Paying to be Passive’ fireside chat at The Business Travel Europe Show
Visitors flocked to the stand to hear industry experts David Chappell, TripStax’s Chief Product Officer, and Kai-Gordon Weiland, Chief Sales Officer at Atriis, discuss the operational and financial challenges that the outdated Passive PNR segment is having on TMCs and their corporate customers as the aggregation of content accelerates.
This was a particularly relevant discussion as TripStax had just hit a 1M ‘passive segment’ milestone’. In other words, the volume of non-GDS passive segments ingested by the TripStax Core, the data-processing engine at the heart of our tech ecosystem topped one million for the first time. This number is a clear barometer of the health of the travel industry’s processes and represents a core indicator of the volume of bookings that TMCs are making outside of the primary GDS channels.
David and Kai-Gordon shared their insights into the history of the humble Passive Segment and why it is no longer fit for purpose in today’s API connected technology landscape, with airlines and content providers looking to distribute directly to agents and consumers. They explained how, the Passive is rising up the agenda as both commercial pressures and the quest for operational efficiency puts a spotlight firmly on one of the hidden workhorses of the travel industry. They shared recommendations for how agencies can look to move away from a dependency on the Passive PNR, the financial implications of doing so, and what technology systems they need to implement to be able to successfully navigate yet another
minefield in the ever-evolving landscape of travel technology.
TripStax 1M ‘passive segment’ milestone is barometer for pace of non-GDS bookings and health of TMC processes
This figure, at an average segment-to-trip ratio of two and at an average trip value of £500, is the equivalent of the entire annual trading of a £250 million turnover TMC.
According to TripStax, the one million milestone, which comes just three years after the tech provider launched the TripStax Core and interconnected stack of travel management modules, is a clear barometer of the health of the travel industry’s processes. It represents a core indicator of the volume of bookings that TMCs are making outside of the primary GDS channels, something that TripStax monitors closely as part of several significant projects currently underway with key customers and partners.
The travel industry has long relied on passive segments to enable bookings made outside of the GDS to be processed through an agency’s internal systems. Agents must input flight numbers, dates, times, and other details of such bookings into the GDS PNR to ensure that all bookings are properly documented and tracked for itineraries, accounting, reporting, and record-keeping purposes.
As part of the requirement of many agencies to feed their mid, back office and other downstream systems via the GDS, TripStax believes that the presence and use of passive segment points towards not only the volume of content split in and out of the GDS, but also potential operational efficiencies and commercial risk for TMCs.
Noting the significance of the milestone, David Chappell, Chief Product Officer at TripStax said: “Thanks to the increasing adoption of NDC, as airlines and content providers look to distribute directly to agents and consumers, the growing reliance on the GDS to continue to enable TMCs’ downstream systems via the humble passive segment intensifies. Once a go-to solution for an agency, the ‘passive’ is rising up the agenda due to TMCs’ commercial pressures and the quest for operational efficiency.
“If TripStax’s database was an agency and we were charged £2 per passive segment, this could represent a threat of as much as £2M to the bottom line of the agency, plus additional costs and potential lost GDS segment revenue of a further £2M. That is material for anyone. Whilst that figure may sound overly dramatic, given that many GDS contracts have clauses to offset the use of passives and their charges, engaging in eliminating them through agnostic technologies like TripStax QC would be a prudent course of action both operationally and financially, should the market change against passives in due course,” he said.
TripStax and One Global announce strategic partnership
The agreement sees TripStax provide its proprietary Track and Mobile products to One Global’s 20+ TMC partners under the branding of OneTRACKER and OneMOBILE.
Both products are fully integrated with the TripStax Core, the data-processing engine that manages the collection, normalisation, and enrichment of booking and profile data from any content source in every market around the world. This means One Global partners and their corporate customers can be confident that accurate, complete data is populated seamlessly within both the Track and Mobile solutions.
The nature of TripStax’s modular technology offering and centralisation of all data via the TripStax Core was a key deciding factor for the partnership. The Core’s ability to provide one single source of truth for all data is game changing for the One Global community.
OneTRACKER is a powerful traveller tracking and duty-of-care solution developed to ensure travellers can be located and communicated with 24/7. Data is displayed within dashboards and interactive maps giving total visibility of travellers. Automated alerts are sent and received in real-time.
OneMOBILE is a versatile pre and in-trip travel companion app which gives travellers access to a range of features including an ability to mark themselves safe in an emergency or request assistance. This ‘Locate Me’ feature also feeds back into OneTRACKER to show visibility of travellers.
