Concur®, leading provider of spend management solutions and services in the world, today announced a partnership with United Airlines to develop and enable corporate direct travel bookings on united.com and on United apps by leveraging Concur’s TripLink product. Mutual Concur and United clients that desire a direct booking capability with the airline will be able to extend the benefits of their managed travel program to those bookings that occur directly with United.

Through TripLink, corporate travelers will be able to link their Concur and MileagePlus profiles to receive their company’s corporate benefits when booking directly with United while their employer will satisfy reporting, policy compliance and duty of care requirements through Concur. Travelers will be able to book their corporate fares directly with United and automatically have the trip data sent back to Concur to populate travel and expense reports on Concur and related platforms. In addition, United and Concur corporate clients will realize the following benefits:

·      Increased Savings: Concur TripLink enables travelers to take advantage of their corporate program when they book directly with United.  With a more complete view of all company travel transactions, travelers and their companies get better visibility and control.

·      Improved Traveler Tracking: By capturing out of program bookings, companies know where their employees are traveling at all times, supporting their Duty of Care requirements. This also enables their TMCs to support these travelers and deliver new services. Whether a traveler chooses to book through Concur Travel, their travel management company (TMC) or directly with United, Concur TripLink enables travelers to define their shopping experience.

·      Greater Compliance: By gaining visibility into direct corporate bookings at the time of booking, travel managers and their TMC’s have a complete view of the corporate travel data. They can use this information to drive real-time programs and services to increase compliance of all travel bookings.

“We see this partnership as a strategic answer to a very specific customer segment. Some of our mutual customers already book directly with United and others have requested that we integrate our booking platforms with Concur,” said John Slater, United’s vice president of sales, Americas. “The flexibility offered in Concur’s TripLink product will enable these customers to realize the benefits of negotiated United corporate rates while receiving traveler authentication and integration with Concur Expense.”

“As booking options expand, our customers have been looking for ways to gain greater control over their travel spending. This partnership really addresses this growing need – managing blind spend,” said Steve Singh, chairman and CEO at Concur. “Our goal is to work with United and other partners to give our customers a transparent view of their spending, visibility to their travel plans and gives their employees an effortless road to compliance.”