Spending money while traveling on business used to involve a whole mess of forms, bother, and bureaucracy. Thankfully, a new generation of online travel management solutions makes it easier than ever to manage business trips, increasing control and transparency. 

TravelBank is a popular choice of travel management company (TMC) for businesses of all sizes. Still, it can be expensive and challenging to implement.

If you're looking to compare travel providers, or considering TravelBank alternatives, here's our choice of 5 of the best alternatives to TravelBank in 2023. 

1. TravelPerk

TravelPerk enables you to book travel from the world's best business travel inventory, including flights, trains, hotels, and car rentals. Even better, you can even book an Airbnb to access unique experiences and exclusive properties.

One of the best things about TravelPerk is how it incorporates flexibility, comfort, and accessible prices into the platform. The user interface is easy to use and highly intuitive, making booking business travel quick, and enjoyable.

Behind the scenes, the system enables users to access the best deals on the market on flights, train travel, hotels, and car rentals. It's easy to plan your complete itinerary from the home to the hotel and back – all inside the amazing app.

Finance managers will welcome the ability to incorporate policies and introduce controls to ensure all spending is reasonable and required.

While you can do everything online, you can access support in seconds – 15, to be precise. That's right, the average waiting time for a TravelPerk agent is just 15 seconds, giving it the edge over every other TravelBank alternative.

TravelPerk essential features

• Simple to set up with no fixed fees and zero implementation costs.
• For a small additional fee you can add FlexiPerk and get 80% of your booking cost back if you need to cancel for any reason.
• GreenPerk enables you to offset the carbon impact of your business travel, helping to protect the planet.
• Enables you to customize and automate travel policies to maximize compliance.
• Create automated expense reports from travel receipts. 
• 24/7 customer support available in English and 9-5 in German and Spanish.

What reviewers say:

"I've been using TravelPerk for some time now and it has been a great experience. The platform is simple to use and the dashboard can be navigated quite easily. It is a very convenient way to do corporate flight & hotel bookings." (Vinet)

"Excellent search and cost functions and fast accurate communications when changes are made - great service!!". (Dave Johnson)

How they stack up: TravelPerk v TravelBank

• Reviewers found TravelPerk was easier to use, set up, and administer. 
• Reviewers felt that TravelPerk meets the needs of their business better than TravelBank.
• Reviewers felt that TravelPerk offered better customer service when comparing the two. 

2. Egencia

You may not have heard of Egencia, but we're sure you'll have heard of its (former) parent company Expedia. The business boasts that it offers travelers "unrivaled value, choice, and experience." The company is backed by American Express Global Business Travel (AMEX), giving it global reach.

The platform is focused on managers who want to maximize ROI for business travel rather than offer travelers with the most extensive choice of providers and places to stay. It supports six languages and can be used in over 60 countries, including the US, Europe, and Asia.

Egencia essential features

• Access to Expedia and the well-known brands it partners with.
• Easy to perform VAT recovery and reimbursement.
• Backed by AMEX to provide scale and security.
• Easy API integration with existing systems, platforms, and processes.

How they stack up: Egencia v TravelBank

• Users felt that Egencia was easier to use than TravelBank.
• The platform offers users more training to use the platform.
• Reviewers suggest that TravelBank offers better customer service.
• More people were willing to recommend Egencia than TravelBank (although the sample size was low).

What reviewers say:

"Overall, Egencia is a good tool for my employees to use when I (or my work partner) aren't available to make the reservations. They can easily access their account, and the charges will go on the corporate credit card. This makes it all around easy for the traveling employees."

Patricia Davies, Office Manager

“Customer service was awful. It was a running joke that when we had to call customer service for something (frequent), it was a crap-shoot whether we were going to get someone that knew what they were doing.”

Jessicca Fish, Executive Assistant

3. SAP Concur

SAP Concur is an expense management app with a travel component. It’s created and backed by one of the world's leading accountancy software providers, so it's no surprise that financial control features heavily in the offer here. SAP Concur claims to have 46,000 global users and sells itself as a solution for finance professionals. 

The platform uses a range of approved suppliers, with your policy rules built in. Why is this important? Finance managers have greater control over the process, which means policies will be followed to the letter (something every accountant loves).

As you would expect from an accountancy provider, it's focused on the figures and integrates well with finance packages. 

