Are Business Travelers Flexible?

Why should a business traveler agree to give up any comfort or convenience to save money on business travel if their company is paying for the trip?

Good question.

For the first time ever, business travelers have a reason to consider something other than maximizing their personal comfort and convenience. With Upside, business travelers are able to consider a hidden asset they never knew they had to get free gift cards for themselves on each and every business trip they buy.

That valuable hidden asset is something we like to call “flexibility.”

Being flexible means agreeing to do something that your corporate policy does not require. At Upside, we talk about “little bits” of flexibility to emphasize that this is about making changes on the margins — not making huge compromises that mean arriving late or staying in a hotel without 24-hour gym access. Flexibility could mean flying out an hour earlier on your overseas trip for $300 in free gift cards to Amazon or another favorite store of yours. Flexibility could also mean staying at a hotel a few blocks away from your event for an additional $400 in free gift cards…How you decide to trade your flexibility for gift cards is completely up to you.

Upside uses a revolutionary new technology called a Flexibility Engine. It helps you discover how little bits of flexibility on travel arrangements can save your company money and get you free gift cards on every business trip you buy.

Our advanced Flexibility Engine uses Big Data software to instantly analyze the massive airline and hotel databases — including every flight, hotel and price — to discover and price travel options that work for you based on airlines and hotels you pre-approve.

Our Flexibility Engine does three things:

1. Discover

First, it quickly discovers ways in which you might be flexible on a business trip by asking a few simple questions like:

Where are you going?
What time do you need to be there?
What is the earliest time you can catch a flight home?
What hotels do you usually use?

2. Price

Then, it assigns a value to each way you agree to be flexible.

For example, if you’re willing to go from business class to premium economy, our Flexibility Engine will calculate the price gap between the two and instantly assign a gift card value to either travel option. This is where our Flexibility Engine assigns the highest gift card values to the most cost-saving travel options as motivation to be flexible.

3. Trade

Finally, it lets you trade your flexibility for gift cards. If you like the gift card benefit more than your travel right, Upside lets you trade away your flexibility for gift cards on each and every Upside package you buy.

We ask questions. You get gift cards.

Upside’s Flexibility Engine helps you discover small ways you can be flexible, price your flexibility in real-time, and lets you trade your flexibility for gift cards.

Pretty awesome, right?