2021 U.S.-Booked Air Volume: $25 million
Primary U.S. Payment Supplier: Citi
Card Program: Company Bill/Company Pay
Primary Global Expense Provider: Concur
Primary Global Risk Management Provider: ISOS
Consolidated Global TMC: Amex GBT

Internet giant Google used the 2021 business travel hiatus to re-imagine its program and offer an entirely new service in the company’s return-to-travel strategy. After signing with Amex GBT in 2020, the company deployed with its new travel management partner in 2021. It introduced services that included a 24/7 global reservations hub with live counselor chat functionality, an “Ally” service desk for travelers needing extra assistance and point-of-sale integration of available traveler benefits, like negotiated upgrades. Google focused more attention on risk management in 2021, easing certain policy elements but also requiring increased approval levels based on the risk rating of the destination market.

Yet while the company transformed its TMC relationship and associated services, Amex GBT only handles 54 percent of Google’s total air bookings. No other agency is involved in the program, however. This indicates the company still offers its much-remarked-upon omnichannel program that allows employees to book through the TMC channel or not, largely based on their discretion.

Google restructured its TMC commercial agreement, opting for a transaction-fee model with its new provider. It now also has a new data visualization business intelligence platform. Google added travel management team members even as travel volumes were reduced. Over the long term, the travel program will focus on less travel volume and more travel quality. The company formed a long-term travel sustainability strategy in 2021 and does not expect per-employee business travel volume to return to its pre-pandemic level, which BTN last estimated at $400 million in 2019. However, the company grew from 119,000 employees to 174,000 employees during the pandemic, which will impact overall travel spending.