How Coastr Used Booking.com for Business to Drive Rapid Growth During the Pandemic

How Coastr Used Booking.com for Business to Drive Rapid Growth During the Pandemic

Centralizing Travel Proved Essential for this Decentralized Startup.

How Coastr Used Booking.com for Business to Drive Rapid Growth During the Pandemic

The Challenge

Three-year-old mobility and travel tech company Coastr entered the pandemic as a team of six people based out of the United Kingdom. As businesses around the world acclimated to an all-virtual environment, Coastr moved full speed ahead to hire the best talent possible across multiple international markets, expanding its team to more than 35 members in the past two years. 

But while Coastr’s people thrived in a remote workplace, their global customer base of vehicle rental providers large and small still preferred in-person meetings. As lockdowns lifted across various markets, the demand for travel only increased, both to connect Coastr with its customers and to finally unite its global team face-to-face. 

The startup needed a solution that would help it to centralize travel without hindering growth or costing it valuable time or money.

The solution

Coastr turned to Booking.com for Business as a turnkey way to get a handle on travel. The all-in-one business travel platform empowered Coastr to set travel policies down to the individual traveler level without compromising on the consumer-like search-and-book travel experience employees were used to.

Coastr turned to Booking.com for Business as a turnkey way to get a handle on travel. The all-in-one business travel platform empowered Coastr to set travel policies down to the individual traveler level without compromising on the consumer-like search-and-book travel experience employees were used to.

— Biswajit Kundu Roy, CEO & Founder of Coastr

The Impact

The adoption of Booking.com for Business to centralize travel saved the company thousands in spend, according to Coastr CEO and Founder Biswajit Kundu Roy. Through better controls and visibility, the company was able to significantly reduce avoidable costs for things like last-minute air tickets.

“This is hard to quantify, but we've also been able to be more efficient and save time, as well. Previously booking a flight, for example, could take around an hour. Now I’ve seen that effort has been cut in half, plus we are able to contact Booking.com to get support.”

The platform has also reduced Coastr’s administrative costs by centralizing payments, eliminating employee expense reports and reducing the burden on the company’s finance team.

“Our people probably would have used Booking.com for travel anyway, but now it’s all organized under one business solution.” 

— Natasha Sonawane Berry, Head of Marketing for Coastr.

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