August 5th, 2019 / By: Carlos Ponce / Published in: Blog, GBTA
A Conversation with Daniel Finkel, VP Booking Experience and Supplier Strategy at TripActions at GBTA 2019.
Travel is not always pain-free and enjoyable as a merry-go-round ride. Many companies are well aware of this and are keen to the idea of finding a better way. A way to take the pain out of business travel, so that road warriors need not worry about how to get there, but can concentrate on what they will be doing there, fully focused.
To elaborate on this, we had a conversation with Daniel Finkel, VP of Booking Experience and Supplier Strategy at TripActions, a business travel platform whose offering boasts a broad inventory and a personalized intuitive user interface, making booking travel seamlessly easy.
A bit of background…
“I have always been in the travel industry in some way, shape or form. I started my career in the aerospace industry working in technology, air traffic control and airport operations. Daniel also spent 7 years as part of Expedia’s online travel team, working in a variety of roles across air, lodging and media, strategic operations, to mention just a few. This gave Daniel a unique vantage point to get a good grasp of what he calls a “two-sided marketplace”, allowing him to drive value to both sides.
The Glue that keeps it all together
During our conversation with Daniel, he mentioned that “the glue that puts it all together” is basically teamwork, following a customer-centric approach, which constitutes the very foundation that enabled TripActions to become a full-service corporate operations company. TripActions’ main objective is making sure that users have the best experience possible through an intense focus on personalization. Daniel highlighted the fact that the entire platform is built on really robust machine learning and AI, in a way that ensures users have a travel experience that actually makes sense for them. This is one of the items that makes TripActions unique.
The Value Proposition
When asked about their value proposition, Daniel mentioned that they “think differently”, having shifted the focus from purely focused on corporations to actually looking at the traveler’s most pressing needs and wants. “Our team and technology is all built in-house, allowing us to offer a really nice, highly satisfying experience for travelers, because it is super-personalized.”
People, Ideas and Businesses
At the end of our conversation, it became evident that TripActions has indeed become one of the most highly sought after global business travel platforms that empowers companies and travelers alike and pushed them forward. Daniel is convinced that “nothing can truly replicate the value of being there face-to-face”. This is the very reason why TripActions has embarked on a mission to boost and foster the in-person connections that move people, ideas and businesses up and away, in a seamless, pain-free fashion.
