just to get people to the next target, but to enable them to work sustainably without burning out.

At TravelPerk, the executive team meets regularly to brainstorm targets, then hands them off to the extended leadership team for feedback before finalizing. While it’s inevitable that targets will be missed sometimes, it’s important to keep this in check — occasionally missing a target by 10% might work out, but missing one by 50% would be very demoralizing.

Huw believes that targets must always be fair. For example, he recalls a situation in a previous job where employees at lower levels of the company hierarchy were given more ambitious targets than their seniors. They would frequently miss targets, causing them to feel disappointed, while the management team would receive bonuses. To avoid this type of outcome, Huw advocates for setting realistic targets across the organization, while being transparent with both employees and the board of directors.

To balance achievability with ambition, TravelPerk’s leadership team allocates around 10% of resources to “moonshot goals” (highly ambitious, innovative goals) and 70% to “incremental goals” (core, routine tasks of the business).

Becoming a successful CFO in the tech world

If there is one key goal startup CFOs have, it’s this: move faster with fewer resources. Of course, this is a serious challenge. To meet their objectives, today’s CFOs frequently choose to invest in software solutions like TravelPerk and free up their employees’ time for higher-value tasks.

You’re a leader first, and a CFO second.

Huw Slater, COO at TravelPerk

What his statement means is that, although CFOs are responsible for accounting functions, financial planning and analysis, metrics, and cash flow management, a CFO’s top priorities should be communication and higher-level business strategy. Successful CFOs should over-index on leadership by focusing on both team goals and company goals. The finance function should support the company’s overall strategy from a cooperative, rather than confrontational, standpoint.

Huw’s final words of advice for finance leaders are:

Run towards the flames… find the hardest problem that exists in the company. Just go and help somebody, get it done. That’s how you grow.

Huw Slater, COO at TravelPerk

The post How to be a great startup CFO in tech appeared first on TravelPerk.

Navigating travel in a post-COVID world

It seems as though the question on every traveler’s lips these days is “what exactly do I need to show in order to enter the country?” Different countries around the world have implemented different travel restrictions depending on where you come from, if you’ve recovered from COVID in the last 90 days, whether or not you’ve been vaccinated, and even which vaccines you’ve received. 

What’s more, many local governments have also made it mandatory for hospitality and entertainment venues to require proof of vaccination or COVID recovery for anyone hoping to enjoy what they have on offer. In France, for example, anyone over the age of 16 must present a vaccination pass or COVID certificate in order to enter theatres, cinemas, amusement parks, restaurants, shops, hotels, trade shows… even ski lifts! 

Every country has the right to set its own measures for the health and safety of its local residents. But that can make it complicated for travelers to understand what restrictions affect them, and exactly what documentation they need to provide.

Meeting in real life is back on

After the undeniable isolation and loneliness that characterized the last few years, it’s no surprise that people are flocking to meet one another in person again. As restrictions ease around the world, people are rushing to meet their friends, family, and colleagues face-to-face. As we always say at TravelPerk, the meetings that matter happen in person. It doesn’t matter who that meeting is with. It’s all about the connections that can only be fostered by meeting in real life.

With all that built-up energy for people to meet in person again, governments around the world are passing laws and mandates to regulate (and hopefully mitigate) the further spread of the coronavirus. These types of regulations have been met with a fair amount of resistance around the world, with countries like the United States and France experiencing widespread protests against proof of vaccination mandates.

Sorry, Sir… my dog ate my COVIDPass

Whether we like it or not, travel restrictions and requirements to show proof of vaccination are here to stay. This has become a fundamental part of any kind of travel, whether that’s for business or pleasure. 

As our CEO Avi predicted back in 2020,

You’ll need more than a passport when traveling after COVID-19. Some countries will not even take the chance of testing at the border. Entrance could be refused unless you have a certificate of immunity due to the fact that you’ve recovered from an infection or because you’ve been vaccinated. Some countries might not let you in if you’ve been vaccinated with Sputnik instead of Pfizer or Moderna, for example. Wristbands with barcodes like those in the movie Contagion are a very real prospect.

Avi Meir, Co-Founder & CEO at TravelPerk - (Read more about Avi’s predictions on travel in a post-COVID world here.)

Excuses like “I can’t find my COVIDPass” or “I didn’t know I needed to show proof of vaccination” or “My dog ate my COVIDPass” simply won’t fly. You might find yourself in a Novak Djokovic-esque situation where you’re denied entry, admitted into the country, and then removed from the same country all in one week if you can’t show adequate COVID documentation. 

So, if we’re already getting back to travel, and we need to show all of these documents upon arrival, and it’s a mess to do so… Why not have a tool that makes all of this more convenient and easier to organize? That’s exactly what we thought. And what we built.

