Bilt Expands Hospitality Platform to Travel Advisors
The new operating system combines booking, itinerary building, commission tracking, and 24/7 client support in one platform.
Photo: Big Tiny Belly / Unsplash
Bilt has announced it will expand its hospitality technology into the travel advisory sector with Bilt OS for Hospitality, a new operating system designed to bring booking, itinerary management, commission tracking, and client support into a single platform.
The company unveiled the expansion today, Sunday, Aug. 9, at Virtuoso Travel Week’s annual Tech Summit in Las Vegas. Bilt said the system was developed directly with travel advisors to address a longstanding challenge for the industry: the number of separate platforms advisors often rely on to manage bookings, itineraries, commissions, and client communication.
“The most hospitable way to manage travel—especially luxury travel—is with advisors, and we heard and saw more and more that travel advisors needed a singular, efficient operating system,” said Bilt founder and CEO Ankur Jain. “Bilt OS for Hospitality makes travel advisors’ lives simpler. It helps them capture more bookings, provide top experiences to their clients.”
At the center of the platform is an online booking tool personalized to an agency’s IATA and PCC, alongside an interactive trip and itinerary builder and commission-tracking capabilities from Sion. Bilt is also incorporating what it calls an “agentic concierge,” intended to provide technology-supported assistance while keeping the advisor involved in the client relationship.
Clients of participating advisors will have access to a self-booking platform around the clock, allowing them to make travel arrangements themselves while keeping those bookings within their advisor relationship. That could be particularly useful for straightforward transactions that clients might otherwise book independently, while leaving advisors to focus more of their time on complex trips and higher-touch service.
Bilt is emphasizing that the technology is meant to support rather than replace advisors. Advisors will continue to own their client relationships and can choose which parts of the system they use, which clients they serve through it, and how they operate their businesses.
The platform was developed with input from an advisory board that included executives from Cadence Travel, SmartFlyer, and Travel Experts. Eitan Geft, president of Cadence Travel, said Bilt’s willingness to involve advisors in development helped distinguish the project.
“We chose to work with Bilt on developing this offering because from day one, they were ready to listen and engage with us as the subject matter experts,” Geft said. “The result is a platform being built by advisors, with advisors, for advisors, and that gets us truly excited.”
SmartFlyer executive director Lianna Guttzeit similarly said Bilt entered the process without a predetermined solution, instead asking advisors about their workflows and challenges. “That collaborative approach is helping build a platform that reflects the realities of our industry and has the potential to move it forward,” she said.
The travel platform is Bilt’s third major hospitality marketplace, following its businesses in housing and neighborhood dining and lifestyle. Advisors interested in the new system can now sign up for early access.
