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Expense Software Startup Ramp Launches New Corporate Travel Marketplace

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Ramp, the five-year-old expense management software and corporate card startup, doesn't just want to be the provider of choice for enterprise finance and accounting teams.

No, as of today, it also wants to be the one companies and their employees turn to when booking business travel.

Hence, the company is launching Ramp Travel, a new marketplace for searching, selecting, and booking corporate-approved travel options, in partnership with Priceline, the online discount travel booking website perhaps best known for employing former Star Trek actor William Shatner as its pitchman "The Negotiator" back in the late 90s and early 00s.

The new solution integrates Ramp's enterprise policy controls and settings, expense automations, and spend analytics with Priceline's extensive inventory and competitive deals.

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Essentially, an employee whose company has contracted its corporate expense management software and cards with Ramp will get the opportunity to, through the existing Ramp platform and app interfaces, now have the ability to book travel via a Priceline plugin, with all the spend on flights, hotels, and rental cars tracked automatically — without them having to keep track of their receipts manually.

Only those Priceline options that fall within a given company's expense policy will be shown and available for an employee to book through Ramp. In addition, Ramp Travel waives all booking fees.

Any current or future Ramp customer can use Ramp Travel at no additional cost.

Eric Glyman, CEO of Ramp, emphasized the efficiency brought by the new product in a statement, saying: "Ramp already makes companies' finances more efficient by streamlining expenses and automating busywork. By integrating travel booking, which has traditionally been a pain point for busywork and bloat, organizations have more time and resources to focus on what really matters: their business."

A resurgent market opportunity

Corporate travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses currently account for 20% of annual purchases made on Ramp, a figure expected to rise as corporate travel demand returns to pre-pandemic levels. Already, airline bookings this year are up 34%, according to figures cited in the official Ramp Travel announcement blog post.

Ramp Travel's introduction comes at a crucial time, offering businesses a way to manage this significant expense category more efficiently.

This launch marks Ramp's entry into the business travel booking sector, aiming to save businesses both time and money from booking to expense reconciliation.

However, Ramp aims to maintain flexibility by still supporting expense tracking and management for company travel booked through other providers.

As such, Ramp maintains integrations with TravelPerk, Corporate Traveler, Uber, Lyft and "many more to further enhance and automate the business travel experience," according to a spokesperson who emailed VentureBeat.

"Businesses that prefer to book through these providers can continue to do so and still benefit from Ramp's insights, controls, and automations," wrote the Ramp spokesperson. "As long as a Ramp card is used, we work in the background to detect spend in real-time, use enhanced data signals to check receipts against compliance policies, collect receipts to automate expense reporting, and streamline accounting."

A match made in business travel heaven?

Ramp Travel leverages Priceline's global network of airline partners, accommodation options, and industry-leading rates, offering users streamlined access to exceptional deals on flights and hotels worldwide.

Through its partnership with Priceline Partner Solutions, Ramp Travel ensures that customers can benefit from Priceline's extensive travel products spanning over 116 countries.

Early praise and testimonials from Ramp customers and Priceline

Staci Robinson, AP Manager at Pair Eyewear, praised the seamless experience provided by Ramp Travel in a statement: "I've used so many systems for travel, and Ramp really knows how to take the best parts of each and make it so seamless and efficient. Employees don't have to navigate to three different places just to book travel, and all their spend when they actually take the trip is all in Ramp, too. From approvals, to coding, to automatically attaching receipts to each trip – it's brilliant."

Matthew Shutt, Vice President and General Manager of Priceline Partner Solutions, highlighted the benefits of the partnership: "Priceline's extensive inventory and highly competitive rates will help users seamlessly find the right travel offering to suit their needs. We're excited to partner with Ramp to help take the friction out of business travel for corporate customers, and improve the experience for both employees and employers."

Ramp Travel also offers real-time insights into T&E spend, helping companies prevent non-compliant activities and detect negative spending trends early.

Ramp Travel is designed to address common pain points in business travel — such as cumbersome expense reports, delayed visibility into travel spending, and complicated approval processes. We'll see if it helps the company in its fight against other business expense management software such as SAP's Concur and Brex, the latter of which just today announced a wave of AI-powered updates.