Your knight in shining armor: TravelPerk’s vaccine/recovery mobile wallet card generator

No matter if you’re traveling domestically or hopping across continents, the TravelPerk Mobile Vaccine Certificate feature will make organizing and showing your COVID-19 documentation easier while you travel. 

We wanted to build something simple for our users that would save our travelers time and unnecessary worry by ensuring they have a version of their certificate stored in their Apple Wallet alongside their boarding pass. The documentation will always be available offline and ready to use whenever it's needed. It’s faster and easier than any travel or health app you may have downloaded, not to mention you won’t have to browse through thousands of documents on Google Drive to find the one you need. No more holding up the airport queue for you!

Here’s how it works:

The information on your COVID passport is encrypted and signed by Apple to create the pass on your phone. Your personal data will not be stored by TravelPerk, Apple, or any other company. The wallet will be stored on your phone so only you can have access to it.”

We currently support EU and UK COVID vaccination and recovery certificates and only for iOS. If you want to know more, check out our help center article.

Don’t forget that we’ve also built a suite of tools called TravelCare, to help keep travelers safe on their trips. If you’re already using TravelPerk then you can download our app from the Apple App Store.

If you’re looking for a new travel management solution, find out more about everything that TravelPerk has to offer or request a demo.

The post Keep your vaccine certificate safe and handy with TravelPerk appeared first on TravelPerk.

The social aspect of our minds is activated when doing business in person, and that’s why we are excited to announce today our partnership with Ramp, the finance automation platform designed to save your business time and money. We’ve joined forces to help professionals connect in real life in a meaningful and cost-efficient way while maintaining full control over travel spend as it scales. You might say we’re helping you ramp up your business travel (oh yes, pun intended).

Check out TravelPerk and Ramp's integration

A new norm for the new normal

As we slowly start to pave the way to a post-pandemic world, organizations worldwide are prioritizing finding ways for employees to engage in real life as a key part of their corporate strategies. Encouraging out-of-office meetings, organizing offsites, and setting up social gatherings are just a few examples of how businesses are trying to bring their people together in person. In fact, TravelPerk’s data show this kind of business travel has been increasing considerably since April last year, covering 20% of total bookings in July 2021, up to representing approximately 28% of total bookings for US-based companies in January 2022.

What happens though with the administrative side of things? Are the organizations ready to support the employees who are traveling for work?

“With hybrid and remote working now the norm across industries, employees need a flexible and complete solution when traveling for business to avoid the frustration of having to spend far more time than necessary on travel logistics and reporting expenses, without sacrificing control and visibility for finance teams. Together with Ramp, we're leveraging AI and automation to make it incredibly easy for users to do just that.‘’

Kelly Jewison, Head of Partnerships & Business Development at TravelPerk

The challenge is only going to get bigger as more and more employees start traveling. According to data released by the Global Business Travel Association, business travel is expected to have a full recovery by 2024 to a tune of $1.48 trillion. Ramp’s own internal research revealed that as global travel restrictions eased and their customers started traveling again, their travel expenses jumped from just 2.2% of total card spend in November 2021 to over 6% in January 2022!

TravelPerk and Ramp elevate the game

With this shift towards a more “democratized” business travel for all employees, new considerations come into play. Companies need a solution to help them scale their business travel and empower these in-real-life experiences that build the crucial relationships that make a company’s world go round. And that’s exactly why TravelPerk and Ramp decided to join forces—to help connect people in real life in an easy and cost-efficient way by arming businesses with the right software to address changing needs. 

“We’re excited to partner with TravelPerk to combine finance automation with industry-leading travel management. With this partnership, our joint customers will benefit from consolidated travel bookings, maximum control over all travel-related expenses, and completely hands-free expense reporting. TravelPerk and Ramp provide automation capabilities that help businesses decentralize and scale travel management by empowering employees to book on their own while ensuring compliance through built-in policies and spend controls.”

Colin Kennedy, Chief Business Officer at Ramp

So, how can this partnership help your business travel reach new heights? You’ll:

• Get an all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense solution so you can book, manage, and report on all things business travel all in one place
• Get unlimited virtual and physical cards with built-in spend limits, and enjoy 1.5% cashback on every payment
• Empower travelers to book their own trips and let them choose from the broadest, most flexible, and most sustainable inventory out there! 
• Keep traveling employees safe and updated on all travel restrictions and safety recommendations to make planning any trip as smooth and secure as possible
• Ensure full compliance and smart spending through dynamic travel policies and approvals that will help take your business travel budget further
• Take your automation game to the next level with Ramp and TravelPerk’s receipt-matching integration
• Have full, real-time visibility into your travel spend and be empowered to make better and smarter decisions when planning travel
• Ramp up your productivity (see what we did there ) with Ramp’s fully automated accounting.
  

