Business travel is back. After falling off a cliff during the pandemic, business travel in 2024 is set to outpace 2019 levels, driven by increasing attendance at live industry events. But, as a travel manager, where does that leave your workload?
Before you start creaking under an ever-increasing weight of expense claims and hotel reservations, take a breath. You need a business travel management app to streamline bookings and travel expense management, save you time and money, and ensure your workplace travellers book in line with travel policies.
We’ve rounded up the top business travel management apps available in 2024, from business travel booking software like Roomex and Booking.com for Business, to expense management systems such as Spendesk.
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TL;DR
- Business travel management apps streamline bookings, save time, and ensure policy compliance.
- Our top seven business travel management apps offer tailored solutions for efficient corporate travel. We compare Roomex, Booking.com for Business, TravelPerk, SAP Concur, Egencia, Navan, and Spendesk.
- For businesses with highly mobile workforces needing domestic travel solutions, Roomex is a top choice, with over two million accommodations available.
What is business travel booking software?
Corporate travel management software is the technology that travel managers like you can use to efficiently plan, book, and oversee all aspects of a business trip, including flights, accommodations, transportation, and expenses.
It saves you time, too, empowering employees to book their own business trips, while ensuring you maintain control over budgets and policies—with the oversight you need to fulfil your duty-of-care obligations.
Why should you use a business travel management app?
There are numerous reasons your business should consider using business travel management software to coordinate corporate travel. Whether you’re a small team or a large multinational organisation, if you have staff travelling regularly for work, a business travel app will save you time and help you:
- Achieve a streamlined booking process: Business travel management apps centralise the booking process, allowing employees to book flights, accommodations, and transportation all in one place per your company travel policy and budget. This simplifies the process, saves you time, and reduces the likelihood of errors.
- Save money: Apps often come with features that help monitor and control travel expenses. Through negotiated rates, budget tracking tools, prepaid cards, and expense reporting functionalities, companies can optimise spending and identify areas for cost-saving.
- Increase travel policy compliance: By integrating company travel policies directly into the app, you can make it easier for your employees to book in line with your policy regulations and guidelines. This reduces the likelihood of unauthorised bookings and helps enforce travel policies consistently across your organisation.
- Take advantage of real-time updates and alerts: Business travel management software provide real-time updates on flight delays, cancellations, or other disruptions. This enables your workplace travellers to adapt their plans accordingly, minimising disruptions to meetings or site visits. These are features your employees want —54% of workplace travellers want to stay up to date with real-time travel notifications.
- Fulfil duty-of-care obligations: With built-in safety features such as itinerary tracking and emergency assistance, these apps help fulfil a company's duty of care towards its employees. In emergencies, employers can quickly locate and assist travellers, enhancing overall safety and peace of mind.
The 9 best business travel management apps in 2024:
1. Roomex
What is it?
Roomex is a centralised business travel management app that simplifies accommodation booking. With features like real-time maps tracking workplace traveller locations, negotiated rates, RoomexPay prepaid cards, and Trainline integration, Roomex stands out as a leading solution for businesses seeking efficient and cost-effective accommodation booking.
Who should use it?
Roomex is suitable for all-sized businesses with highly mobile workforces that need to regularly travel domestically—for example, those in the engineering and construction industries.
Benefits:
- Central booking platform with extensive accommodation options: Roomex offers a single platform with access to over two million workforce-suitable accommodations. Tailored filtering and travel policy integration simplify booking, boost compliance and provide unparalleled choice.
- Exclusive Roomex rates & savings of up to 12%: Benefit from negotiated rates, ensuring optimal room rates and significant savings on expenses, enhancing project profitability. With accommodation accounting for 34% of business travel expenses, saving money on overnight stays is vital for keeping travel costs down.
- Local customer support & expert support for projects: Accessible support reduces travel management stress, while expert assistance for projects and meetings saves time and ensures the perfect accommodation.
- Roomex analytics for data-driven decisions: Gain insights into travel spend, behaviour, and savings, empowering data-driven decisions.
- RoomexPay and pay on account options: Simplify spend management with various allowance options and prepaid cards, ensuring compliance and flexibility. Booking on account reduces the risk of fraudulent spending.
- Duty of care sorted: Simplify employee safety management with the Roomex Duty of Care Map which displays travel history, contact information, and upcoming trip details, supported by periodic reservation checks and cancellation charge recovery.
- One invoice: Consolidate multiple stays into one invoice, easing finance team burdens.
Don’t take our word for it:
“Easy to use product, support team is always helpful, knowledgeable and contactable. Changes to business are easily replicated with Roomex and booking confirmations to travellers work well.” —Capterra reviewer
2. Booking.com for Business
What is it?
Booking.com for Business is a free business travel platform designed to simplify the booking process for flights, accommodations, and car rentals, providing access to over 29 million listings worldwide. Since it’s not a dedicated travel management app, there are limits on how you can integrate it with other business accounts.
Who should use it?
Booking.com for Business is a useful corporate travel app for businesses wanting a comprehensive, yet free platform to book business hotels, flights, and car rentals.
