TravelPlus × Zomato: Corporate travel management case study

The challenge

Pre-TravelPlus, Zomato faced fragmented booking with inconsistent rates, GST compliance overhead from managing multiple vendors, no real-time visibility into employee travel patterns, and administrative overhead from month-end close.

• Fragmented booking and inconsistent rates: Without a centralised platform, teams booked through multiple channels — producing inconsistent pricing, no volume leverage, and zero visibility into company-wide accommodation spend
• GST compliance overhead: Managing GST compliance across multiple vendors created significant finance team workload. Individual hotel invoices came with inconsistent formatting, GSTIN errors, and interstate tax discrepancies — each requiring manual follow-up before ITC could be claimed accurately
• No real-time visibility: HR and finance teams had no live view into employee travel patterns. Policy overruns were discovered at month-end, not prevented at booking
• Administrative overhead: Month-end close on travel expenses was taking many days

TravelPlus solution

1. Centralised booking with policy enforcement

TravelPlus gave Zomato's employees access to 25,000+ active handpicked hotels through a single platform — with travel policies embedded in the booking flow. Grade-wise accommodation limits, preferred hotel categories, and approval workflows were configured against Zomato's actual organisational structure. Employees cannot complete non-compliant bookings. Policy enforcement happens at the point of reservation — not during expense report review when the money is already spent.

2. Reseller GST invoicing

Previously, every hotel booking produced a separate hotel GST invoice requiring individual reconciliation — GSTIN verification, HSN code checks, interstate tax validation, ITC eligibility assessment. With hundreds of monthly bookings across multiple states, this was a recurring overhead. TravelPlus issues reseller invoices directly for every booking — handling all hotel GST submission on Zomato's behalf. Finance teams receive one clean invoice per booking that integrates directly into Zomato's financial systems. Individual hotel reconciliation is eliminated. Travel expense close dropped from 10 days to 2 days.

3. Tier-2 and tier-3 coverage

Zomato's expansion into smaller markets required accommodation that generic platforms couldn't reliably provide. TravelPlus's curated inventory covers business-grade hotels across tier-2 and tier-3 cities — teams could book quality accommodation in expansion markets immediately, without bespoke hotel sourcing for each new city.

4. 24/7 human concierge support

Human concierge support available around the clock — travel requests handled within 30 minutes. For last-minute booking changes, accommodation issues during late arrivals, or urgent modifications that can't wait until business hours, this is operationally significant for a workforce that doesn't run on standard hours.

Results

Cost reduction: 15–20% reduction in overall hotel spend — GST savings through reseller invoicing (~10%), negotiated corporate rates, and policy compliance improvements. Administrative efficiency: Travel expense close from 10 days to 2 days. Finance team capacity recovered from manual reconciliation and invoice correction follow-ups. Policy compliance: Automated enforcement at the point of booking replaced retrospective checking — violations are prevented, not caught after the fact. Scale with growth: The platform accommodated headcount growth and geographic expansion without requiring policy rebuilds or new integrations.

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