Homeworking agency group InteleTravel is building a business travel platform with the aim of launching it in the first quarter of 2025.
James Ferrara, InteleTravel chief executive, said businesstravel.com will “essentially” be an online travel agency for business travellers.
It will be introduced early next year across InteleTravel’s markets, which include the UK and US.
“It will allow InteleTravel advisors, other advisors from the industry, and Hickory corporate agency and travel management companies to book business and corporate travel,” said Ferrara.
InteleTravel bought the Hickory Global Partners business travel consortium in April 2023, followed by the acquisition of corporate events and meeting planner MGME in January 2024.
Agents will also be able to access benefits and other products for business travellers on the new platform.
Furthermore, business travellers will be able to “self-serve on that platform with credit back to the selling agency”, added Ferrara.
More: InteleTravel promotes James Ferrara to chief executive role
News about the business travel platform comes after Ferrara was promoted from president to chief executive to enable him to focus more on acquisition, expansion and growth.
He said the acquisitions of Hickory and MGME and the development of the business travel platform are part of a “purposeful strategy”.
“These are not opportunistic acquisitions, even though each company has its own intrinsic value; the vision is what we could all do together,” he added.
“These acquisitions bring us new travel markets and I intend, as chief executive and managing partner, to continue that strategy.
“It is more to sell for InteleTravel advisors or for the other companies – more to sell, more technology, more ways to earn money.”
InteleTravel will launch training modules to help agents learn about business travel although Ferrara noted that many homeworkers had already developed their own sales in the sector.
“We have significant corporate and business travel customers, thanks to our advisors – they’re bringing in that business on their own. Now we want to help them,” he commented.
There will also be a referral system so InteleTravel agents can bring corporate customers to MGME.
“MGME can service them and we have a compensation plan for our agents who bring those customers,” he added.
“That’s the power of the independent agent model. The homeworker model is that these folks have rich lives and relationships.
“There are trust bonds, and that’s what they bring to the table.
“Homeworkers [can be] part of a professional organisation of engineers, or used to be an attorney, or a teacher or whatever, and they can bring that business in because of those relationships.”
He concluded: “The goal is to make InteleTravel bigger and better all the time and for us to continue to be a multibillion-dollar travel distribution organisation, one of the largest in the world. It’s a very simple, clear vision.”
Currently the website at businesstravel.com is a placeholder, ahead of the launch in Q1, 2025.