Why Trip Concierge is the C-Suite’s preferred Choice for Corporate Travel
Read how Trip Concierge is the secret travel tool your competitors use to get ahead.
AUTHORS DISCLOSURE: I was able to try the service on a risk-free 30 day trial at the companies invitation and was blown away by it. I did not receive any compensation to write this article, but I ended up investing in the company — yes, it’s that good!
Overview
Researching and selecting a corporate travel solution can be tedious but is well worth it when it comes to improving the quality of your trips and the importance of stretching every travel dollar, in particular for the C-Suite. There are several solutions and agencies in the market, and it can be difficult to quickly see which one is right for you. This page will help you understand the key differences between Trip Concierge and Lola, Travelbank, TravelPerks and TripActions so you can decide which solution makes sense for your business.
What is Trip Concierge?
Trip Concierge is the choice for the C-Suite to book, manage and report on corporate travel. A beautiful and simple interface, coupled with a robust booking engine for flights, hotels, cars and airport transfers. With dedicated Certified Travel Experts™ available 24/7 to reduce travel stress and anxiety and to remove a lot of time wasted in tedious booking tasks. Of all the options available, where TravelBank is the rattling Hyundai, and Lola the somewhat more reliable Toyota, Trip Concierge really is more like the refined Mercedes or BMW — it is the only ones to have a trusted 5-Star Google rating and A+ Better Business Bureau rating to prove it.
What is Lola?
Lola.com is a very basic way to book, manage and report on corporate travel. Although it boasts a modern interface, and decent booking and reporting tools, it really doesn’t do much more than Expedia, other than asking you to pay a fee for the same service that any good consumer travel agent provides — but you or your assistant still wastes 20 hours of precious time to find the right hotel. It’s also not hard to get 5-star reviews when you pay for the article to be written on business insider. Lola talks a lot about its #1 rating on Capterra which doesn’t say much when compared to Trip Concierge’s trusted Google 5-Star rating — which cannot be manipulated or bought like Twitter likes. You won’t find a Google rating for Lola.
What is TravelBank?
TravelBank is a corporate travel management tool touted as a smarter way to book, track, and earn rewards on business travel. However, Travelbank’s unimpressive platform, lack of focus on traveler experience, and run-of-the-mill customer support cause it to fall behind in the ranks. TravelBank is ranked #16 for Travel Management Software on Capterra and once again there is no Google rating to speak of.
What is TravelPerks?
As the #21 rated travel management platform on Capterra and yet again no Google rating, TravelPerk receives praise for its multilingual support and ability to book multi-city trips. Headquartered in Barcelona, TravelPerk is a good travel solution for very large companies based in Europe. TravelPerk’s unpredictable transactional pricing model continues to be a challenge for any user of their product. Their travel support falls flat the second you go beyond the EU borders. Trip Concierge has local certified travel experts in the USA, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, Sweden and Dubai — and unlike all the others, they are not outsourced, they are all employees of the company.
What is TripActions?
By now you should see a trend for lack of Google 5-star reviews, with TripActions barely reaching #17 on Capterra, really the only place we can find any sort of rating for them. TripActions is a travel management platform that incentivizes corporate travelers to book lower-cost hotel, flight, train and car options to help their companies save money on travel. Because it’s more of a perks platform than a serious travel solution it loads up on hefty booking and transaction fees. This unpredictable pricing is really not suited for any good business planning.
What is American Express Global Business Travel?
They are big and generally highly rated. We’ll give them that. But did you know their rates aren’t really better than what you find on Expedia? 80% of Trip Concierge’s new customers are actually AMEX Platinum or Centurion cardholders tired of run of the mill travel choices, peddled by call center agents reading a script. Trip Concierge offers travel discounts with over 200+ travel suppliers and are partnered with the largest travel agency network in the world, Travel Leaders. And its dedicated agents are not scripted to sell you stuff you don’t want. They listen to your needs wants and requirements, with a level of quality that rivals even the best concierge on the best luxury cruise line in the world — known to be the Concierge on Princess cruises. How do we know this? He is in charge of Trip Concierge’s customer service training and developed the entire service delivery model.
What really sets Trip Concierge apart from all the others?