Check out TravelPerk and Ramp's integration

Not a Ramp customer yet? Sign up for free

The post Ramping up business travel with TravelPerk & Ramp partnership appeared first on TravelPerk.

I am also very proud to announce that Gillian Tans and Joel Cutler are investing in this round and joining our board. Gillian was until very recently the chairwoman and CEO of Booking.com, and Joel is the OG of travel investing, having invested early in Airbnb, Kayak, and ITA Software.

Our product is our people

I always say that my product is my team. Achieving unicorn status is both a dream and a major milestone for all entrepreneurs, and we have achieved this thanks to the rebel spirit, determination, and drive of our people. They are the real unicorns here. 

It’s because of them that we got to where we are today. 2021 was an incredible year at TravelPerk. The coronavirus crisis brought our entire industry to a literal standstill, and we took that as an opportunity to reflect both on our own business and on what our industry would need in the future. 

We made it through that time without conducting any layoffs. We built products that would make business travel better, safer, and more sustainable. We acquired four companies. We raised $275 million and became a unicorn in a year where, unfortunately, many travel businesses had to close their doors. It’s thanks to our aggressive and brave approach our investors continue to place their trust in us. 

A new mission for a new world

What used to drive us was a determination to make business travel work better for everyone. And while that still lies at the heart of what we do, we’re taking one giant leap forward. 

The past two years have represented an unprecedented challenge for us all. In what felt like the blink of an eye, we went from a bustling, thriving, lively world characterized by togetherness to a complete stop. We went from seeing one another in person every day if we wanted to, to being socially isolated. This isolation taught us something important, though. It illuminated the path to our future. And that future is defined by the simple fact that human connection matters. 

We believe in the value of face-to-face interactions, and it's become our mission to facilitate in-person meetings in the most sustainable way possible. Human beings are social creatures. It’s in our very nature, and it’s pretty basic biology. The bursts of creativity, energy, and compassion that we share when we get together in person simply can’t be replaced by digital mediums. No, Zuck, the metaverse isn’t a good replacement for real human interaction.

That’s why we know that human connection in real life is here to stay. The trip itself isn’t the end goal. It’s just the vessel that brings people together to have these unique moments and experiences. And that’s what we are striving to empower. 

We're investing heavily in green travel tech by building on our existing product and acquiring companies like Susterra. We want to take our sustainability expertise to the next level, and make sure that when people do meet face to face, they don’t do so at the expense of our planet. It’s time for businesses to start leading by example and taking action to act responsibly for the sake of our environment. We can’t sit around and wait for politicians to enact change—we have to be the drivers of that change. That’s why at TravelPerk, we empower companies to do right by the planet and help them offset their carbon footprint by investing in VERRA-accredited projects that are held to the highest standards of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This isn’t some offset credit scam, by using TravelPerk you are directly reducing carbon emissions.

So, without further ado, our new mission for the coming years is to connect people in real life in an enjoyable and sustainable way.

Our all-star investors and Board of Directors

I’d like to give a shout-out to some of the most recent additions to our Board of Directors. Joining us now are Gillian Tans, the former Chairwoman and CEO of Booking.com, and Joel Cutler from General Catalyst, an early investor in Airbnb, Kayak, and ITA Software, who also co-led this round. Their trust in our vision really reinforces our position as leaders in this new world where business travel is changing into something very different from how it looked in the 1990s. We’re incredibly thankful that these travel industry giants are now a part of team TravelPerk.

This investment round was co-led by General Catalyst and by our existing investor Kinnevik. 

I have been working in the travel industry for many years, and TravelPerk is the one company that never ceases to surprise me. It has solidified its leadership position over the last two years in challenging times for the travel industry, emerging stronger than ever. They are innovative and have been able to anticipate and address their customers’ changing needs through major acquisitions, new market entries, and product designs. I’m honored to be joining as an investor and the Board of Directors at TravelPerk and to help the company reach a global leadership position.

Gillian Tans, ex Chairwoman and CEO of Booking.com

Hybrid and remote working is undoubtedly here to stay, but a Zoom call will never be able to replicate the benefits of in-person, face-to-face interaction. We have no doubt that business travel will continue to grow and thrive in the years ahead, with TravelPerk as the clear leader in the space, and we’re thrilled to be participating in this funding round.

Joel Cutler, Managing Director at General Catalyst

Avi’s leadership throughout the pandemic has been exemplary. In particular, his empathy and respect for employees have allowed the company to retain and attract the best talent. This has allowed TravelPerk to use the Covid crisis to further build its best-in-class product and win new clients. As a result, the company’s performance far exceeded pre-pandemic levels as travel began to gradually normalize in 2021, and clients sought solutions to manage travel complexity. We look forward to partnering with our friends at General Catalyst on this next exciting chapter.

