Private equity firm Certares is leveraging its brand assets the way a Booking Holdings might do when Booking.com shares inventory with sister company Priceline. This isn't the usual private equity playbook.
While business travel platforms go after the expense market, expense platform Coupa’s move in the other direction would give it plenty of cross-selling opportunities.
The surcharges may be disappearing, but the pressure will be on travel agencies to keep up with the airlines, and passengers may ultimately be left picking up the tab.
Merging travel and expense will appeal to those corporations wanting to save money by streamlining operations, but with so many platforms now moving into budgeting tech, how will it stand out?
This deal makes sense. With fewer consultants on the horizon, use some tried-and-tested artificial intelligence to take the strain and help employees book their own tickets.