Startup business travel platform Onriva has announced a partnership with self-service meeting planning platform Bizly to offer its marketplace and meeting planning tools to Onriva customers.
Onriva came out of stealth mode in late 2021 as an omnichannel booking platform that includes direct-connect and New Distribution Capability content. Company executives at the time claimed it had 3,500 small and midsize companies booking more than $3 billion in travel volume through the platform.
Longtime Travel and Transport technology executive and Corporate Travel Management chief technology officer Mike Kubasik recently joined the company as president. Former ARC CEO Mike Premo and Dan Charron, chairman of merchant global services for Fiserv’s First Data, serve on its board.
In bringing Bizly’s self-service meetings platform to the table, Onriva gives customers access to a global network that Bizly says includes more than 500,000 event spaces, including hotels, restaurants with private dining, co-working spaces, activities and unique venues, according to a press release. The partnership is just one in a string of similar efforts that join transient travel, group bookings and/or simple meeting planning into a single offering.
Cvent last month announced an integration with Amgine to automate group bookings for events through an agency partner. Brex last August added a group management feature to its offerings. AmTrav launched its Gather module in 2022. Groupize offered its own angle on this market in 2018.
Despite calling the partnership an “integration,” however, the Onriva and Bizly announcement gave no details of joint technology development or data integrations. An after-hours inquiry from BTN to understand a development roadmap did not receive an immediate reply.
Prepared statements from both companies limited the relationship, for now, to a joint offering accessed through the Onriva platform.
“We chose Bizly based on its user-friendly interface, flexibility, and ability to drive more savings for our customers,” said Onriva EVP Ben Parodi in a statement. “By leveraging Bizly’s innovative platform, we are furthering our commitment to providing our clients with the tools and resources they need to capture, control, and save on their meeting and event spending.”
