In the era of digital transformation, enterprises increasingly seek personalized solutions that align with their unique travel policies, user experience expectations, and operational requirements. SAP Concur, a market leader in travel and expense management, provides a comprehensive set of APIs that empower organizations to build custom travel portals — tailored platforms that seamlessly integrate travel booking, policy enforcement, and expense management.
This article explores how organizations can leverage SAP Concur’s APIs to build custom travel portals that enhance traveler experience, enforce compliance, and streamline operations.
While SAP Concur offers a robust out-of-the-box travel booking solution, there are compelling reasons to develop custom travel portals:
SAP Concur’s APIs are RESTful and cover various functional areas essential for building travel portals:
These APIs communicate in JSON and support OAuth 2.0 authentication for secure access.
Begin by identifying key user personas, their travel needs, and corporate policies. Determine:
Choose your technology stack (e.g., React, Angular, or backend with Node.js, Java) and design a modular architecture that can:
Use OAuth 2.0 to authenticate users and applications securely. Ensure tokens are managed safely and APIs are called within the scope of user permissions.
Implement search and booking features for flights, hotels, and car rentals. Use filters to allow travelers to select options compliant with corporate policies. Provide real-time price and availability data.
Leverage Company Policy APIs to retrieve rules dynamically and validate bookings before confirmation. Display policy exceptions clearly to travelers and approvers.
Enable travelers to create expense reports linked to booked trips. Extract data for management dashboards showing spend, compliance, and savings.
Conduct rigorous testing in SAP Concur’s sandbox environment. Validate integrations, security, and user workflows before deploying to production.
A global consulting firm built a custom travel portal using SAP Concur’s APIs to integrate travel booking with its internal project management system. This portal allowed consultants to book travel within client-specific budgets, link expenses directly to projects, and generate real-time spend reports, significantly improving travel compliance and financial oversight.
Building custom travel portals with SAP Concur’s APIs unlocks tremendous value for enterprises with complex or specialized travel needs. By leveraging SAP Concur’s comprehensive API ecosystem, organizations can deliver tailored, secure, and integrated travel experiences that enhance compliance, reduce costs, and increase traveler satisfaction.
If your organization is considering a custom travel portal, SAP Concur’s APIs provide a flexible foundation to innovate and streamline your travel management ecosystem.