Georgi Ganev, CEO at Kinnevik

What’s next for TravelPerk?

We’re so excited to be starting 2022 off on such a positive note. We’ve got big plans for the future at TravelPerk, and we’ll be using this funding to further boost sustainable travel and expand our product offering to meet the new needs of SMBs in an increasingly hybrid and remote world. Here’s a quick peek at what we’ve got in the works:

Doubling down on greentech.

Sustainable travel and green travel tech are going to be a major focus for us going forward. Expect more big news on that front soon!

Growing our open marketplace.

We are now the leading SMB platform for all things travel and expenses! Our open marketplace grew 5x in 2021, and we entered into partnerships with some amazing companies like Divvy, Emburse, and Rydoo. And we don’t plan on stopping there!

Bringing remote and distributed teams together.

We’re empowering remote and distributed teams to run crucial in-real-life meetings, kickoffs, and offsites. Our first product, TravelPerk Events, is now live and has already been used to create over 250 events to bring together 1200 people in real life since its launch in November. The future is face to face—and while many companies are building technologies focused on personal interactions, we prefer to focus on using technology to help us get together in real life. 

Dominate human connections for SMBs globally.

We will keep investing in facilitating human connections for SMBs worldwide. We’re going to keep growing in our largest market, the US, as well as Europe so we can continue reinventing the way that SMBs manage travel to come together in an enjoyable and sustainable way.

The post We raised an additional $115 million in our Series D. Here's why. appeared first on TravelPerk.

So today, I’m really excited to announce the launch of TravelPerk Events. It’s a revolutionary tool that’s going to help teams all over the world get together in person, easily. But before I tell you what it is and how it works, I want to explain why we built it. 

The most social animal

Modern life imposes a sort of solitary element on us all. From the ability to watch whatever you want from your couch on Netflix, to it being so easy to have food brought to your door with Uber Eats, to connecting to your workspace remotely in your pajamas, the 21st century has made it very easy for us to never leave our homes. To never needing to face reality and other humans.

… And yet, we still do. Humans are hard-wired for social relationships. In fact, the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that “man is by nature a social animal”. It’s who we are, and who we’ll continue to be no matter what modern technology and society throw our way. And that’s not just a philosophical concept to debate over wine with your family. It’s a neuroscientific fact. As Dr. Michael Platt, Ph.D., a biological anthropologist from the University of Pennsylvania, explains:

Social behavior is a critical part of our adaptive toolkit. It allows us to come together and do things that we wouldn’t be able to do on our own.

Dr. Michael Platt, Ph.D

Just think about that in your daily life. How often do you walk over to a teammate and ask them for help or advice when you’re at work? Do you sit down to tackle assembling IKEA’s sklurg (shoutout to Phil Dunphy) alone or with your roommate or partner? Where do you have your most creative moments and feel the energy of building something new? My bet is that it was when you are surrounded by people who inspire you. And when you do have these moments—what's the first thing you want to do? Share it with others! Mankind got this far because of our ability to cooperate. And that happened in person. Not through a screen.

Why I’m telling you all this

I’m telling you this because I believe that the future is face-to-face. Not screen-to-screen. The future of work isn’t this matrix/metaverse “reality” where we hang out with robots and talk to each other never. The way I see it—the more technological we become, the more our desire to meet in person grows. 

I believe in this “in real life” future of work so much, that my team and I decided to build the most intuitive solution out there to help teams come together in person. Let me introduce you to none other than… drumroll, please… TravelPerk Events!

After almost 2 years of being apart, it’s time to start coming back together again. But, like many things in the post-pandemic world, work won’t be the same as it was pre-COVID. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, over 70% of workers want flexible work options to continue, which tells us that remote or hybrid work is truly here to stay. So, we decided to find a way to make getting together face-to-face easier and more intuitive to plan, book, and manage from a single platform. TravelPerk Events isn’t just a tool to organize these opportunities to meet in person. It’s a way to empower teams to boost creativity, build relationships, and maintain company culture together. 

The low-down on TravelPerk Events

Alright. I’ve told you about the why behind TravelPerk Events. Now, let’s get down to the what and the how. TravelPerk Events is a one-stop shop for those planning any kind of event for their company to handle every aspect from ideation through to execution. 

What kinds of events will you be able to organize?

In short, any time you want 2 or more people to meet face-to-face anywhere in the world, you can do it through TravelPerk Events. This tool will help you with kickoffs, team buildings, offsites, seasonal company parties, and even just meetings with teams. 

How does it help you do that?

