On October 23, at the Corporate Travel Service Summit held in Beijing, Cai Xiao’ou, General Manager of Didi’s Corporate Services Group, highlighted the company’s impressive track record over the past decade. Didi’s corporate version has served more than 550,000 businesses across various sectors, including state-owned enterprises, high-tech industries, energy, and finance, establishing itself as a comprehensive platform for corporate travel. With the “Didi Corporate” app, users can easily book a full travel itinerary that includes vehicle rentals, flights, and hotel accommodations, all without the need for upfront payments or reimbursements.
During the summit, Didi unveiled its latest product capability map and a smart travel assistant currently in beta testing. To celebrate its ten-year anniversary, the company announced a special offer for new clients: from now until December 31, businesses signing up for Didi’s travel services can enjoy 90 days of free service fees on hotel and flight bookings, subject to specific eligibility criteria. Additionally, significant subsidies for transportation will be provided to long-standing clients who have collaborated with Didi throughout its evolution, along with increased investment in technology to extend integrated solutions to more companies.
What transformation can occur when corporate transportation is digitized?
Didi’s corporate version undoubtedly offers advantages in reliability and safety, but the need to enhance cost-effectiveness, certainty, and service around various business scenarios remains a priority. The company dissects transportation needs into distinct categories such as commuting, airport transfers, business receptions, and hotel check-ins/outs, conducting a meticulous review of the experiences in these areas. Didi has established over 10,000 transportation guidelines to enable clients to manage different scenarios with precision rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
Transportation is among the most frequent expenses for businesses, impacting both costs and experiences, and it can provide insights for management. For instance, a fast-fashion retail brand used employee transportation data from Didi to identify mismatches between employees’ work locations and their residences. By strategically reallocating staff to align their work sites with where they live, the company significantly reduced both commuting times and operational costs.
This is just one illustration of the value derived from data insights. Moreover, by streamlining travel expense management processes, Didi not only enhances efficiency by eliminating reimbursement and review bottlenecks but also curbs potential compliance risks often hidden in traditional reimbursement systems.
Since 2020, Didi’s corporate version has expanded its offerings into transportation and accommodation services, and by 2022, it provided travel services to its first client. Today, through open collaborations, Didi has comparable depth and coverage in train tickets and both domestic and international flight and hotel resources as industry leaders. The platform also assists companies in negotiating various discount agreements, ensuring that over 80% of hotel prices remain competitive or lower than the market rates.
This step toward providing a more comprehensive travel experience is a natural evolution.
Innovations in integrated management balance corporate needs with employee satisfaction.
Over the last decade, Didi’s Corporate Services has gained deep insights into the needs of both businesses and employees. The integration of transportation and travel management through cross-category controls and enhanced intelligent technology allows companies to design innovative cost-saving solutions.
Cai Xiao’ou noted that some businesses unnecessarily drive up costs by encouraging employees to book remote hotel accommodations while traveling. Didi, however, utilizes a smart analysis of flight, hotel, and transportation costs and time to recommend integrated solutions that are often counterintuitive—it may be more cost-effective for employees to stay in centrally located hotels.
Some companies historically enforced rigid travel policies, limiting employees to train travel without flying options. Didi’s capability to compare both options transparently grants employees the freedom to choose, enhancing their overall travel experience while stabilizing corporate travel expenditure.
In addition to guiding early hotel bookings and encouraging use of off-peak flights, Didi implements various cost-saving strategies. These include recommending popular hotel options based on historical data, identifying hotels that are easy to reach via taxi, and issuing alerts when distances between terminals and accommodations are excessive. These cross-category capabilities lead employees to make decisions that balance both experience and cost-effectiveness.
Didi has designed numerous cross-category cost-saving strategies that benefit both businesses and employees. For example, the company encourages employees to share accommodations during trips, allowing cost allocations to increase room quality while still providing lower costs to the company. Additionally, an incentive program rewards employees with points that can be redeemed for personal use based on savings from business expenditures.
“Our mission goes beyond merely connecting transportation and travel services; we aim to elevate employee satisfaction and allow businesses to focus on high-value work. This is just the beginning. Innovation has no ceiling, and we remain committed to consistently improving our travel solutions for another decade,” concluded Cai Xiao’ou, emphasizing the future of corporate services being smarter, more efficient, and infused with a personal touch. “We stand with all companies that prioritize employee value, serving as your dedicated assistant.”
