Shifting its emphasis towards the increasingly popular trend of bleisure travel – a blend of business and leisure – the renowned travel management corporation Lufthansa City Center (LCC) has recently announced a collaboration with the Norwegian tech startup Travelin.AI. The latter has gained traction for its unique online reservation platform designed to cater to combined work and leisure trips.
Under the collaboration, Travelin.AI will be enlisted as a favoured supplier within LCC’s extensive international network. It will be introduced to LCC’s impressive roster of 270 agencies spanning across 100 markets, not counting its German headquarters.
Martina Groenegres, the Managing Director of LCC International, has revealed to BTN Europe that the partnership’s primary focus will be the mutual marketing of the product to all affiliated agencies. Groenegres also pointed out that Travelin.AI’s digital booking tool will receive a thorough display on LCC’s internal network, elaborating on its key features and potential benefits.
In an effort to further familiarise its network with the tool, LCC plans to roll out a series of marketing and training activities over the next few months.
What sets Travelin.AI’s platform apart is its cloud-based technology that facilitates a seamless integration of business and leisure trips, automatically differentiating between the two types of expenses.
Launched just a year prior, Travelin.AI’s online booking platform encompasses comprehensive features for securing both flight and hotel reservations for business, leisure, and blended travel. According to the startup’s CEO, Roy Golden, travellers can choose their preferred type of journey and confirm their entire trip within a matter of minutes.
Golden elucidated the genesis of their technology, explaining that they created it by studying and understanding contemporary travel and lifestyle patterns. He stated that modern travellers yearn for a more efficient and improved booking and expense management experience.
Moreover, the platform allows for the addition of individual profiles for other travellers who may be accompanying the main user on blended trips. Interestingly, it also offers a unique workation feature which allows travellers to utilise a travel budget tied to their compensation package, a highlight that LCC found particularly attractive.
Commenting on the proprietary technology, Golden said, “We designed our own payment system which cleverly separates business and leisure expenses, thus eliminating any financial load on the business and sparing the traveller any manual intervention.”
This partnership is seen as LCC’s endeavour to bolster its technological offerings, following a recent alliance with tech provider TripStax. Groenegres also mentioned that LCC’s portfolio includes several collaborations with both traditional and new-age online booking platforms.
