Engine Acquires Options Travel to Build a Modern Online Booking Tool for Travel Management Companies

Engine's first acquisition brings a new, intelligent online booking tool to the corporate travel industry.

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Engine, the all in one travel and spend management platform, today announced its acquisition of Options Travel, a full service corporate travel management company (TMC) that has spent more than 30 years earning its reputation with hands-on service and deep client relationships. Options Travel will keep operating independently, serve its clients under its own name, and stay led by its current leadership team. All Options Travel employees will join Engine post acquisition.

TMCs manage billions of dollars in corporate travel spend, but the software behind them hasn't kept pace. Nearly a third of corporate travel buyers are actively reevaluating their TMC this year, and they cite the technology, not the service, as the reason according to the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) own polling. Engine and Options Travel started working together nine months ago. The closer Engine got to Options Travel's day to day operations, the clearer it became how much TMC agents were held back by outdated booking and management tools. Engine believed solving that meant getting closer to the problem, not fixing it from a distance.

The result is Engine developing a new AI-native Online Booking Tool (OBT) that includes booking, payments, reporting, customer management, and duty of care for TMCs across the industry. A single dashboard gives agents one view across every client. Consolidated flows cut booking times to as little as 2.5 minutes, against an industry average of nearly 15 minutes according to Forrester study. Engine personalizes search to each client's rates, preferences, and policies, and flags what needs attention across an agent's whole book of business without manual review, the kind of automated disruption handling that 89% of travel buyers say they want, according to GBTA.

"Engine is on a mission to power the future of travel, and TMCs are the relationship experts at the center of the industry," said Elia Wallen, Founder and CEO of Engine. "The technology behind them hasn't kept up. Working with Options Travel showed us exactly where it falls short. TMCs deserve modern technology behind them, and that's what we're here to bring."

"We've spent 30 years earning our clients' trust while the tools available to us lagged behind," said Brett Buynack, General Manager of Options Travel. "Joining Engine lets us help build what our industry has been waiting for: real technology, for every TMC that's been underserved by legacy software."

Engine will be at the GBTA Convention in Chicago, August 3 to 5, with a live OBT demo at booth #2910.

About Engine

Engine is the travel and spend management platform that helps businesses spend less and move faster, from first search to last receipt through AI personalization and automation. Its integrated platform includes two products: Engine Travel, for booking flights, hotels, rental cars, group travel, and meetings, and Engine Spend, a free, no-contract spend management platform and business card that streamlines expense management while earning rewards, up to 10% back on travel. More than 1 million travelers and 33,000+ businesses rely on Engine, which maintains an industry-leading Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 60. Engine is backed by Telescope Partners, Blackstone, and Permira. Learn more at engine.com.

About Options Travel

Options Travel is a full service corporate travel management company that has combined technology with hands-on service for more than 30 years, delivering customized travel policies, mobile reservation tools, and group and meetings management to its clients.