Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Traxo's New Software Flags Sneaky Travel Bookings

It's the bane of every corporate travel manager: that pesky employee who insists on booking their corporate travel through non-official, unapproved suppliers (sneaky use of Airbnb and Uber anyone?). Well, those days (might) be over if your company signs up for Dallas-based Traxo, which said it's unveiled a new solution for tracking 'rogue' and invisible 'off-channel' bookings made outside approved corporate travel agencies. Traxo said the new Traxo FILTER product directly integrates into a company's central email server, and looks for reservation confirmation emails and post-checkout hotel folios received by any employee's corporate email account. Many companies--for safety, cost control, and other reasons--require their employees to use approved corporate travel suppliers for their bookings. Some employees still insist on using non-approved vendors--whether to get a better return on per diem travel reimbursement, or just convenience and closer location of hotels. That clash has been an issue particularly with the rise of the "sharing economy" and such services as Airbnb and Uber. Traxo is venture backed by TripAdvisor, Thayer Ventures, Advantage Capital Partners, and Silver Creek Ventures, and Aristos Ventures.