It’s never been easier to book leisure travel. With so many booking sites available for comparison, plus reviews and sites like Tripadvisor to help make the process even quicker, you should find it easy to book that vacation.
Business travel is often much harder. Most companies find themselves going through travel agents, even for simply trips, or they have specific travel teams within the business, as the process is nowhere near as easy.
However a couple of Australian cousins have seen this gap in the market, and are ready to revolutionise the business travel sector with a technology platform which will simplify the booking and approval process for business travellers, while saving money for companies.
David and Ross Fastuca have been launching businesses together since they were 16, and the Melbourne-based entrepreneurs are planning for Locomote- their latest venture, to be the leader when it comes to business travel technology.
Ross Fastuca says that they want to be the “Salesforce of the travel industry”, and they’re not shy of big goals. Many people were certain that it wasn’t possible for Locomote to do what has already done, but the cousins like to have a big vision.
Ross and David began development on the platform 4 years ago, with help from investor Philip Weinman. 12 months ago the company took it’s first customer, and Locomote now has 45 staff.
Fastuca says that one of the keys to early success was the frustration with how business travel is managed within the corporate world. While customers can book their leisure travel online easily without talking to anyone, and without too much fuss, corporate travel is still stuck in the past.
There is still manual interaction and way too many forms, according to the cousins, who also found that the booking aspect is just one element of corporate travel, and there are also plenty of other things that need to be thought about, including duty of care, financial savings, operational efficiency, and corporate governance. Those working in the corporate sector also need their expenses and travel to be easily managed.
Locomote’s secret weapon was an investment last year from the global company Travelport, which provides companies with software linking travel agents and travellers with hotels and airlines.
The minority stake of Travelport in Locomote has allowed the Australian company to build an impressive list of local customers, and they’re aiming for larger global companies in the future. Some of their recent customers include the University of Tasmania, World Vision Australia, ANZ, University of Southern Queensland, and Medibank.
Dean Mills is from World Vision Australia, and he said that they have significantly reduced their approval-to-booking times from 30 days down to 7 days, lowering their total travel costs.
Fastuca says travel agents will still have a large role in organizing corporate travel, particularly when it comes to VIP service, word trips, complex itineraries, and disaster recovery.
