Travelperk Looks to Crack Europe’s Complex Biz Travel Market

Perhaps the most notable story in corporate travel in the last few years has been the rise of a new crop of travel management companies looking to disrupt the established status quo of the sector.

For Europe’s Travelperk, designing a better booking tool for travelers has meant bringing a variety of content into its system and ensuring that service is conducted by staff members instead of call center employees or chatbots.

Check out my interview with Travelperk CEO Avi Meir below. We’ve also got the latest on Amazon’s nascent entry into travel and Booking’s big change to how it handles resort fees.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet @sheivach.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Senior Editor

Featured Stories

How Travelperk Builds Better Tools for European Business Travelers: Europe has unique travel distribution and fulfillment issues, and Travelperk’s CEO is in the process of leading developments for a better solution for travelers.

How Sabre Is Tackling Its Airline Tech Challenges: Sabre has sold operational tools to airlines for years, but the business unit became complacent. CEO Sean Menke has revved up the travel tech company’s metabolism. But it will take at least a year for his turnaround to kickstart renewed revenue growth in this unit.

New Loyalty Partnerships Launch Between Hilton and Lyft, Alaska and El Al: For those still loyal to the travel industry, a new spate of partnerships will now make it easier to earn miles and points across airlines, hotels, and shared cars. And with zero barrier to entry, some passengers may find a windfall.

Booking to Charge Commission on Resort Fees in Major Shakeup for Hotel Revenue: Get ready for some commotion in Las Vegas and other destinations where hotel resort fees are common. Will impacted hotels abandon Booking.com? Will resort fees lose their appeal for hotels? Will Expedia follow Booking’s lead? The fun and gamesmanship are just starting.

The Future of Travel

Amazon’s Travel Strategy Comes Into Focus: The same rules that apply to run-of-the-mill travel sellers do not necessarily apply to Amazon. While cash back on flights in India may seem loss-generating and unsustainable, for Amazon it could be a winning strategy.

YouTrip Raises $25 Million for a Digital Wallet: This week’s travel startups, including YouTrip, GetYourGuide, Away, and Anyplace, announced more than $611 million in funding.

European Rail Booking Site Trainline Looks at Being Next Big Travel IPO: With consumers much more aware of the damaging environmental impact of air travel, other forms of transport are having a moment. It might be a good time for Trainline’s private equity owners to sell up.

Skift Senior Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Thursday.

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