Pretty much anyone who’s ever organized an event, large or small, knows it can be a pain. Millions of tabs open, the phone constantly ringing, people changing their minds about times and dates, caterers canceling last minute, DJs playing too much Bonnie Tyler… Alright, so we might not be able to help you with the bad DJ, but I think these other features will more than make up for it:

• Track invites & participants by monitoring responses and booking statuses in real-time.
  
• Share relevant information with collaborators and attendees, including names, logistics, and agendas. 
  
• Easily communicate with attendees and keep them updated on any news or changes to the plan.
  
• Have full visibility over everything, including attendees’ travel plans, accommodation details, and more. 

Now, those planning events will have everything they need to manage arrangements and updates all in one place. Attendees will benefit from a single hub where they can find all the details they need and book their travel. Companies will save time and money organizing company meetings and off-sites, freeing them up to focus on getting the most out of the occasion itself.

With hybrid and remote working now the norm across industries, face-to-face meetings are more important than ever. It’s when you meet in person that you forge meaningful relationships and collaborate effectively with your colleagues - and it’s when a whole team meets in person that you create a company-wide culture rooted in your values.

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Sustainability takes a major seat at the travel table

As the world slowly opens up again, it becomes clear that there is both a need and a desire for in-person, face-to-face interaction. The meetings that matter happen in person, and companies will always need their employees to travel in order to come together. That being said, we have a responsibility to enable these meetings while minimizing the impact they have on our environment. 

That’s why we developed GreenPerk, a tool that allows companies to offset 100% of their carbon footprint brought on by business travel. That’s also why we are constantly expanding our rail offering across the United States and Europe, encouraging travelers to opt for this mode of transport where they can. 

Now, we acquired Susterra. Founded by environmental scientist and business travel sustainability expert, James Dent, Susterra uses cutting-edge data analytics technology to offer companies a 360° view of their environmental impact. Having access to this information allows companies to improve their carbon efficiency, reduce costs, and achieve their sustainability goals. 

Sustainable travel at your fingertips 

Both TravelPerk and Susterra believe that visibility lies at the heart of successful sustainable business practices. Using the world-renowned ICAO Methodology, TravelPerk users will now gain reliable, actionable insights into their carbon emissions. 

More importantly, they will be able to use this information to mold the way they travel for business. Whether they’re booking car rentals, flights, hotels, or trains, TravelPerk users will be able to use data analytics to travel smarter and more efficiently.

James Dent is joining the team at TravelPerk as an ESG Sustainability Data Analyst to drive our sustainability product offering, review our internal corporate sustainability policy, and help future proof the business. Susterra’s accuracy, granularity, and actionable insights offer businesses that want to adopt a sustainable, responsible travel strategy the perfect solution. 

Sustainability is a long game, and this is another step in the right direction towards helping businesses to reach a net-zero by 2030, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement 1.5 degrees emissions pathway.

And this isn’t the last you’ll hear from TravelPerk on the topic of sustainable travel. Stay tuned and watch this space for more exciting announcements that will turn travel green!

The post TravelPerk acquires Susterra to usher in the era of sustainable business travel appeared first on TravelPerk.

• Acquired Click Travel and established our position as leaders in the UK business travel market
• Launched GreenPerk, helping customers offset 100% of their carbon footprint
• Acquired Albatross to launch our very own travel restriction solution, TravelSafe API
• Introduced VAT Recovery so all our customers can get back money on travel expenses
• Acquired US-based travel company NexTravel, expanding our reach in the market
• Secured $160 million in our Series D funding round 
• Partnered with Skyscanner to power their travel restrictions map

… So yeah. You could say we worked hard. Now, it’s time for everyone to recharge hard. 

A few weeks ago, our CEO Avi Meir sent out a company-wide communication that shows just how much we value our teams. Read on to learn more about what we’re doing to encourage our people to unwind and disconnect—and how you can do it too! 

Recharging for hypergrowth: Avi’s email to the team

Hey team,

It’s crazy to think what we’ve achieved in the last 6 months! We are in a chapter of our history that is all about scaling while protecting our core values. It is about accepting the opportunity we were given by the current crisis, an opportunity to become the global leader in business travel. 

In 6 months, we acquired ClickTravel and NexTravel, welcomed their team and clients to our platform, grew our team, ended furlough, kept a Founder Mentality, and raised $163 million in our Series D funding round. In short: we survived and have emerged much stronger.

The next few months will be about restarting hypergrowth. In this update I want to share our 2 main priorities for July and August:

• Help the team rest and recharge.
• Get our company ready by building the foundations for hypergrowth.

Why these priorities?

