Tripconomics aims to make corporate travel less of a headache

Travel startups have been unimaginative when it comes to how they want to disrupt the industry. Most of them are consumer-facing apps that help consumers discover, book, or search for deals — essentially variations on the ideal neighborhood travel agent.

In this vein, Tripconomics is doing something entirely different. Rather than targeting the crowded consumer market, this Singapore startup is hoping to uncover what it sees as a hidden gem: the world of corporate travel management.

As I understand from co-founder Keson Lim, a corporate travel veteran, the industry is dominated by large corporate travel agencies that handle global accounts on large retainers.

These companies, which have call centers around the world, typically service corporations with revenue above USD 250 million (think brands like Energizer, HSBC, and Prada), handling flights, hotels, insurance, and visas.

For ‘smaller’ firms with ‘only’ tens of millions in revenue, they usually manage their travel arrangements and expenses in-house. That’s the crowd that the startup is targeting.

In a nutshell, Tripconomics is a web tool for corporates to manage the travel expenses and plans of their employees. The user can manage travel profiles for staff of different seniorities, setting useful details like budget limitations.

There’s also an instant search tool where users can instantly book a hotel in-app. Existing discounts arranged by the company and the hospitality provider can be logged, and the displayed prices will be updated appropriately. All of the inventory comes from Expedia.

Finally, Tripconomics has a rewards scheme targeted at secretaries, who initially resisted the product since they were already receiving kickbacks from hotels whenever they make bookings directly.

The genesis for the idea came about when Keson was working at SK International, a corporate travel agency. Then, he realized that the existing mode of operations lent itself to many errors.

Keeping track of negotiated rates between hotels and companies is tricky business, and outsourced call centers can be hard to manage. Labor was cheap, but quality was an issue. Accents can be difficult to understand, and one rep even once sent a letter in all caps to the customer for no apparent reason, a definite faux pas.

Toying with a startup idea is easy, but getting technical talent is tough. Keson initially thought about engaging developers to do contract work, and that was exactly what he and Calvin Cheng, now his fellow co-founder, had in mind when they met up after touching base at a panel discussion at Hackerspace Singapore.

But after about a month of meetings, both parties clicked, and Calvin came on board to work on the idea full-time last August.

The company generates revenue by charging customers USD 9.99 a month (free for first three users) and taking a referral fee of between 5 to 10 percent per transaction. The service has already been tested at a number of companies including 2359 Media, Ascendas, and Wikki Stix.