Podcast: Scaling a TMC built on modern infrastructure
Spotnana powers Planned’s new travel offering
July 22, 2024
By Sarosh Waghmar
Categories
News
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I have always believed that travel plays a significant role in connecting humanity, and I am proud that Spotnana’s open Travel-as-a-Service platform continues to help more and more people facilitate deeper in-person connections.
Today, I’m excited to announce that Spotnana is powering Planned’s new travel offering. Planned is a travel and events company that helps its customers source and book in-person meetings and events. Through our integration, Planned’s customers can now easily book venues, vendors, and travel arrangements from the same platform.
Providing a seamless and cost-effective travel experience
By using Spotnana as the core infrastructure powering its new travel offering, Planned customers now have access to Spotnana’s industry-leading self-service travel capabilities and deep direct NDC integrations with major airlines, unlocking even more savings for corporate travelers and better traveler experiences. Spotnana offers unbiased global content so travelers can find the best rates and booking options from GDS, NDC, and low-cost carrier channels.
“Our partnership with Spotnana is a strategic step toward unifying Travel and Events functions and budgets, reflecting a growing trend in the industry,” says Emeric Noel, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Planned. “As companies increasingly invest in Travel and Events, the need for budget optimization has never been greater. By integrating event planning, supplier negotiations, travel booking, policies, duty of care, and guest management, we unlock savings opportunities that would otherwise be missed. For instance, discounts negotiated by the Travel team for hotel rooms can be leveraged by the Events team, maximizing cost efficiency across the board.”
In addition to savings opportunities, this partnership streamlines workflows for event planners and their guests. Attendees, for example, will no longer need to switch between platforms to RSVP and book their trip.
“We’ve heard time and time again how challenging it was for Travel and Events leaders to drive adoption of their programs when having to deal with multiple tech platforms and processes,” added Noel. “That’s especially true for mid-size companies. By providing planners and travelers with a seamless experience, we’re making it much easier for procurement teams to scale their program and generate savings.”
Planned’s new travel offering will also help drive compliance and cost efficiency for procurement teams and travel managers by directly embedding travel policy and budget guardrails into the travel booking experience.
Delivering innovation to our channel partners
Partnering with Planned is a natural fit for Spotnana since our open Travel-as-a-Service platform is designed to be white labeled and embedded in other software products. Planned was able to get to market with a new travel offering quickly and avoid the cost and time of developing an entire travel solution from scratch. Going forward, they will also benefit from ongoing feature enhancements delivered through a roadmap they help shape.
“We’ve forged an incredible partnership with Planned, seamlessly blending our strategic go-to-market approaches and business models to provide their customers with an unparalleled travel booking experience,” said Esha Tiwari, Senior Manager of Technology Partner Success at Spotnana. “Planned leverages cutting-edge technology to deliver personalized service to their customers and provides transparency in its fee structures, ensuring that customers know exactly what they’re paying for.”
Making in-person gatherings seamless
Planned’s innovative approach to travel and events management will deliver exceptional value to travelers. We‘re excited to empower Planned’s customers to book their trips and events in one central place and manage their individual travel reservations seamlessly.
The reason people travel is to meet in person, which aligns with Planned’s mission to bring people together. We believe this partnership will greatly benefit our clients, offering them a more efficient and integrated solution for their travel and events needs.
– Marc Bonin, Co-Founder and CEO at Planned
We are excited to partner with a company that shares our belief that travel builds stronger human connections. We look forward to delivering next-generation travel experiences to Planned’s customers and working together on future opportunities for innovation.