TripIt partners with Orbitz and offers new business product

Itinerary-management service TripIt partnered with Orbitz for Business and separately bundled a couple of products to offer a new pricing option aimed at businesses without managed-travel programs.

In other words, TripIt wants to show that it is focusing on the business — and not just the leisure — travel markets.

Orbitz for Business, the corporate wing of Orbitz Worldwide, says it became the first online travel company to integrate its corporate bookings with TripIt.

Several travel management companies, such as BCD, and clients of Cornerstone Information Systems already flow their booking data through TripIt.

Under the deal, Orbitz for Business clients can choose to give their employees the option of syncing bookings they’ve made through Orbitz for Business with the TripIt itinerary management service.

Here’s what the adding TripIt option looks like within the Orbitz for Business booking tool:

“So, it’s no surprise that many Orbitz for Business travelers have been using TripIt independently for years,” says Scott Hintz, TripIt co-founder and vice president for business development. “Now we are excited to integrate more closely to make the TripIt experience even better for our mutual customers, and to extend our service more broadly iwithin the Orbitz for Business client base.”

So, Orbitz for Business travelers would no longer have to email Orbitz for Business reservations to TripIt as they would automatically sync with their TripIt itineraries. The service is available immediately, the companies say.

Frank Petito, president of Orbitz for Business, says the TripIt deal highlights the way in which Orbitz for Business seeks to give travelers the tools they expect to be available when booking leisure travel, although the company layers those features with analytics tools that give the “CFO and procurement people”  what they need, as well.

In addition, Orbitz for Business customers would get access to standard TripIt tools such as maps, directions, seating advice and online check-in, which are available through TripIt.com, mobile site m.tripit.com as well as TripIt’s Android, iPhone and Blackberry apps.

In other news, TripIt unveiled TripIt for Business, which starts at $399 per year.

TripIt for Business is a bundling of TripIt Groups, a free service when enables employees at a company to share their travel plans companywide, and TripIt Pro,  a subscription service which offers flight-alert notifications, information about alternative flights and rewards-point tracking, among its features.

With TripIt for Business, companies get enhanced TripIt Groups features — such as the ability to designate an administrator and to create subgroups — as well as TripIt Pro, which is currently being offered for $49 per year per person.

For the $399 per year TripIt for Business annual fee, companies get TripIt Groups plus 10 subscriptions to TripIt Pro for employees. The fee structure escalates based on the number of TripIt Pro subscriptions needed.