Innovation Series Competition: Tripgrid, Lumo, Stay22

Tripgrid, lumo and Stay22 recently went head-to-head in the first part of the GBTA and Phocuswright Innovation Series, a multifaceted program designed to highlight the business travel industry’s most impactful innovators. During the three-part series that culminates at GBTA Convention 2018, nine innovators will compete for a spot on the Expo floor as well as the ultimate title of the “Best Innovator in Business Travel”. After presenting a six-minute pitch to a panel of judges, the winner’s fate rests in the hands of the audience.

When it comes to organizing travel, Tripgrid Co-Founder and CEO Jake Hoskins believes in building a better system to combat the challenges organizations currently face. He explained how many companies rely on a manual data entry process that can result in constant mistakes due to human error. Additionally, a lack of standardization prevents travel managers from having instant access to all their travel.  

Jake described Tripgrid as a productivity workspace designed for internal employees who coordinate business travel. The platform features a unified global feed that provides transparency into the travel schedules and reservation data of an entire organization. Users are able to automate the process of importing reservations, as well as assign unique permissions to enable select individuals to gain access to their team’s travel itineraries. Similar to a spreadsheet, Tripgrid features completely customizable modals and a template-based interface that enables users to input the data most valuable to them.

Next, Lumo Co-Founder Bala Chandran walked through how his company alleviates a common problem that business travelers encounter: flight delays. Over the past decade, the flight delay experience has largely remained unchanged, mostly because travelers lack visibility into delays until the last minute after they have already arrived at the airport.  

Lumo aims to change that. By predicting flight delays in advance of airport arrival, travelers can proactively manage them. The program sends an alert to passengers ahead of their flight, notifying them of a potential high delay risk. Travelers are then able to choose and book an alternate reservation based on a scale that ranks flights from a low to high delay risk.

Last up, Stay22 CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lockhead explained how his company aims to change the business travel space. In recent years, behaviors have shifted and travelers now crave a “do-it-yourself” experience where they can book their own flights and accommodations. This presents a problem for travel managers who want to do everything in their control to keep travelers from booking out of policy.

Stay22 aims to improve the traveler experience while reducing costs and introducing a balance between budget and giving travelers a choice. By partnering with alternative accommodation providers, the platform offers business travelers access to over 5 million rooms around the world.  

At the end of the webinar, participants had the chance to select their favorite innovator in a live polling session. The audience selected Lumo as the winner, who will move on to exhibit at Innovation Row at GBTA Convention 2018. In addition to exhibiting, the winners of the three webinars will face off in an exclusive Innovation Series finale.

GBTA members may view the webinar in full through the Hub. Don’t miss the remaining two webinars in the series:

• GBTA & Phocuswright Innovation Series – Webinar 2 of 3 (Tuesday, May 22 – 2:00pm ET)
• GBTA & Phocuswright Innovation Series – Webinar 3 of 3 (Thursday, June 7 – 2:00pm ET)