The Serko Ltd (ASX: SKO) share price will be on watch today after making an announcement about its deal with Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: BKNG).
If you’re wondering what Serko is, it’s a business that provides online travel booking and expense management for business.
What was in Serko’s update with Booking?
Serko said that it has reached an important milestone in its partnership with Booking.com. The ASX travel share and Booking.com have commenced the transition of existing Booking.com business customers to the new Zeno powered platform.
Zeno is Serko’s next generation travel management system, using technology, predictive workflows and a global travel marketplace to transform business travel across the entire journey.
The transition of existing customers to the new platform will be phased as additional languages and regional content are added, with the majority of active users currently expected to be migrated within two to three months of the start of the upgrade.
The users will be upgraded to the new Zeno powered experience which builds towards the goal of delivering a connected trip experience for business travellers, initially offering flights and ground transportation in select markets, in addition to the existing breadth of accommodation options.
Leadership comments
The CEO of Serko, Darrin Grafton, said: “This is an important milestone, not only launching a highly scalable platform that caters to existing Booking.com for business customers worldwide by marking the start of our vision to bring the connected trip experience to business travellers globally. The Serko and Booking.com teams have achieved this together under what could be considered one of the most trying years in the history of our industry and to make this happen faster than expected is a credit to the amazing teamwork on both sides.”
How much earnings will this generate for Serko?
Serko said this isn’t expected to make significant revenue in FY21. However, it is expected to be “material” in FY22. It will give more information at the full year result in May 2021.
Summary thoughts
I think this is a good update to hear. Obviously Serko and Booking.com were aiming for this move, but knowing that it has started is a positive sign.
Serko’s volume is still likely to be down compared to pre-COVID times at this stage, but it seems like it could be strongly leveraged to a recovery from COVID-19 when that happens. If volume does rebound, then the Serko share price could be one to watch, particularly with the Booking.com partnership. I’m just not sure what this new world will look like – how much business travel will there be?
