Trainline has updated its corporate travel management platform, Trainline Business, in an effort to better meet the needs of SME clients.
The UK-based rail ticketing specialist said the upgraded platform “caters specifically for SMEs” and has been redesigned to make it easier for travellers to plan their trip, access digital tickets and manage expense reports.
Responding to questions by BTN Europe, the company said the new-look platform features improved UX and UI, “aligning it closer to the Trainline consumer experience” and now consolidates UK and European rail content into one platform. Previously, businesses had to book across separate products for international travel, according to the company.
UK business users can now also use the Trainline app to access digital tickets (with the ability to log in to their business profile alongside a personal account), which also provides access to the company’s ‘Split Save’ split-ticketing feature.
Centralised tools like business-wide spend reports and customisable travel and budget rules have also been improved and are now “more intuitive, flexible and easier for companies to administer and roll out,” Trainline said.
The move is in response to a recent Trainline Business survey that found more than half of SMEs in the UK (63 per cent) currently miss out on cost savings when booking rail travel, due to delays and complexities in booking processes.
The research, which surveyed more than 1,000 SME employees who plan to travel for work in the next 12 months, also found more than a third of these businesses (38 per cent) encounter difficulties in managing business travel expenditure.
Sophie Ireland, global head of Trainline Business, said: “With most SMEs needing to manage their travel in-house, we have redesigned Trainline Business to simplify their rail travel planning, providing greater autonomy for users while still ensuring that businesses have oversight on their travel spend.”
“With business travel levels expected to grow this year, it is important SMEs can benefit from the best prices and have easy access to lower-carbon modes of travel like rail,” she added.
A previous survey conducted by the company revealed that 90 per cent of UK-based SMEs expect their employees to travel more this year, with 48 per cent of firms expecting to increase their use of rail travel in 2024.
The Trainline Business platform offers all the UK and EU rail content that is currently available via the company’s consumer platform, and can be used by any business, located anywhere, the company said. The platform is free to use, however a booking fee is attached to each transaction (as per the platform’s previous iteration).