Cally Davenport, Head of Global Implementations & Technology at One Global, said: “We are delighted to welcome TripStax to the One Global family. It is important to us to be able to offer the best technology to our One Global Community and clients. Our new partnership with TripStax will enable us to do just that and I am excited for people to see what we have been working on together.”
Jack Ramsey, CEO TripStax said: “We are very excited to be partnering with the One Global team and support their vision of providing industry-leading technology solutions to their community of international independent TMCs. We look forward to continuing to develop further opportunities with One Global as an integral part of their technology roadmap and growth story.”
TripStax wins Best Data Analytics Platform at Travolution awards
The Travolution Awards is the biggest annual celebration of the talents and achievements of brands and individuals in the business and leisure travel technology sector in the UK and beyond.
Making sense of data in travel is increasingly essential, so the judges of Best Data Analytics Platform were looking for specialists in this area who have a demonstrable track record of deriving actionable insights that are being applied in the market to improve performance and business success.
The judges commented on TripStax’s winning submission as follows: “The winner truly impressed the judges. We loved the unique approach to normalising data for corporate clients - a service that sets them apart from other tech providers in the industry. Adding to the strength of the submission were excellent testimonials and a compelling video that provided strong evidence to support their case.”
Jack Ramsey, CEO, TripStax said: “We are thrilled to win this award. Thank you to the judges, and thank you to all our incredible employees, clients, colleagues and suppliers for helping us to make this happen.”
Tripgrid specialist group and team travel OBT now available to TMCs via TripStax
The deal facilitates the expansion of Tripgrid’s market offering as the tool will now be available for the first time, via TripStax to travel management companies (TMCs) globally of any size. Until now, Tripgrid has only been accessible directly by corporates that did not work with a TMC.
Tripgrid – a design-first product organisation – has invested significantly in research and development to deliver a state-of-the-art, consumer-grade booking experience with simple, streamlined user journeys and workflows. It is the first design-led online booking tool specifically for the project, crew and team travel (PCTT) sector.
PCTT is one of the fastest growing business travel categories. Indeed, the spend on crew and workforce travel in 2024 is expected to be around 22% of global travel spend according to the GBTA’s latest Business Travel Index - a sum exceeding $325 billion annually.
PCTT travellers often include architects, engineers and construction workers; entertainment professionals; oil and gas employees; and sports teams. PCTT involves logistics, risk management, mobility issues and tech solutions that often fall outside traditional meetings, events and group travel management. However around 40% of PCTT transactions are still being booked individually by corporates and managed in spreadsheets.
Tripgrid’s investment in UX, UI and automation has transformed the flight booking user experience for business travel and replaces the manual, time consuming and error prone process of booking large amounts of flights with spreadsheets. Users of Tripgrid can book flights for an entire team in one booking flow, with visibility into real-time flight content, 24/7 support, stored traveller profiles, group checkout, and live flight tracking. The time-saving benefits are considerable as Tripgrid allows customers to book 20+ flights in less than 30 minutes when the traditional/manual process would take 1-3 days. Users also make significant savings on transaction fees, including the ability to cancel flights without paying an offline service fee.
Implementation of Tripgrid via TripStax will enable TMCs to meet demand for this state-of-the-art booking solution from their customers who have specific PCTT needs. It will enable TMCs to automate the entire booking process instead of manually booking flights in the GDS and hand-building itineraries, thus leading to significant efficiency gains and better reporting.
Demand from TMCs wanting to offer the tool to their own corporate customers is strong and TripStax is already in late stage contracting with several TMC clients.
The agreement further strengthens the relationship between TripStax and Tripgrid as it follows the announcement in October 2023 that TripStax’s technology is powering Tripgrid with essential back-end connectivity via the TripStax Content API and TripStax Profile applications – two of the ten interconnected stack of modules connected to the TripStax Core – an innovative data processing engine. The TripStax Content API enables Tripgrid to deliver GDS content to its customers, meaning Tripgrid can offer an unparalleled, best-in-class flight inventory for booking project crew and team travel, including multi-passenger bookings on the same flight. TripStax also created a traveller profile solution for Tripgrid, using its TripStax Portal module, which pushes traveller profiles to the GDS at point of booking.
