Marriott International has unveiled a travel management platform called “Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy,” a “one-stop-shop” travel booking tool designed for small and medium-sized businesses.
Marriott said the online booking tool, which goes live today, will streamline the travel management process for corporate travelers and give them access to Marriott Bonvoy discounted rates and other benefits across the Marriott portfolio. In addition to booking hotels, Marriott Bonvoy’s Business Access tool will also allow travelers to book flights, rail and car rentals.
Travel managers can use the platform to customize travel policies, access analytics related to travel expenses and sustainability reports, and monitor traveler health and safety via interactive maps. Additionally, companies can also integrate the program with their existing expense management platforms to send payments via virtual credit cards and automate expense reporting.
Small business employees will also receive access to Marriott Bonvoy benefits, including free breakfast, late check-out and mobile check-in (where available).
The platform is operated by travel-focused technology company Spotnana and is currently available in the US, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, with further expansion planned.
Marriott says the impetus for developing the tool came after a survey of 1,500 small business business travelers revealed widespread dissatisfaction with existing travel booking systems. The survey, conducted by Wakefield Research in late May across the U.S., U.K., Canada and Mexico, found that 75% of respondents were dissatisfied with their travel booking platforms. Fifty-six percent cited platform ease of use as their main concern, and 58% said they would “ask for permission rather than ask for permission” when booking outside their own travel management platform.
For the purposes of this study, small businesses were defined as those with fewer than 1,000 employees, and medium-sized businesses were defined as those with between 1,000 and 4,999 employees.
