Navan has introduced Navan Edge, a personalized travel assistant powered by artificial intelligence (AI).
The assistant is also available to business travelers who don’t have access to Navan through their employer, allowing them to manage their travel plans and deal with disruptions.
“Navan Edge is for people who frequently travel for companies that don’t have a managed travel program. They’re on-the-go warriors who spend hours researching their travels and manually managing reservations, loyalty programs, and chaos,” a Navan spokesperson told PhocusWire.
“Longer term, it will also target frequent travelers within large companies who find existing in-house tools clunky and too restrictive and are making ‘out-of-policy’ bookings. Navan Edge is designed to be a tool they’ll actually want to use. ”
The tool not only provides “hyper-personalized” recommendations based on preferences, loyalty program status, and itinerary needs, but also lets you adjust reservations and bookings.
Once approved by the traveler, the assistant will be able to rebook flights in case of cancellation, alert hotels to delays, and adjust dinner reservations. Human agents are also available to assist, the company said.
As of Monday’s launch, Navan Edge is available on iOS in the US and only supports hotel reservations. A Navan spokesperson confirmed that flight and restaurant bookings are “scheduled to begin shortly”.
Navan CEO and co-founder Ariel Cohen said the Navan Edge tool was built with business travelers in mind.
“Travel is the most important use case for LLM. People are saying: They want to just say the word and let AI do the rest. They want a solution that works for them, not the other way around,” Cohen said.
“But that conversational interface must run on top of an incredibly complex infrastructure that connects hundreds of suppliers, a global travel infrastructure that Navan has spent a decade perfecting to enterprise scale. Navan Edge is built to give business travelers what they value most: confidence that their trip will meet their standards and specific needs, the ability to be productive on the go, and the freedom to enjoy the journey.”
A16z Capital Management and Singapore-based Napean Trading & Investment recently acquired a stake in Navan, disclosing investments of $465 million and $103 million, respectively. The travel and expense platform also faces scrutiny from plaintiffs’ law firms over its initial public offering.
