Expensify Teams With Booking.Com to Streamline Travel Expenses

Payments firm Expensify has launched a new integration with Booking.com for Business.

The collaboration lets business travelers automatically upload travel receipts from Booking.com for Business directly into Expensify at booking, thus eliminating the need for manual data entry and reducing potential errors, the companies said in a Tuesday (Dec. 12) news release.

“Business travelers expect comfort and a no-hassle approach when they travel,” says T.J. Ferris, head of strategic partnerships for Expensify. “With the integration between Expensify and Booking.com for Business, travelers have one less task to worry about.”

And Joshua Wood, director of Booking.com for Business, added that with the integration, “every expense is automatically captured seamlessly, eliminating one of the biggest pain points for travelers and companies alike.”

The partnership is happening at a time when employees are increasingly expecting instant reimbursements for expenses such as travel.

“However, there is still a need for businesses to promote and address concerns regarding instant payment options,” PYMNTS wrote last week.

The PYMNTS Intelligent study “Generation Instant: Business Expense Reimbursements” revealed that there has been a rise in business travel since the apex of the pandemic, as professionals return to attending industry conferences and meeting with clients. 

As a result, the percentage of consumers receiving business expense reimbursements has climbed from 3.5% in 2021 to 5.5% in the last year. The wave of reimbursements reflects the increasing expenses incurred by employees on behalf of their companies.

Historically, these reimbursements were typically made by check, separate from payroll. But the rise of digital payments has shifted expectations. Employees would now rather their reimbursements be delivered sooner and without having to wait for a physical check.

“Against this backdrop, instant payments for business expense reimbursements have witnessed a notable increase, with 43% of consumers who receive business expense reimbursements now doing so via instant payments, a 15% increase from the previous year,” PYMNTS wrote.

In addition, among all consumers receiving reimbursements, nearly 6 in 10 used instant payment methods at least once in the past year. However, it is worth noting that 71% of consumers still got reimbursements via methods such as cash or non-instant digital wallets.

Earlier this year, Expensify made its first venture into the personal payments space with an app that is an expansion of the company’s business expense management technology, only designed for consumer payments.

David Barrett, the company’s founder and CEO, described the app as the “consumer-grade lovechild between WhatsApp, Venmo, and Splitwise.”