First, many people in our team are tired. The last months were tough. We all gave the best of ourselves. And that has consequences. For some people this could mean that they are just tired and feel the need to rest somehow. Others are experiencing more serious versions of mental wellbeing issues caused by the personal and professional struggles of last year. Resting and recharging is the right thing to do. The best athletes know this simple truth - you can’t win the next season without resting and recharging after the previous one.

Second, our focus on survival changed our organization in many ways: volume-based teams became smaller, processes that were not used became rusty, resources were shifted from some areas to others. As we re-enter a period of hypergrowth we will have the largest volumes ever flowing through the platform. As a consequence, our current shape will not support scale and hypergrowth mode as it is. If we try to do it, we risk breaking things. We will build the foundations of hypergrowth to get ready for September. 

Rest and Recharge

These are the measures focused on helping employees who need to rest and recharge.

1. It’s ok not to be ok - rolling out a mental wellbeing tool

I want to make it very clear that it’s ok not to be ok. We have always supported our employees and we will keep doing so now. If you consider that your mental wellbeing is not where it should be, we encourage you to act on it however you feel is  necessary. 

To support that, we will roll out a mental wellbeing tool: Ifeel. It will give everyone free access to training, professional therapy when needed, and 24/7 mental wellbeing support. We want to do what we can to help our employees take care of their mental wellbeing. 

These are the ways we think we can be useful, if you feel that you have mental wellbeing issues that aren’t being addressed by this, please talk to your HRBPs, to the People team, to your manager, or to me about it. Don’t let yourself be depressed or burned out without trying to fix it.

2. Encouraging IRL meetings between people

We are an IRL company. In Real Life.

I have a core belief that a big reason why the pandemic has had such an impact on our mental wellbeing is that a lot of people don’t see other people anymore.

That’s why we have been offering opportunities in many shapes and forms for people to meet again In Real Life, safely: getting a better office, assigning one team per day, fostering internal communities and initiatives, and our hybrid Xmas event to name a few, We’ll also now run out first IRL company-wide event in 18 months: the Summer Party.

All of these actions have sent a clear message: face to face time is important. And it should be clear by now that we’ve not done this just for business purposes. We’ve done it because we care about the wellbeing of our people.

3.  Recharging days: partial shutdown and other measures

I can’t overstate how crucial resting is. Not just to lay on the beach while scrolling aimlessly and endlessly on anti-social media. But to allow our mind to actually disconnect. 

• Partial shut-down during 3rd week of August (16th-20th of August). We’ve learnt that many people don’t want to disconnect during their time off for the fear of the workload that accumulates. That’s why most of our teams will shut down during the third week of August. These 5 days will not be discounted from anyone’s holidays. If you already had requested holidays on those days, you’ll get the days back.
• Team-specific solutions: in parallel, we all know that in TK we focus on delivering 7* service to our customers. Customers will continue to travel during this period and so TK will need to continue to operate. For those members of our Customer Care team or other teams that can’t participate in the shut-down we will offer specific solutions. The team leaders of each function will be communicating these as we do not want to leave anyone behind. 

4. No Company-level Q3 OKRs and postponed performance reviews

We use our company-level OKRs to set the direction for the company. They show where we are focusing in the quarter and how we plan to increase performance of certain areas of the business. 

Increasing performance in an area results in extra stress being injected into the TravelPerk system (i.e. the impacted teams, systems, processes etc). To avoid that, in Q3 we will not be setting company-level OKRs. Teams will instead have an opportunity to focus on building the foundations for hypergrowth well-rested and ready to tackle this next phase head-on.

Given several of our teams are driven by targets, in July and August these will reflect our approach to avoid extra stress. This will be shared in a more detailed way by managers over the next few days.

At the same time, we will postpone the Performance Review cycle to September as we recognise it’s an intense process that adds more workload to managers.

Build the foundations for hypergrowth

As we said, hypergrowth is just around the corner. We want our teams to focus on building the foundations so that when it hits us in September we’re ready for it. There are many ways of doing that. We expect everyone to get their own plans ready. 

Examples of it are many. We will increase the size of our Talent Acquisition team so that they can help us grow all the other teams. We will focus on improving our compensation and benefits structure to retain and attract talent. We will hire senior leaders in many areas so that we can leverage their expertise at scale. We will increase our efforts on building a community feeling in our US and London hubs as they start to grow. We will stress test our systems and processes to understand how ready they are for growth.

We’ll be answering your questions at the EoW, but also feel free to address your questions directly to your managers, HRBPs, the People team, or me.

Let’s get rested and prepared for winning the next championship season! 

Cheers, 

Avi

The post Recharging and hypergrowth: vacation matters appeared first on TravelPerk.

