Travel and Spend Management Company Defies Difficult Year for Industry
London, UK, 22 March, 2021 — TripActions, the leading cloud-based corporate travel and spend management platform, today announced three new major Europe-based enterprise client wins Springer Nature and Advanced, adding to its roster of more than 700 new customers, including Nilfisk, since March 2020. The company has shown significant momentum over the last 12 months, despite the impact on business travel during the pandemic — and is well positioned to expand its global reach, as evidenced by recent market gains and the addition of high-calibre talent including travel industry veteran Simone Buckley.
“TripActions launched in Europe mid-2019, and the growth we’ve seen — in spite of the events of 2020 — has been incredible,” says TripActions co-founder and CEO Ariel Cohen. “The desire from enterprise companies to enjoy at scale a modern travel and expense solution has been fantastic, and I couldn’t be happier that more and more European travellers are getting to experience the consumer-grade UX that has made TripActions so popular with business travellers in the US.”
TripActions is becoming the solution-of-choice for Europe-based companies seeking modernised, global corporate travel solutions. In addition to company growth, TripActions has made substantial investments in its EMEA product offering, including the expansion of its EU rail, air, hotel and car inventory, along with language localisation, sustainability controls and carbon impact reporting. Key EU features include:
Nearly 1,000 TripActions Lodging Collection properties across Europe, featuring exclusive negotiated rates of up to 20%
Enhancements to local airline inventory, including negotiated rates, additional Low Cost carriers and improved content
Direct commercial partnerships with hotel groups such as the Dalata Hotel Group and Doyle Collection
Amsterdam engineering centre
EU data hosting in Frankfurt, Germany through partnership with Amazon Web Services, the recognised global cloud infrastructure and platform services leader
TripActions raised $155 million in Series E growth funding in January, for an upround valuation of $5 billion. With increasing customers in the EMEA region, TripActions plans to use the recent funding to increase UK headcount by 50%. This builds on the announcement of Christopher Vik, Senior Vice President of Sales, EMEA, and includes Simone Buckley (previously CEO of Fello Travel), who joined TripActions as the Vice President of EMEA Marketing as of March 22.
Buckley, who is hosting the company’s inaugural Destinations Europe event on 23 March, brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the European travel market to TripActions after spending more than 30 years working in the travel management industry. Most recently, Buckley was the former CEO at travel management company Fello Travel, and prior to that was the CEO at the Institute of Travel Management.
“I wanted to work for a company that has the enthusiasm, financial backing and instincts to get this industry back up and running and help create opportunities for all the talented people in our industry community who find themselves displaced because of the pandemic,” says Buckley.
Since March 2020, TripActions has launched more than 40 new global product enhancements and capabilities, including an industry-leading COVID-19 dashboard, reimagined spend analysis dashboard, enhanced traveller safety reporting, automated unused ticket technology, TripActions Liquid, and TripActions Enterprise Edition.
All enterprise customers gain access to TripActions 24/7/365 travel agent support via chat, email and phone from multiple offices and in local languages, along with both local and premium inventory, regardless of the geographical location from which employees of these global enterprise companies book.
“In order to provide the level of service required to operate successfully in EMEA, you first have to understand the nuances, and that’s where TripActions impressed me,” continued Buckley. “Their investment in an engineering hub in Europe shows their absolute commitment to re-surge from the pandemic with a truly holistic and global solution for travel, payments, and expense.”
About TripActions Fast becoming the default for corporate travel and expenses, TripActions is the leading, cloud-based T&E platform that combines industry-leading tech with best-in-class travel agents. Trusted by more than 4,000 companies globally, TripActions empowers organisations with real-time data to make business decisions, paired with flexible T&E management tools that enable them to adapt to changing market conditions to keep travelling employees safe, control costs, and save money. Learn more at www.tripactions.com/uk