Yapta

Yapta specializes in corporate travel cost reduction by providing price assurance services. Founded in 2006 by Tom Romary, Ken Schumacher, and Mike Strand, the company initially targeted consumer travel before pivoting to the corporate sector in 2012. This strategic shift was driven by the significant, often unmanaged, expense of business travel for large organizations. Romary, with a background at Alaska Airlines and as a multi-time entrepreneur, brought deep travel and business growth experience to the venture. The name 'Yapta' originally stood for 'Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant,' a vision that guided its evolution.

The company's core business revolves around its proprietary technology that monitors booked airfares and hotel rates, identifying and capturing savings when prices drop post-purchase. This service addresses the inherent price volatility in the travel market, providing a tool for procurement professionals to mitigate overspending. Yapta serves corporate clients of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100, and partners with travel management companies (TMCs) who either distribute its products or embed the technology into their own solutions. Revenue is generated by enabling companies to save an average of 2-4% on their corporate travel expenditures.

Yapta’s product suite includes FareIQ for airfare price tracking and RoomIQ for hotel rates. These tools persistently track bookings and can automatically rebook the same flight or a comparable hotel room at a lower price, accounting for any change fees. In addition to price tracking, the company launched TravelAI, an analytics platform designed to help optimize supplier negotiations and improve policy compliance. In January 2020, Yapta was acquired by Coupa Software, a business spend management platform, and its products were integrated into the Coupa TravelSaver offering. This acquisition aimed to provide Coupa's extensive customer base with greater visibility and control over one of their largest areas of spend. Keywords: corporate travel management, travel price tracking, airfare price assurance, hotel rate monitoring, business travel savings, travel expense reduction, FareIQ, RoomIQ, TravelAI, corporate booking tool, travel procurement, travel cost control, flight rebooking, hotel rebooking, travel data analytics, spend management, Yapta, Coupa, Tom Romary