The intel on our acquisition of Click Travel

I know you’re bored of hearing how the coronavirus pandemic brought the travel industry to a halt. But you know what? It didn’t put the breaks on TravelPerk. We spent this last challenging year focusing on the future and investing in both our people and our product. We thought about what business travel would be like in a post-COVID world, knowing that face-to-face interaction could never be fully replaced by virtual mediums. Why? Because the meetings that matter happen in person. 

We also didn’t conduct any layoffs throughout the global health crisis. We focused our strategy on getting growing when times are tough, not winnowing down for survival. We called it the “6-pack bear” strategy—because while all the other bears went into hibernation during this time, we braved the elements and got a 6-pack to show for it. That’s why we made bold moves in difficult times. From acquiring Albatross to developing our own TravelSafe API in 2020 to acquiring NexTravel at the beginning of 2021, and landing a $160 million Series D funding round in May, we’ve been gaining speed ready for take-off in the new normal. 

And that’s where this acquisition comes in. It is our third and largest acquisition to date. We are working to shape the future of business travel, and Click Travel represents a giant step forward in achieving that goal. They’re everything we were looking for! They are truly the undisputed leader in UK domestic business travel. They have outstanding talent and a culture that mirrors our own. They have the best offering for UK companies, incredible know-how, and a deep understanding and appreciation of the value of technology as a staple of the business travel of tomorrow. We’re the perfect match. 

With internal travel restrictions easing up first, domestic travel is the first to bounce back. Business travelers can go back to interacting with their colleagues, clients, or partners in person, at long last.  With this acquisition, we are making that even easier by combining Click Travel’s UK domestic travel expertise and our savviness with international business travel. With a focus on technology and a drive to understand our customers’ needs, we are creating an unbeatable, one-of-a-kind solution for companies in the UK and beyond—the only future-ready business travel platform out there.

When market fit meets cultural fit 

Click Travel and TravelPerk are a natural great fit because we share the same vision, philosophy, and culture. We are driven by our values and our belief that the foundation of our success lies in our mindset and who we are as a team. Cultural fit is so important to us that we passed on other acquisition opportunities because the chemistry just wasn’t right. Then we found Click Travel. 

We are both obsessed with providing the best customer service. It’s not only about having the “the customer is always right” attitude—it’s about going above and beyond to bring them the best service and care no matter what they ask for. A customer once asked us for a monkey to wait for him in his hotel room. He didn’t specify what kind, so we sent over a furry monkey toy. We got a stellar 5-star review. True story. 

We both also know that technology is the future of business travel. There’s no way around it. This is the digital revolution. Both Click Travel and TravelPerk invest heavily in making our technology the most user-friendly and efficient as can be so that everything, from booking to reporting, is easy and smooth. We’re bringing every aspect of the booking journey into one, centralized platform. That’s the digital revolution in travel. And we’re making it even better together. 

This is a really exciting time for our teams as well. We’re all growing in size together, bringing in Click Travel’s 150+ employees with 500 TravelPerkers. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is the collective soundtrack to our lives. We’re going to be bigger. We’re going to be better. That’s how we lead the global future of business travel as one. 

A look back at 2020 and 2021

As we move forward in a post-COVID world, we look to the future with great optimism. Travelers are eager to get back on the road, and colleagues are excited to meet their coworkers face-to-face. We have this saying at TravelPerk that the meetings that matter happen in person. After so long apart, it’s great to see people coming back together again safely and confidently.  Here are just a few things we did over the last year to make that happen:

• We launched FlexiPerk offering so that our customers worldwide can have peace of mind knowing that they can change or cancel a trip any time
• We launched GreenPerk, empowering our customers to offset 100% of their business travel carbon footprint
• We acquired Albatross API and built our own travel restrictions solution, TravelSafe API, to ensure that our customers have all the information they need to travel safely
• We built the VAT Recovery service to help customers claim back money spent on VAT for business travel expenses 
• We acquired US-based travel company NexTravel, strengthening our reach and inventory in the US
• We secured a $160 million Series D funding round to keep building the future of business travel
• We partnered with Skyscanner to power their travel restrictions map

… And now, we’re so excited to welcome Click Travel to our team. I can’t wait to sit down with our new colleagues and share some of TravelPerk’s famous cold lemonade. Or a cup of tea.

The post TravelPerk acquires Click Travel, the biggest player in UK domestic travel appeared first on TravelPerk.

The state of our union

Divvy combines seamless expense management software with the world’s smartest business card. TravelPerk is the fastest-growing travel management platform in the world, with continuous growth in the US market. You could say we’re a pretty good match. That’s why we formed an innovative partnership to offer our customers a best-in-breed service. Divvy chose us because our new and improved travel management platform represents a stepping-up stone into the world of efficient and seamless travel management. 

Enter Divvy Travel, powered by TravelPerk!

