As business travel continues to increase year-on-year (business travel spend is predicted to reach USD1.7 trillion by 2022), the collaboration launches with an aim to take the hassle out of travel. Through a combined technological offering, companies and employees will be able to book their business travel and receive immigration, tax and regulatory assessments and assistance throughout the journey.
Companies using both Amadeus and KPMG business travel technology can elect to have their employee travel data sent directly and seamlessly by Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense to KPMG LINK Business Traveller for assessment. Business Travellers can then identify travel requirements at the point of booking or planning a trip, triggering the next steps to ensure compliance with the necessary requirements ahead of their business trip.
This combined solution - which is now being implemented for joint Amadeus & KPMG customers - aims to provide a unified experience for corporations and employees alike, saving time and costs.
"This is about bringing together travel management technologies to provide a more integrated, cost-effective service for companies, as well as ensuring the best possible data is used for compliance, analysis and reporting," explains Marc Burrows, partner and KPMG's head of global mobility services.
So how will it actually work? Amadeus says it will deliver an end-to-end travel management experience through Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense. Its flagship platform allows business travellers to access a wide selection of global travel content from multiple sources. This is supported by personalisation capabilities that allows them to search, book and manage their trips and expenses.
KPMG's Business Traveller platform provides real-time travel assessments and helps companies comply with visa, work permit, A1, EU Posted Worker, tax reporting, permanent establishment compliance and more.
Meanwhile, Amadeus Ventures, the startup investment programme of Amadeus, has made a fourth minority investment of the year in an early stage startups at the cross road of travel and technology. On this occasion it is leading an investment round of USD9.8 million in Refundit, a digital solution that aims to allow tourists from around the world who are visiting Europe to claim their VAT refund as quickly and efficiently as possible. Additional investors include, among others, Portugal Ventures and seed round investors.
"After a relaxing holiday full of shopping, the last thing travellers need is the stress of trying to claim back the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on their purchases. Each year, around 90% of VAT refunds - or EUR23 billion - is not returned to tourists throughout the EU," explains Amadeus.
The solution is being piloted in Belgium and plans to eliminate the long queues and paperwork so that claiming a VAT refund becomes a fully digital process. Refundit was co-founded in 2017 by serial entrepreneur Uri Levine, best known for co-founding the driving navigation app Waze, and Ziv Tirosh, former CEO and co-founder of Stockton, the bio-ag technology company.