Management from many of these online providers boasts about their Internet experience at Kayak and Hubspot which only tells you they are good at sales, not service. You rarely see them talking about their travel backgrounds or any significant travel brands known for a luxury or even upscale travel experience. The Trip Concierge team hails from known brands such as Virgin, Ritz-Carlton, Burj Al-Arab, Princess Cruises and Abercrombie & Kent. Do they know how to make your travel stress and anxiety free? Absolutely. Have they mastered the ability to deliver it at Marriott prices? Definitely.
What makes Trip Concierge different from other corporate travel solutions?
Service and Choice. Plain and simple. If everyone has a platform and a booking engine it boils down to the quality of service and the choice available.
With Trip Concierge you have access to:
- 30 million flight options worldwide
- 187,000 hotels, offering 17.5 million guest rooms, around the globe
- 7.3 million rental cars
- 314 cruise ships with 268,500 staterooms
- 1 million kilometers of railway services in the world
- And discounts, perks and complimentary upgrades with all of them
- Group and convention travel support
- Benefits that extend to employees’ personal travel
Trip Concierge travel insurance is the best in the Industry, offered by three of the largest insurance companies in the world (Allianz, Chubb and Berkshire Hathaway), they include:
- Trip Cancellation: Up to $100,000 per trip
- Trip Interruption: Up to $150,000 per trip
- Emergency Medical: $50,000 per trip
- Emergency Medical Transportation: $1,000,000 per trip
- Baggage Loss/Damage: $2,000 per trip
- Baggage Delay: $600 per trip
- Travel Delay: $1,600 per trip
- Change Fee Coverage: Up to $500 per day
- Loyalty Program Redeposit Fee Coverage: $500
- Coverage for pre-existing medical conditions.
Trip Concierge has Certified Travel Experts™ — they have call center agents. What’s the difference?
In order to become a Certified Travel Expert™ you have to undertake two years of rigorous training, both in-house and with Trip Concierge’s travel suppliers. This is to ensure that team members not only know the service standards, but also all of the suppliers’ products. And they test and grade employees every step of the way. Unless you have a GPA of 3.5 (A-) you cannot become a Certified Travel Expert™. This initial training is followed up by annual continuing education requirements and re-certification. It’s so important to the company, they copyrighted and trademarked the term. Absolutely none of the other competitors’ call center employees receive this kind of training.
Lastly, the Trip Concierge finance team will customize your accounting reporting with automated integration to all major accounting systems, either manually or via API’s, whether that is Quickbooks, Netsuite, Sage or Timberline. It’s all available.
What does Trip Concierge’s 5-Star Google Rated Service Look Like?
If you read any of Trip Concierge’s reviews on Google, you will quickly see that they perform best when things get dicey. Monitoring their guests while on the road is a hallmark of their service. They use artificial intelligence to keep track of all their travelers. Making sure they are taken care of while on the road is where they excel. We all know that business travel hinges on tight schedules and important, time-sensitive meetings. Often flights get delayed or cancelled and trips get disrupted. Fortunately, you do not have to deal with them alone. Trip Concierge already knows there are thunderstorms in Minneapolis, and you will end up with a ten-hour layover, but they also know you don’t mind flying via Atlanta and we will inform you well in advance and re-book you in an instant, if required.
Trip Concierge knows you like sitting in 2A, you require extra pillows in your room, want a fast connection, preferably on Alaska, but United will suffice if you are in a rush. Trip Concierge knows you sometimes take your Chihuahua with you on your trip, and your husband prefers later morning flights, and Isle in First Class on domestic flights, but Premium Economy on international flights. They know what you like. They anticipate your needs. The gift of any good travel expert is the gift of anticipation. Of knowing what you want, before you know you want it. That’s why when its crunch time Trip Concierge gets 5-stars rated on Google and A+ on Better Business Bureau while the others make you hold in a mind-numbing call-center queue just like Expedia. You can reach them via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter and more. And if cell service and Internet goes, ping them via Satellite. Yes, you heard me. They have Iridium satellite coverage even in the Sahara Desert or the most remote parts of the Amazon. Their GPS dots have data and their Satsleeves transform your Apple iPhone or Android smartphone into a satellite phone — just let them know you need a backup plan before you go.