Going further together in a post-COVID world

We don’t just believe in the return of business travel in a post-COVID world. We know it’s coming back.

Small and medium-sized businesses will be the engine of that recovery in the United States. Why? It’s pretty simple really. An SMB’s size and agility mean that these businesses will be able to adapt quickly and effectively to a post-pandemic reality. As they get back to traveling for business and navigating the landscape brought on by the new normal, a new set of needs will arise. That’s why we came together to provide employees with a simpler way to book, manage, and pay for business travel. At the same time, we’re offering finance teams the opportunity to gain full visibility and control over business travel spend. All in one place. 

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? 

What’s in it for modern businesses?

So, you’re a small and nimble business. You’re ready to get back to business travel—no, you’re itching to get back to business travel. You’re ready to adapt. You’re good to go. 

What do you get out of this partnership? As it turns out, you get a whole lot: 

1. A centralized portal where business travelers in your company can book and manage their trips independently and easily
2. Exceptional access & visibility for finance teams to oversee business spend, including business travel, in real-time. No need to wait for end-of-the-month credit reports!
3. All trips booked within policy, without exceeding spending limits or incorrectly filing expenses 
4. Comprehensive travel and expense process for users that can be set up in just a few clicks
5. Save precious time and money for travelers, managers, and finance teams as they begin navigating business travel in a post-pandemic world
6. Greater flexibility and safety for travel in this new reality through services like FlexiPerk, which enables you to change or cancel any aspect of a trip anytime, or TravelCare, which gives you real-time information on travel restrictions worldwide!

Welcome to the future of travel & expenses

T&E, or travel and expenses or travel and entertainment, boils down to an employee’s expenses when traveling for work. That can include anything from entertaining a client to paying for a hotel room, to renting a meeting space.  

The COVID-19 pandemic changed our world as we know it. There’s no denying that. Many businesses were affected by the health crisis, and what was the norm up until 2019 is now the “old way of doing things”. Business travel, including T&E, is no different. In order for companies to successfully adapt to this new reality, the time has come to embrace change and seek new ways of shaking things up. 

So, what does the future of T&E hold? What are some of the basic needs that will need to be filled? What trends have we identified that will mark the way we manage travel and expenses? Let’s find out. 

Scaling business travel management

Fast-growing businesses need to evolve their travel management policies to enable employees to independently book and manage their own trips. This will mean setting clear guidelines and budget limits to ensure compliance with their company policies. It'll result in more effective and efficient travel management, both in terms of time and cost.

Forget everything you think you know about what a business trip should be

Business trips going forward won’t just be about client or sales meetings. These trips will continue to exist, they’ll just be joined by a new type of business trip—the one where distributed teams come together to form human connections. As “work-from-anywhere” becomes more commonplace, teams living in different hubs will need to travel to meet up and build personal and professional relationships. 

Costs will come under the microscope

Alright, so this one seems obvious since costs have always been under the microscope. But as the economic aftermath of the pandemic becomes more apparent, costs associated with any business expense (travel included), will be more scrutinized. That’s where real-time tracking of business travel spend will come in. Such reports will help companies keep their business travel spend in check by providing actionable insights to help them take their budget further. 

It’s all about flexibility

No, not the yoga kind. Flexible fares for tickets and hotel bookings, for example, will rule the day. Trips will be affected by changing travel restrictions as governments ease or tighten regulations in response to potential outbreaks. The ability to change travel plans without incurring astronomical costs (like we did before the pandemic any time we needed to change a flight) will become a staple of business travel going forward. 

Wave goodbye to the paper

Expense reimbursement will need to go paperless for two main reasons. First, to help companies walk the talk of sustainability by cutting down on the environmental costs of printing on paper. Second, digital expense reimbursement will need to become the norm to accommodate distributed teams working in different hubs worldwide. You can’t expect a traveler based in New York to come file a paper expense claim at HQ in LA now, can you?

Teams will all use the same T&E tools

The days of different offices in the same company using different tools are gone. Standardizing and unifying data across company locations will take over as the more efficient way for travel managers to implement their travel policy. This will give them greater visibility over business travel spend and will empower them to take their tracking and reporting to the next level.

Don’t be afraid of digital transformation

We’re 21 years into the 21st century. It’s time to accept the inevitable—everything is going digital. So should your company’s travel and expense processes. Cloud-based platforms make all of this data and information more accessible, easier to manage, and can provide more actionable insights on how to take your travel budget further. 

Transportation won’t rely so heavily on planes

Alternative modes of transport like trains and rented cars will take over from planes at least on short-haul journeys. Trains are the more sustainable option to flights and a preference towards more environmentally-friendly options will be a major trend in a post-pandemic world. Rented cars also offer travelers a social distancing option when traveling as they will be doing so largely on their own. 

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