Lola.com Adds Hundreds of Customers in H1 2019 as Partner Strategy and SMB Focus Gain Traction

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) commercial partnership and the highest-rated travel management app are key contributors to growth

Posted on 2019-08-23 by CPotter in Travel // 0 Comments

https://www.lola.com/news/lola.com-adds-hundreds-of-customers-in-h1-2019-as-partner-strategy-and-smb-focus-gain-traction

BOSTON, MASSACHUSSETS, 2019-Aug-23 — /EPR Network/ —Lola.com, the Agile Travel Management™ company that provides a super simple way to manage, book, and report on business travel, says its two-pronged strategy of simplifying corporate travel for SMBs through product innovation and partnering with American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), the world’s leading partner for managed travel, is driving customer growth. The company added hundreds of customers during the first half of the year as more SMBs embraced Lola’s approach to managed business travel. Growth was also attributed to the strong commercial partnership with GBT.

“There is huge potential in helping small and mid-sized companies reinvent corporate travel as they eliminate the headaches associated with booking, re-booking, and reporting on travel, and we are capitalizing on this as evidenced by our customer growth,” said Mike Volpe, who became CEO of Lola.com a year ago. “We continue to grab more of the global corporate travel industry – projected at US $1.6T – with our lightweight travel app that is saving SMBs time, money, and aggravation. And we’ve been able to do so because we are backed by a deep engineering team who knows how to build software.”

The strong customer growth momentum underscores Lola.com’s success in providing what SMBs had always wanted. The app combines consumer travel site simplicity with enterprise-grade management features in a single app, giving the flexibility and control fast-growing companies needed. Founder and CTO Paul English, who founded the consumer travel booking site KAYAK, continues to guide the app’s design, supported by an expanding engineering team.

The growth comes as Lola received praise from customers like Allego, Drift, and Flywheel for helping to save travel-related time and costs. Features such as easy onboarding, simplified travel policy set up, and visibility into expenditures continue to gain high ratings from corporate travelers and finance pros at review sites like G2 and Capterra.

More than 80% of the SMB customers chose Lola because they saw the benefits of managed travel with the company’s app. It simplifies the complexity that surrounds business travel management programs and sites. Meanwhile, half of Lola’s growth resulted from its five-year commercial partnership with GBT, signed last November.

Lola.com is looking to match the customer growth by doubling the headcount this year, which is currently at 100+. The company is also expected to move into a larger facility in Boston in September. A successful $37 million Series C funding round in March is helping the company to remain focused on serving the evolving needs of SMBs through product innovation.

“The mid-market presents a huge, global opportunity,” said Joel Cutler, co-founder and managing director, General Catalyst, an initial investor in Lola. “Lola is serving this largely untapped market by providing a true end-to-end software solution that small- and medium-sized businesses need to manage travel efficiently, together with consumer quality tools and a focus on excellent service that place the end-user experience front and center.”

To view videos on customers talking about the Lola experience, visit:

https://lolatravel.wistia.com/medias/tc2ofcqxj4

About Lola.com

Lola.com makes Agile Travel Management real by providing a super simple way to manage, book and report on business travel, saving employers and travelers time and money. Happy employee travel experiences within a policy can be set up in five minutes. Lola.com uses machine learning and 24/7 support to help travelers easily book trips, while empowering managers to create policies, view budgets and expenditures, and monitor their globetrotting team efficiently. Based in Boston, the company was founded in 2015 by Paul English, co-founder of the travel booking site KAYAK, and is led by CEO Mike Volpe, previously CMO at HubSpot. For more information, visit https://www.lola.com/ and connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

About American Express Global Business Travel

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is the world’s leading business partner for managed travel. We help companies and their employees prosper by making sure travellers are present where and when it matters. We keep global business moving with the powerful backing of 17,000 travel professionals in more than 140 countries. Companies of all sizes, and in all places, rely on GBT to provide travel management services, organize meetings and events, and deliver business travel consulting.

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) is a joint venture that is not wholly owned by American Express Company or any of its subsidiaries (American Express). “American Express Global Business Travel,” “American Express Meetings & Events,” “American Express,” and the American Express logo are trademarks of American Express and are used under limited license

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