Benefits:
- Access exclusive business rates with ease: Book entire trips in two minutes with access to exclusive discounts and rewards, all with no booking fees or software costs.
- Extensive travel inventory with 24/7 support: Access a vast inventory of flights, accommodation, and car rental services with complimentary 24/7 customer support available.
- Easy expense tracking: Integrated expense reporting and varying permission levels for team members help you control expenses effectively.
What users think:
“Overall we are very pleased with the website. It is easy to search and find the properties, read user reviews and complete the booking.” —G2 reviewer
3. Travel Perk
What is it?
TravelPerk is a top corporate travel management app designed to streamline travel expenses, bookings, and policies, offering a user-friendly interface for booking flights, hotels, and rental cars.
Who uses TravelPerk?
TravelPerk is used by businesses of all sizes, including industry leaders like Uber, FarFetch, Wise, and Glovo.
Benefits:
- Effortless trip planning: Plan every aspect of a trip in one place, easily setting policies, managing invoices, and tracking travel spending—saving time and money.
- Largest business travel inventory: Access an unparalleled inventory of flights, hotels, rental cars, and accommodation, ensuring the best options within company budgets.
- Convenient mobile business travel app: Manage travel bookings and expenses on the go with TravelPerk's mobile app, which offers real-time updates and notifications for seamless travel management.
User reviews:
“Filtering options are well thought-over (like ordering hotels by the distance from our office), prices are not (much) higher than if I check outside of the services.” —TrustPilot reviewer
4. SAP Concur
What is it?
SAP Concur is an integrated travel and expense management software that simplifies trip planning, book flights, hotels, and car rentals with easy expense reporting, and invoice management.
Who uses SAP Concur?
SAP Concur is preferred by businesses looking for an all-in-one solution for travel and expense management. Current clients include industry giants like Uber, TripIt, and American Airlines.
Benefits:
- Streamlined expense management: Create, submit, and approve expense reports from anywhere, on any device.
- Comprehensive integration: Connect SAP Concur to your CRM, HR, and finance solutions, and with apps like Uber and TripIt, for quick and easy corporate travel management.
- Policy compliance and duty of care: Gain complete control over business travel by ensuring compliance with corporate travel policies and fulfilling duty-of-care obligations.
Don’t just take our word for it:
“Electronic submission of expenses is so amazing and automation—especially with automatic payments—is great.” —Capterra reviewer
5. Egencia
What is it?
Egencia is a global B2B travel app, offering 24/7 customer support and a range of services including booking, itinerary management, expense tracking, and compliance reporting.
Who’s it for?
Egencia is a corporate travel app that caters to travel managers, travel arrangers, and travellers in companies conducting business travel.
Benefits:
- Effortless travel management: With self-serve functionality, travellers can easily manage bookings themselves. Companies can add policies and guidelines for safer, more compliant choices.
- Preferential rates: Gain access to preferential rates in over 35,000 hotels and 90 airlines worldwide, and book flights in just four minutes.
- Trusted by leading companies: Egencia is trusted by industry leaders like Coca-Cola, BP, Nasdaq, and Splunk.
What users say:
“You can sync other corporate accounts you have like National Car, AVIS etc so that your employees can book through a single platform.” —Capterra reviewer
6. Navan
What is it?
Navan, formerly known as TripActions, is an integrated business travel and expense management solution designed to simplify corporate travel processes.
Who’s it designed for?
Navan, targets business travellers and companies managing corporate travel and expenses.
Benefits:
- Efficiency and cost savings: Navan maximises efficiency while minimising costs with discounted rates, dynamic policies, and automated expense reporting.
- Advanced AI support and personalised booking: Access 24/7 support with AI tools like Ava, enjoy seamless online booking thanks to a wide inventory and personalised results, and earn loyalty points for cost-effective choices.
- Tailored travel programs and sustainability tools: Consult with travel experts and a dedicated team to create unique and tailored travel programs, while also tracking and reducing your organisation’s carbon emissions.
What users say:
“It is very easy to book travel, and very easy to use the website as well as the app.” —G2 reviewer
7. Spendesk
What is it?
Spendesk is a comprehensive spend management platform that offers complete visibility into company expenses. It combines corporate cards, invoice payments, expense reimbursements, budgets, approval workflows, reporting, compliance, and pre-accounting into one simple, scalable solution.
Who should use it?
Spendesk is ideal for businesses ranging from 30 to 1000 employees.
Benefits:
- Spend management: Simplify expense management with Spendesk's integrated solution, ensuring transparency and control over company spending.
- Efficiency and scalability: Spendesk is flexible and suitable for businesses of different sizes and stages of growth, from startups to established brands.
- Enhanced oversight: Gain valuable insights into corporate spending through spending reports, real-time cost analysis, and budget guidance. Spendesk also offers accounting automation and corporate credit card options ideal for regular workplace travellers.
Wrapping up
With the right business travel management app, you can streamline bookings, track expenses, and ensure compliance with travel policies—all while saving time and money.
Why not let Roomex take the strain when it comes to your business travel bookings, with over two million workforce travel-suitable accommodation available for reservation, right now.
