Why Corporate Travel Management in Asia Is Looking Sexy

Here’s a thought: How appealing are the words “compliance” or “travel policy?” Zero appeal. They’re relics of traditional corporate travel and expense management and should have never entered the space at all.

In Asia, where millennials are now a huge chunk of road warriors, startups targeting them are using a different language. Instead of moaning a lack of compliance among corporate travelers with a travel policy, they herald the modern business travel experience. These forward-thinking companies achieve this through 24/7 customer support, machine learning and AI-driven personalization, a wide range of accommodation and flight choices at the best possible prices, hassle-free booking, and expense management reporting. Everything is so easy and seamless because business travel — as everyone in business knows — is hard enough.

The startup that can best combine these factors onto a single platform in the fastest time will dominate the market. Travelstop is priming itself to be a frontrunner, its focus veered toward Southeast Asia. Others want to have a handle on huge markets such as India, China, and Australia. Traditional players are fighting to remain relevant with technology, the big ones trying to get bigger by consolidating smaller players into their fold, such as BCD’s acquisition of Hitachi Travel Bureau, as Skift reported recently.

Why the attention on Asia-Pacific? It’s a $1.6 trillion market by 2020, according to the Global Business Travel Association. What’s more, this spending will double by 2025, accounting for 50 percent of global expenditure, from 40 percent today.

That’s very sexy. Why do you think Silicon Valley’s Accel, an early-stage investor in the likes of Facebook and Slack, has come knocking? Read the Travelstop article below.

— Raini Hamdi, Skift Asia Editor, [email protected], @RainiHamdi

Skift Stories and More Expert Insights

Travelstop co-founder and CEO Prashant Kirtane. Source: Travelstop

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Asia Editor Raini Hamdi [[email protected]] curates the Skift Asia Weekly newsletter. Skift emails the newsletter every Wednesday.

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