Jake Hoskins, Co-founder and CEO Tripgrid explained: “GBTA’s recent research indicates that PCTT is a rapidly growing business travel category, currently representing 22% of global travel spend. However, the bulk of transactions are still being booked individually by corporates and managed in spreadsheets. We invested heavily in developing Tripgrid to bring much needed automation to the PCTT booking process. But this is no ordinary OBT. We also worked with one of the best design firms in the world to build the best UI and UX. We carried out extensive research interviewing more than 200 travel arrangers to understand their current process and pain points. Our ‘design thinking’, dedication and iterative process led us to a solution which specifically addressed their needs and everyone at Tripgrid is proud to bring such a product to the corporate travel market.
Until now however we have focussed on working directly with corporates who have significant PCTT requirements, but didn’t have a TMC in place to manage this for them. We are therefore excited to strengthen our partnership with TripStax, whose technology has already enabled us to leapfrog our development over the last year. Now TripStax will be able to fast-track access to Tripgrid for any TMC who wants to offer the solution to their customers.”
Jack Ramsey, CEO, TripStax said: “We are delighted to be enhancing our relationship with Tripgrid with this agreement and provide TMCs with access via TripStax to this innovative corporate booking tool. Most booking tools have been built around the capabilities of the supplier and that has meant that the tool has limitations. However, Tripgrid has been an experience-first led development, backed by extensive research which is why TripStax was so interested in working with them. It’s fully powered by TripStax from a Profile and Content perspective. Implementation of Tripgrid via TripStax is seamless because we are already providing back-end connectivity. It is truly ground-breaking for TMCs because until now they were not able to offer Tripgrid to their clients, even if a client wanted to use the tool. This partnership demonstrates the strength and versatility of our technology and how it can implement and support strategic partners in the industry.”
TripStax officially named ‘Hot Travel Startup for 2025’ by Phocuswire
Since the first edition of the prestigious Hot 25 Travel Startups was published in 2018, PhocusWire has covered and continues to keep an eye on companies across all travel segments and geographies. The Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2025, are no exception with companies from Africa, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, United Kingdom, United States and India all getting recognition this time around.
The PhocusWire team, together with colleagues at research and events specialist Phocuswright, began the process of narrowing down a list of more than 160 global travel startups back in July this year. The team was looking for companies who stand out for their innovation and market potential while also focusing on diversity in founders, sectors and geographies.
For the 2025 list, the Phocuswire team focussed on companies that are no more than six years old and are on a path to make a mark in their respective sectors or regions in 2024. They have chosen to recognise a diverse array of exciting businesses - many that have had accelerated success since launching to market.
“This is an incredible honour for TripStax and a huge milestone in our journey since we launched to market in 2022,” said TripStax CEO Jack Ramsey. “Thank you to all of our customers, employees, suppliers and industry friends who have been a huge part of our story so far.”
Read more about why TripStax was selected for this year’s Hot List, as well as the lessons we have learned since our launch, and our strategic goals for 2025: https://www.phocuswire.com/hot-25-travel-startups-2025-tripstax
TripStax bolsters data connectivity capabilities with integration of Procon’s ProTAS mid and back-office solution
The agreement means that Procon’s flagship ProTAS system, a sophisticated open platform used by travel management companies (TMCs) globally to streamline and automate financial, administrative and operational workflows, can be now be integrated with the TripStax Analytics module. As a result of the integration, vast mid and back-office data sets can be seamlessly delivered from ProTAS to TripStax Analytics for existing and new mutual TMC clients.
ProTAS data is captured and enriched within the TripStax Core, the powerful data processing engine at the heart of the TripStax tech offering. Cleansed and accurate data is then pushed to the TripStax Analytics module, a highly sophisticated tool, providing exceptional AI driven insights, and potent behavioural and financial analytics. TripStax Analytics enables TMCs and travel managers to have completely transparent visibility via their customised dashboard of the most aggregated or detailed level of reporting.
David Chappell, Chief Product Officer, TripStax said: “We are constantly looking at ways to enhance our connectivity and bring additional content and data sources into the TripStax Core to give TMCs and their corporate clients a ‘single source of truth’ for their data across our technology solutions. We are delighted to extend this connectivity further by partnering with Procon and have already built the connection between ProTAS and TripStax, enabling us to easily consume mid and back-office data within our TripStax Analytics solution.”
Jesper Just, CEO of Procon Solution A/S, commented: "We are thrilled to partner with TripStax. The demand for smarter, more efficient travel management solutions is greater than ever. This collaboration offers our customers a sophisticated high-tech solution to streamline their operations using TripStax’s enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities, while maintaining the high-quality workflows that ProTAS is known for. By automating processes from booking to financial reconciliation, we’re enabling our clients to focus more on delivering value and less on administrative burdens."