What is the typical cost of hiring a corporate travel service?
Most corporate travel services charge a fee for each individual traveler per month — anywhere from under $10 to over $20. But if you have a large number of C-Suite employees that require the top tier level of service this quickly becomes very (and unexpectedly) costly. This pricing model is also not very practical if you have some employees traveling very frequently but some rarely, if at all. Additionally, most companies charge hefty booking and support fees (these tend to be around $25 — per transaction) and even re-booking fees in some cases. You soon notice that your corporate credit card is incurring dozens and dozens of these charges each and every month.
Trip Concierge’s Cost Compared to Lola, TravelBank and TravelPerks
Trip Concierge has a subscription model similar to Lola, but with Lola you are stuck locking yourself in for an entire year on a ruthless annual subscription based on the number of corporate travelers. When loyalty to a brand comes with a ball and chain, you have to question their ability to deliver on their promise. With Trip Concierge you can pay monthly and cancel any time, they are so certain about the quality of their service they don’t need to lock you up.
While TravelBank advertises itself as mostly free, premium features that admins and travelers will expect and need for business travel cost extra. Additionally, TravelBank charges transaction fees on every booking and re-booking. That can add up pretty quick!
TravelPerk charges clients $12 per trip for up to 8 travelers and 8 elements. It also offers a free plan without most features (e.g., priority customer support, corporate negotiated rates and reporting) to enable customers to “try before they buy”, as well as custom enterprise pricing. It’s unpredictable and transactional pricing is impossible to budget for and not the best option for companies seeking stable travel management expenses.
On the other hand, Trip Concierge’s pricing model is straightforward and simple, with a simple monthly fee and no annual commitment required. A large selection of tiers will allow you to find the best option and you can switch up or down depending on your business needs. And, unlike most corporate travel solutions (including TravelBank), they don’t charge you any additional fees for simply booking a ticket or talking to one of their Certified Travel Experts.
Finally, Trip Concierge’s affiliation with Travel Leaders Group gives customers access to flight and hotel options that have been traditionally only available to huge enterprises spending millions of dollars annually on corporate travel.
Set Your Travel Rules and Policy by Employee Category or Seniority
With Trip Concierge you can customize your travel policy between different departments, groups or corporate hierarchy. Lola, you have the ability to fully customize your travel policy. TravelBank does not have this capability and although Lola lets you choose a travel policy everyone has to adhere to the same rules — which often doesn’t work for the C-Suite.
What is corporate travel management?
Lola describes corporate travel management as the process companies use to book, manage, and report on corporate travel. Trip Concierge thinks it goes beyond that. As much as employees need to go on trips to see clients and attend conferences — and stay in accordance with their company’s travel policy when they do. Most don’t have executive assistants to book their travel and so they spend 20–30 hours of company time booking a trip. And of course the finance team has to be able to track the money everyone spends on travel, leaving many employees frustrated by the choices available to them.
Why is corporate travel management important?
Having a centralized platform for booking travel is not new. It’s called Concur and was invented in 1993. But when accounting takes precedent over employee productivity, comfort and well-being you just waste money on another line item.
Employees will overspend, because they want to be comfortable, want a better life, or have some feeling of status. Understanding a person’s travel preferences and making sure you meet them at least 80% of the way, will ensure that the finance team will keep their money, but also not have disgruntled employees seeing your customers.
The more that a company grows, the more it will need to travel. This leaves your accounting team sorting through countless expense reports, no doubt printed on paper or in an Excel spreadsheet. Wasting precious company time and resources in the process. This gives even small companies a reason to set up corporate travel management as quickly as possible!
How do I know if Trip Concierge is the right solution for my company?
Trip Concierge is designed for the C-Suite. Most of their customers have between 5–500 employees linked to a basic system like Concur, but require a differentiated more capable service for their C-Suite. They work with companies both smaller and bigger and deliver exceptional results.
Trip Concierge is the best solution when service and timing is of critical importance, and employees need to reduce stress and anxiety during their business travels.
But don’t take my word for it. Try it out yourself, risk free with no money down for 30-days.
