Business trips are essential in bringing deals to the finish line, but they can also be incredibly inconvenient. Over the course of a year, meetings inevitably get canceled, flights are delayed, and sometimes a polar vortex visits town; it might not be any skin off your nose, but it can cost companies thousands of dollars.
But Barcelona-based startup TravelPerk, a business-travel tool that was juiced earlier this month with $60 million in Series C funding, has a nifty, game-changing solution. The service just debuted FlexiPerk, a tool available that ensures companies can collect a 90% refund from any canceled booking.
It sounds too good to be true, but it’s really kind of simple. When booking “elements” through TravelPerk (flights, rooms, transportation), TravelPerk collects a 10% fee for each. Then, if it looks like a trip isn’t going to happen, business travelers can cancel flights through TravelPerk up to two hours before it takes off, and hotel rooms until 4 p.m. of the first day of their stay. Companies will receive a 90% refund from their original total purchase, with some reasonable caveats: no more than eight “elements” can be booked, each traveler’s individual cost must be under $5,600, and the total cost of the trip must be under $33,500.
TravelPerk has been testing FlexiPerk for a little while now, and claims companies using the service have enjoyed an average of 26% savings. Fortunately for interested parties, it’s not that daunting of a commitment to try it out. A premium account with TravelPerk costs $12 per trip, while FlexiPerk’s cost is really dependent on how often your employees take business trips (minus how many cancellations they might incur). Ending a subscription might be less stressful than deactivating Hulu, too: simply cancel your contract with seven days written notice.
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