KAYAK, FCM, and Blockskye Push One Platform for Enterprise Travel

KAYAK for Business, Blockskye, and FCM announced a partnership to build a global platform for enterprise travel programs.

The system will connect booking, payments, expense automation, and traveler support, giving large companies a more unified way to manage business trips.

Each company brings a different part of the travel process. KAYAK for Business adds the booking interface. Blockskye provides payment, expense and data technology. FCM, the corporate travel division of Flight Centre Travel Group, adds global travel management services for multinational clients.

Companies want fewer disconnected tools

Corporate travel often runs through several separate systems. Employees book trips in one tool, pay through another, submit expenses in a third platform and contact a travel management company when plans change.

The new platform is meant to give travel managers clearer spending data, more flexible payment options and more automated expense handling. For travelers, the main benefit could be fewer manual steps before, during and after a business trip.

Blockskye brings the payment layer

Blockskye focuses on corporate travel payments and expense infrastructure. Its technology uses blockchain to connect booking records, payment data and expense information in one shared system.

KAYAK and Blockskye had already been working on this idea before FCM joined. In 2023, KAYAK CEO Steve Hafner said the companies were developing an enterprise travel platform with direct airline connectivity, blockchain-enabled payments and automated expense reporting.

Flight Centre adds financial backing

FCM’s parent company, Flight Centre Travel Group, is also investing $5 million in Blockskye. Flight Centre said the investment gives FCM early access to Blockskye’s blockchain-based payments platform and supports the integration of new payment tools into its corporate travel technology suite.

The investment makes the partnership more strategic. FCM is not only joining the platform as a travel management partner. Its parent company is also backing the payment technology behind the product, signaling that payments and expense automation are becoming a bigger priority in managed travel.

Ask AI shows KAYAK’s broader push

This partnership also fits KAYAK’s wider push to make travel planning and booking more connected. Recently, KAYAK launched Ask AI, a chat-style search tool that lets travelers ask questions and see live flight, hotel, and car rental results beside the conversation. While Ask AI focuses on leisure travelers, the new partnership with Blockskye and FCM applies a similar idea to corporate travel.

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash