START-UPS
THE BIGGEST ISSUE IS THE FRAGMENTED LANDSCAPE – FOR A SIMPLE BUSINESS TRIP, ROUGHLY TEN PARTIES ARE INVOLVED
integration projects,” says Anders Mogensen, chief executive of Gaest, a booking venue start-up.
CUTTING THROUGH Another difficulty for buyers is to cut through the noise and distinguish which start-ups’ products could be useful to their travellers.
“I am finding that start-ups are coming in and promising me the earth,” says one travel manager anonymously. “Some are recommended to me and I do look at a handful. But this market is a hard nut to crack.” Maximilian Waldmann, founder of Conichi, a start-up managing seamless hotel check-ins, agrees: “The biggest issue here is the fragmented landscape where for a simple business trip roughly ten parties are involved: TMC, online booking tools, content provider, GDS, a travel app, airline, hotel, PMS, bank and expense tool.” Yet this is also why the more ancillary purchases and business traveller experiences are ripe for disruption. They are easier to tackle – start-ups do not need such deep pockets, and it is a lot harder and more expensive to upend a whole managed travel ecosystem.
ELLEN TROTOCHAUD
Vice-president, global business development, SAP Concur
“From purchasing meals and app-based ground transportation through to finding and accessing airport lounges and gyms for traveller wellbeing, it’s these additional areas and services that are areas to watch,” states Ellen Trotochaud, vice-president of global business development at SAP Concur.
SUZANNA CHIU Head of Amadeus Ventures
There is a lot of hype about artificial intelligence with predictive technologies coming to the fore – ranging from anticipating travel disruptions with Lumo to finding fares with start-ups like Flyr, based on statistical models. Chatbots, powered by start-ups, such as Destygo, are also getting better and could have a profound impact once widely deployed.
XAVIER HERAULT Manager, innovation
management systems, CWT
INTO THE MAINSTREAM “There is a great deal of innovative work being carried out at the start-up level today,” notes Trotochaud. It’s not happening in isolation. This is an era of great expectations; blame next-day delivery from Amazon Prime or instant holiday bookings. “Business travellers
increasingly want a consumer experience in a corporate setting. They want to be able
to book in the way they know they can in their personal lives. They don’t want to feel limited,” explains Ariane Gorin, president at Expedia Partner Solutions. Such ideals have helped fuel fintech, insurtech, retail-tech, reg-tech and now travel-tech. Over the past five years, the UK has attracted £28 billion in digital tech investment, according to think tank IPPR North, far more than any other European country. Venture capitalist money is readily available around many a sector hoping to sniff out the next Uber or Airbnb, while the managed travel space is looking for cost savings.
Suzanna Chiu, head of Amadeus Ventures, says: “Start-ups are now making technology available to a wider range of travel buyers, with SMEs, in particular, now able to access vast swathes of sophisticated technology at an affordable price.” Traveller assistance, data consolidation, trip reporting and end-to-end travel procurement are also focal points, and more entrepreneurs are working their way in from the fringes to the mainstream. Buyers need to be ready to spot them at the right time.
FUNDING VIA CO-CREATION the amount the UK BILLION£28 has attracted in digital
technology investment over the past five years
68 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018
Some start-ups can strike it rich by being snapped up by bigger players, but there’s also more collaboration as the larger travel companies cannot be as agile as small-scale entrepreneurs. As a result, there is now a new
buzzword in this space – co-creation. “The paradigm has shifted as start-ups and established companies now work hand-in-hand toward finding solutions,” says Xavier Herault, manager, innovation management systems at CWT. It’s why a handful of big brands from Amadeus to British Airways, Marriott
to
Booking.com, have incubators. The aim is to tap into the va-va-voom of start-ups bringing fresh thinking into the sector. Many don’t even have a background in travel, but are unafraid to try new things. Yet a big brother is often needed in
the managed travel space to negotiate distribution and content deals with hotels, airlines and rail operators. It can be difficult, especially for those looking to break into the booking game. There is an existing data and deal infrastructure that’s difficult to navigate.
buyingbusinesstravel.com
SOURCE: INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH
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