TripStax counts down to Travolution awards ceremony
We are proud to be named finalists in two categories: Best Data Analytics Platform and Best Technology Product.
Making sense of data in travel is increasingly essential, so the judges of Best Data Analytics Platform are looking for specialists in this area who have a demonstrable track record of deriving actionable insights that are being applied in the market to improve performance and business success.
Best Technology Product will be given to an individual technology product which is considered to have made the biggest impact in the market and seen particular growth. The judges are looking for evidence of meeting customers’ needs, addressing pain points and success metrics, as well as displays of innovative thinking and creativity required to drive the travel industry forward into the modern digital era.
Jack Ramsey, CEO, TripStax said: “We are excited to be shortlisted in both these categories at this year’s Travolution Awards. This is further evidence that our focus on data management as the driver for much-needed technology evolution in our industry is paying off. Thank you to all our wonderful employees, our customers, suppliers and industry friends for helping us to make this happen.”
TripStax CTO wins Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Champion Award
This award recognises an individual or team from any sector of the industry that can demonstrate a firm commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and the successful implementation of initiatives that make them an employer, supplier or partner of choice.
Scott has led the charge in ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion sit at the heart of TripStax’s culture, operations and recruitment practices since TripStax launched in 2022. He has spearheaded numerous initiatives, champions emotional intelligence and continues to educate and raise awareness of how best to help those who are neurodivergent.
The judges of the Business Travel People Awards were full of praise for Scott, saying: “Scott’s commitment to DE&I is exemplary. Practicing what he preaches, he brings about positive change and instils confidence in employees, creating an open working environment for people from all parts of the world and raising awareness in the wider industry.”
Jack Ramsey, CEO of TripStax said: “Huge congratulations to Scott who absolutely deserves to win this award! Scott is a champion of DE&I because he gets confused about why it becomes a tick box exercise for some big corporations; why it has to be an active thought process rather than a natural way of being. That’s what tells me that, for Scott, it’s a habitual advocacy, it’s just the way he is. It’s fantastic to have him in our business with that sort of ethos to life and work. The embodiment of DE&I and advocacy and a champion of DEI is to be self-aware and to be aware of others and themselves. Scott is the ultimate champion.”
To find out more about all the winners on the night and see the photo gallery, visit The Business Travel Magazine website here https://thebusinesstravelmag.com/2024-people-awards-winners-revealed/
TripStax Named Finalists for Multiple Awards in 2024
First up are the Business Travel People Awards on 17th September when our CTO Scott Wylie is a finalist in the category Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Champion. This award recognises an individual or team from any sector of the industry that can demonstrate a firm commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and the successful implementation of initiatives that make them an employer, supplier or partner of choice. Scott has led the charge in ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion sit at the heart of TripStax’s culture, operations and recruitment practices since TripStax launched in 2022. He has spearheaded numerous initiatives, champions emotional intelligence and continues to educate and raise awareness of how best to help those who are neurodivergent.
Next up, TripStax is shortlisted for ‘Best Technology & Innovation – Data & Reporting’ at the Business Travel Europe Awards 24th September. This award goes to the company that has best demonstrated the development and delivery of a data and reporting platform to improve the management of corporate travel and expense data that has tangible, demonstrated results beyond a pilot or beta phase. Our submission for this award highlighted how the TripStax Core’s unique data processing engine makes the TripStax offering a true game-changer for the data and reporting experience. The submission also demonstrated the dynamic AI-driven capabilities of the TripStax Analytics module, which was backed by powerful testimonials from our customers.
Last but not least, TripStax is named finalists in two categories at the Travolution Awards, taking place on 28th November: Best Data Analytics Platform and Best Technology Product. Making sense of data in travel is increasingly essential, so the judges of Best Data Analytics Platform are looking for specialists in this area who have a demonstrable track record of deriving actionable insights that are being applied in the market to improve performance and business success. Best Technology Product will be given to an individual technology product which is considered to have made the biggest impact in the market and seen particular growth.
Since launching to market in 2022, TripStax has won five awards, being nominated as a finalist in these latest accolades takes the total number of nominations in just two and a half years to 11. Thank you to all our wonderful employees, our customers, suppliers and industry friends for helping us to make this happen.