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3 Travel Stocks To Buy As A Strong Dollar Buoys Vacationers

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While the phenomenon known as revenge travel has faded, investors should still consider the bullish case for travel stocks. Right now, the U.S. Dollar enjoys a strength relative to many other international currencies. As such, American tourists benefit from incredible purchasing power – and they're flexing it.

Another factor that helps move the narrative along is the concept of travel prioritization. Again, the acuteness of the "revenge" angle has subsided. However, the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a behavioral shift among consumers. People are simply emphasizing experiential expenditures and that also bolsters the case for these travel stocks to buy.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (WH)

Source: Mihai_Andritoiu / Shutterstock

Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:WH) falls under the lodging industry. It operates as a hotel franchisor in the U.S. And internationally. Its main business unit focuses on licensing its lodging brands. It also provides related services to third-party hotel owners. Some of the brands under Wyndham's portfolio include Super 8, Days Inn, Travelodge and its namesake hotels.

To be fair, Wyndham is on a recovery trek. In 2023, the company posted sales of only $1.4 billion. That was down almost 7% from last year's result of $1.5 billion. And that was down from 2021's sales of $1.57 billion. However, in the trailing 12 months (TTM), Wyndham posted a net income of $238 million or earnings per share of $2.84. Also, revenue reached $1.39 billion.

For the current fiscal year, covering experts believe that sales will ultimately land at $1.49 billion, up nearly 7%. Further, EPS could rise to $4.36, implying expansion of just under 28%. These targets seem believable because of travel prioritization dynamic. Thus, WH may rank among the travel stocks to buy.

United Airlines (UAL)

Source: m.Photo / Shutterstock.Com

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) through its subsidiaries provides air transportation services. The company transports both passengers and cargo through its mainline and regional fleets. Moreover, United offers catering, ground handling, flight academy and maintenance services for third parties. While Covid-19 has been an obvious headwind for UAL, shares appear poised for a wider recovery.

The upswing can't come soon enough. In 2020, United posted sales of $15.36 billion, down a staggering 64.5% from the prior year's tally of $43.26 billion. However, it's well on its way to a recovery, with 2023 seeing revenue rise to $53.72 billion. Combined with the greenback being worth more than competing major currencies, Americans have all the more reason to travel. That's good news for UAL stock.

In the TTM period, the airliner posted net income of $2.69 billion, translating to EPS of $8.09. Revenue during the period hit $54.83 billion. For the current fiscal year, analysts are looking for a top line of $58.26 billion, up 8.46% from the prior year. Also, EPS may rise to $10.30, a gain of 30.55%. UAL belongs on your radar of travel stocks to buy.

Trip.Com (TCOM)

Source: Ralf Liebhold / Shutterstock

Based in Singapore, Trip.Com (NASDAQ:TCOM) through its subsidiaries operates as a travel service provider for accommodation reservation, transportation ticketing, packaged tours and in-destination, corporate travel management. Its main market is in China, though Trip.Com serves other international regions. Granted, TCOM stock is a riskier idea due to uncertainties tied to Chinese consumers. Still, it could be intriguing.

Part of the reason is that analysts absolutely love TCOM. Right now, it features a unanimous strong buy rating and that's among 14 experts. Further, the average price target stands at $68.06, implying a robust upside. Finally, the most optimistic target calls for a per-share price of $87.

As with other travel stocks, TCOM suffered badly because of the Covid-19 crisis. In 2020, the company posted revenue of $18.32 billion, down almost 49% from last year's result of $35.67 billion. However, in 2023, Trip.Com posted sales of $44.51 billion.

For this year, experts believe that the top line could expand by 20.2% to $53.5 billion. Also, EPS could rise 47% to $21.72. If you're willing to take some risks with your travel stocks, TCOM should be on your radar.

On the date of publication, Josh Enomoto did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.Com Publishing Guidelines.

A former senior business analyst for Sony Electronics, Josh Enomoto has helped broker major contracts with Fortune Global 500 companies. Over the past several years, he has delivered unique, critical insights for the investment markets, as well as various other industries including legal, construction management, and healthcare. Tweet him at @EnomotoMedia.

