The Treep, publisher of an online booking tool since 2016, has launched the Treep Express. The French publisher is thus targeting a less equipped segment: SMEs and mid-sized companies that often book without dedicated tools or agencies. The platform brings together train, plane, hotel and car rental. Its goal: to influence emissions at the time of booking, rather than accounting for them afterwards.
To do this, the tool displays the price, CO2 emissions, door-to-door travel time, and a «useful time,» that is, the portion of the journey that can be used for work. According to the publisher, this last indicator favors trains.
Politics travels as leverage, not just as a ceiling
The other argument concerns travel policy. The company can include environmental preferences in it. These apply directly to the booking process, and the company then tracks the results in a CO2 dashboard.« Price remains essential, but it can no longer be the sole criterion. »It depends on the level of demand that each SME will accept," assures Pierre-François Verbecque, General Manager in charge of Business Travel at the Treep. However, the effectiveness of the scheme will depend on the level of commitment that each SME will accept to set. This launch extends a long-standing strategy. Having become a mission-based company, the Treep has developed Stay or Go, a module that questions the very necessity of travel.
An entry-level pricing model
To convince SMEs, the Treep relies on price. The Essentiel formula does not charge any service fees on trains and hotels. The Pro formula applies 2.5 % and opens up air travel, car travel, and driving as part of the travel policy. In both cases, the platform aggregates expenses into a single monthly invoice. According to the publisher, this system should eliminate expense notes with electronic billing.
