Photo-Sharing App Has Head-Scratcher of an Investor

When business travel-oriented Concur announced a couple of weeks ago that it invested $2.5 million in travel-photography/photo-sharing app Trover there were undoubtedly a lot of quizziclal looks among people who know both companies.

Could this be some kind of local and social thing with Concur, which specializes in business travel & expense solutions, located in Bellevue, Washington, and Trover positioned nearby in Seattle?

Robson Grieve, Concur's executive vice president of worldwide marketing, says a social-media-oriented photo-sharing app such as Trover could have a significant influence on whether business travelers adhere to their employers' mandated travel policies or not.

For example, if travelers share photos about hotels in Times Square in New York City and if certain hotels in the area get a negative reputation as a consequence, then that could have a great bearing on whether employees stick with their companies' preferred hotels or become a travel policy rule-breaker, Grieve says.

He argues that there is a growing opportunity for social media-oriented apps in business travel in general, and Open Booking, in particular.

It doesn't sound as though there are any immediate plans to make Trover more business-travel oriented, but the companies are giving the issue a definite think.