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Comment: Pushing Travel Companies In A Greener Direction

Alastair Dickenson of travel management company Diversity Travel looks at how companies can make meaningful, long-term changes on environmental action 

It can be difficult to raise the conversation about sustainability and environmental action in the travel and tourism sector because of the nature of the business.

I have worked in the travel sector for more than 25 years and have experienced first-hand the damaging impact the industry's poor reputation and credibility on climate change has on having meaningful discussions about solutions to this important global issue.

According to a recent study, referenced by the World Economic Forum, the travel industry is responsible for roughly eight percent of global carbon emissions.

Despite this, we still see disappointing representation from the travel and tourism sector at major international climate discussions. When we do have a seat at the table, there is often disproportionate treatment to representatives compared with other sectors.

This is notwithstanding that much more needs to be done across this sector to address climate change, but it does highlight a larger hurdle travel professionals face when taking action and bringing forward creative solutions. And this includes travel management companies (TMC).

Diversity Travel was the one of the first TMC to introduce a specialist sustainability and environmental action role in 2021, a position I'm privileged to now undertake, with the main aim of changing how our company thinks and acts on sustainability. This is important because consumer trust and our sector's credibility needs to be rebuilt.

Mintel wrote in their Sustainability in Travel (2024) report that trust in travel companies transitioning to sustainable travel remains low, echoing the feeling of scepticism reported on by Travel Weekly last year.

Culture change is key if the travel and tourism sector is to truly address this issue. The first step is to promote transparency with sustainability, which is how I plan to approach this role.

Diversity Travel's commitment to sustainability

Diversity Travel has been carbon neutral since 2011, and achieved the ISO 14001 Environmental Management Standard in 2008 which has been maintained since.

Our ambition has since been to become an industry leader on this issue.

It is why we're on track to achieve our net zero targets across scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by the end of 2025, and why we've invested in this Head of Environmental Action role.

Core to our approach on climate has been investing in both people and technology, which we see as equally essential with one another. I think it's what sets us apart from other TMC's and it's what our clients really value.

We understand that keeping costs low is still a high priority for our clients, and this can sometimes impact on sustainable choices. This may be because of my account management background, but I think having someone at the other end of the phone, who understands your business needs, and can weigh that up when suggesting sustainable solutions is extra important.

In an effort to change our culture around environmental action, we provide sustainability training for the team, who can then advise clients with confidence on what options are available to reduce the carbon footprint of their trip, whether through carbon offsets, alternative transport options (such as rail), or limiting the amount of non-sustainable travel options to choose from.

Technology and data analytics will increasingly play a vital role in gaining credibility on climate change. We have invested in external analysts to provide our clients with accurate data and insights on their travel plans, and to promote a more transparent approach to sustainability in the travel and tourism sector.

One of the first changes I'm making in this role will be to publish our Sustainability Report annually, to openly share our progress and next steps, and in an effort to win back trust and support for the sector's commitment to sustainability.

Another priority will be to upgrade our booking system using this technology to give customers information regarding the sustainability ratings of not only methods of travel, but hotels and meals too. It will no longer produce results when searching for short-haul flights like London to Paris, for example, and instead display sustainable travel options.

We will be an active voice.

While individual corporate responsibility remains important, as shown above, reducing the carbon emissions of our clients will be the most effective way to both lower overall carbon emissions across the sector and to restore trust and credibility.

How other travel companies can create a culture of sustainability

Here are my tips for companies across our sector, whether that be business or leisure travel, to make meaningful, long-term changes on environmental action and to create a culture of sustainability:

Invest in your team first – easy to forget this in the world of AI and automation. This can be through external training or new guidance and policies, upskilling the whole team, not just client- or customer-facing roles, will have a positive long-term impact in changing the culture of your business.

Take an active role – encouraging customers is one thing, but that's easy. An active role means you are directing proceedings more, and prepared to have those conversations.

Promote transparency – something we all need to do more, across the sector, to build back trust. This can be through reporting progress, or encouraging feedback and conversations about sustainability with clients.

Lead by example – culture change comes from the top-down. Our Board of Directors were the first to take action by unanimously declaring a climate emergency. We have taken consistent action on this issue as a result. Be ambitious and don't wait for others to take action before you do.

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