SAP Concur essential features

• Provides excellent visibility of travel and spending data for financial managers.
• Ensures all bookings conform to policies, protecting budgets.
• SAP's Concur Expense automates expense tasks, making them faster and more accurate. 
• SAP Concur can be integrated with ERP to provide a 360-degree view of business finances.
• The inbuilt SAP's Expense enables users to create rules to categorize and approve employee expenses quickly. Users can use the mobile app.

What reviewers say:

 "I would recommend this software to anyone trying to save time and money on Travel and expense management."

Kunal, D. Reviewer

 "When you do have to enter information, it is PAINFUL. The interface looks old and messy, and adding images and receipts is a unnecessarily difficult process due to bad thumbnails and image viewing.”

Mark. T, Reviewer

How they stack up: SAP Concur v TravelBank

• SAP Concur provides excellent financial control, enabling finance managers to follow trip expenses.
• The interface and experience are less engaging than TravelBank.
• The platform boasts an online knowledge base and helpful videos, something TravelBank doesn't offer.

4. CWT

CWT is one of the oldest travel management companies around. You can use the software to arrange travel in over 140 countries, that's more than double those covered with Egencia, for example.

The software integrates with RoomIT, offering users a choice of almost a million properties. Like all providers, it aims to help you get the best price, negotiating what it describes as "budget-friendly trips without compromising on convenience and comfort."

Financial controllers and managers will like the platform's analytics and reporting tool.

CWT essential features

• Dedicated hotel management and booking integration enable you to streamline room reservations.
• Users can call on assistance from expert consultants for advice and guidance when booking travel. 
• AnalytIQs provides reporting and visualization capabilities to monitor and manage expenses
• The platform enables organizations to assess the environmental impact of travel choices using ECO – its Employee Wellbeing, Climate Impact, and Organizational Performance framework. 

What reviewers say:

"CWT booked all of our travel (both domestic and international) when I worked as a Senior Administration Officer in a South Australian government department and I was responsible for booking all travel for a group of 170 staff."

Tracey Lee-C, Marketing Consultant

"The system is clunky, not user friendly, and often has flight prices listed at a cost higher than the airline's website."

Lauren J, Delivery Consultant

How they stack up: CWT v TravelBank

• CWT is a bit of a giant in the field, with the reach to back it up. TravelBank is a newcomer, but that doesn't mean it's out immediately.
• TravelBank offers an interesting incentive system, encouraging employees to make cheaper choices and rewarding them. 
• TravelBank enables 24/7 customer contact through channels such as Slack, whereas CWT uses traditional – and slow – channels. This will matter in an emergency.

5. BCD Travel

BCD Travel aims to increase business travel ROI through innovative new technologies and integrations. The company is bigger than TravelBank, but does that scale translate into better service?

The business focuses on serving medium-sized businesses and larger players. Developers will love the easy API integration, and offers a range of innovative support tools to keep budget holders informed and in control.

BCD Travel essential features

• BCD Alert delivers real-time threat notifications to keep staff safe wherever they are in the world.
• Website features really helpful guides and information targeted at users and sectors.
• BCD's partners include Lumo and AirHelp. They can use real-time information to help travelers predict disruptions and delays, traveling faster and smarter.
• COVID-19 information hub: Assists organizations in making better travel decisions with up-to-date COVID-19-related information.
• Using BCD's DecisionSource tool, users can analyze category spending and track key metrics, to stay on top of budgets.
• You can use BCD Travel's BCD Pay to track total travel expenditure, providing a vital snapshot of spending.

What reviewers say:

There are no third-party reviews of BCD travel online. 

How they stack up: BCD v TravelBank

• Like TravelBank's incentive schemes, BCD Travel's TripSource helps organizations minimize travel costs and incentivize good traveler behavior.
• Intelligent integrations with Lumo and AirHelp can help travelers optimize their time and streamline journeys.
• Organizations booking travel with BCD can offset carbon using GreenSeat, something you can't do with TravelBank.

So, which TravelBank alternative is the best?

COVID-19 stopped business travel in its tracks, but today more and more of us are having to travel for business. Whatever the size of your business or sector, the fastest, cheapest, and most effective way to arrange business travel is by using a travel management company. 

Customers and companies are spoilt for choice, but as we've seen in our review of the 5 best TravelBank alternatives, not all travel management providers are equal. If you're considering an alternative to TravelBank, then choose TravelPerk. You'll get access to the world's best range of business travel inventory, 24/7 support, and total transparency over expenses.

Would you like to experience the future of business travel? Contact us today for a free demo.

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