Qantas has launched a one-stop travel management tool that will allow almost half a million small and medium sized Australian businesses to streamline and manage their travel requirements.
The custom booking solution was developed for Qantas Business Rewards based on member feedback about the demands of managing business travel, particularly as corporate and SME travel continues to bounce back to pre-COVID levels.
Following a successful trial in August, the new experience is being rolled out to the program's more than 480,000 members. It offers:
- A one-stop booking tool for businesses to easily book and manage their travel requirements, including flights, hotels and hire cars.
- The flexibility to make individual flight, hotel or car hire bookings, or to add and manage them as one comprehensive trip with the new Manage Trip feature
- The option to set up business travel policies and automatically apply them to bookings for better efficiency and to give travel managers visibility of booking behaviour.
- Access to detailed data reporting and analytics in real time to identify trends which can help manage business travel costs and prepare and export expense reports.
- Easy management of Qantas Business Rewards program benefits and access to exclusive partner offers.
The new travel management experience is built into Qantas Business Rewards membership adding more value to the program. Existing benefits include discounts on flights as well as the ability to earn points on everyday business and travel expenses including Qantas flights, fuel, hotels, car hire, global payments, credit cards and utility bills.
Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said that Qantas was responding to direct feedback from businesses about the demands and costs involved in managing travel requirements.
"We've been listening to our Qantas Business Rewards members who have told us that making it easier to manage their business travel will add more value to the program," said Ms Wirth.
"The investment we're making in Qantas Business Rewards will provide Australian businesses with a one-stop platform to manage their business travel needs and make the most of their rewards.
"One in five Australian small and medium sized businesses are Qantas Business Rewards members and this new booking experience adds to the benefits they already enjoy, including flight discounts and earning Qantas Points on travel and everyday business expenses."
The industry-leading booking experience is powered by Spotnana's Travel-as-a-Service platform. Spotnana will continue to work with Qantas Business Rewards to build new features and capabilities.
Rehan D'Almeida, General Manager of Qantas Business Rewards member FinTech Australia, said: "Despite more meetings moving to video conferencing, travel remains crucial for FinTech Australia, perhaps even more so than before the pandemic.
"Having the ability to book and manage all aspects of our travel in one place is a game-changer for our small team. Being able to track and manage travel-related expenses and bookings allows us to focus on maximising the impact of our trips and strengthening relationships across various global fintech ecosystems.
"In addition, we utilise the points earned through business expenses and travel to fund future trips, making it highly appealing to streamline and maximise the benefits of Qantas Business Rewards."
Qantas Business Rewards is Australia's largest airline small and medium enterprise (SME) loyalty program. Members collectively earned more than 14 billion Qantas Points in FY23. In addition to flight discounts, Qantas Points earned from business expenses and flights can be redeemed on business travel (flights, upgrades and hotels with car hire coming soon), Qantas Wine and at Qantas Marketplace.
Qantas is waiving the $89.50 fee to join Qantas Business Rewards until 8 December 2023.
Images of the new booking experience available here.
