Expedia vs Concur: Which Travel Booking Platform is Right for Your Business?
Compare Expedia for Business and SAP Concur for corporate travel management. Detailed breakdown of features, pricing, and which platform fits your team's needs.
Updated 2026-09 · 2026
Expedia for Business
Consumer travel platform with business booking features
Strengths
- +No subscription fees - pay only per booking
- +Massive inventory of flights, hotels, and rental cars
- +Familiar consumer interface that requires minimal training
Weaknesses
- -Limited expense management and reporting capabilities
- -No built-in approval workflows for travel requests
- -Minimal policy enforcement tools
Best for
Small businesses and startups that need occasional travel booking without complex approval processes or expense management requirements
SAP Concur
Enterprise travel and expense management platform
Strengths
- +Comprehensive travel booking with integrated expense management
- +Automated approval workflows and policy enforcement
- +Powerful reporting and analytics for finance teams
Weaknesses
- -Expensive for small teams - requires enterprise-level commitment
- -Complex setup and configuration process
- -Steeper learning curve for end users
Best for
Mid-size to large enterprises with frequent business travel that need integrated expense management, policy compliance, and detailed financial reporting
Feature Comparison
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Free platform, service fees per booking | Subscription-based, custom enterprise pricing |
| Travel Booking | Full service - flights, hotels, cars, packages | Full service with corporate rate negotiation |
| Expense Management | Basic receipt storage only | Complete expense tracking, categorization, and reimbursement |
| Approval Workflows | None - manual approval required | Automated multi-level approval chains |
| Policy Enforcement | Manual - no automated controls | Automated policy rules and out-of-policy alerts |
| Reporting & Analytics | Basic booking history and receipts | Advanced analytics, spend reports, budget tracking |
| Mobile App | Consumer-grade app with itinerary management | Business app with expense capture and approvals |
| Accounting Integration | None - manual export required | Direct integration with major accounting systems |
| Receipt Management | Email confirmations only | OCR receipt capture and automatic matching |
| Corporate Rates | Standard consumer rates | Negotiated corporate rates and TMC partnerships |
| Setup Time | Immediate - create account and book | Weeks to months for full implementation |
| Support | Consumer support channels | Dedicated account management (enterprise plans) |
The Verdict
Expedia for Business works well for small teams with occasional travel needs who want a simple, no-commitment booking platform. SAP Concur is the clear choice for organizations with frequent travel, complex approval requirements, and the need for integrated expense management and financial reporting - but only if you can justify the significant cost and implementation effort.
How to switch from Expedia for Business to SAP Concur
- 1Export your booking history from Expedia for Business via the Trip History / Reports dashboard, downloading records as a CSV to keep as your historical spend reference.
- 2Request a Concur implementation kickoff with SAP sales - expect a discovery call to define your travel policy rules, approval hierarchy, and expense categories before any setup begins.
- 3Re-create traveler profiles manually in Concur, including payment methods, TSA info, and frequent flyer numbers, since none of this carries over from Expedia.
- 4Connect Concur to your accounting system (QuickBooks, NetSuite, or SAP) and your corporate card feed to enable automatic expense matching and reimbursement.
- 5Configure approval workflows and policy rules (spend limits, preferred vendors, booking class restrictions) based on how your team actually travels, not just Concur's defaults.
- 6Run a pilot with a small group of frequent travelers for 2-4 weeks, gather feedback on the booking flow, then roll out company-wide with a short training session on the mobile app's expense capture.
Expedia for Business vs SAP Concur: common questions
How do I export my booking history from Expedia for Business before switching?+
Go to your Expedia for Business dashboard and use the Trip History / Reports section to download bookings as a CSV file - this covers flight, hotel, and car reservations with dates and amounts. There's no automated migration tool into Concur, so you'll need to manually re-enter recurring traveler profiles, preferred vendors, and payment methods once you're set up. Keep the CSV as your historical spend record since Concur only tracks data from the point you start using it.
What do we lose by moving from Expedia for Business to SAP Concur?+
You lose the no-commitment, pay-per-booking simplicity and Expedia Rewards points on business travel. You also give up the familiar consumer interface, meaning employees will need onboarding time to learn Concur's booking and expense workflows. In exchange you gain policy enforcement and expense automation, but that trade-off only pays off if your team travels frequently enough to need it.
Is Expedia for Business enough for a small team, or do we actually need Concur?+
If your team books travel occasionally and doesn't need automated approval chains, policy enforcement, or expense report generation, Expedia for Business is usually sufficient and much cheaper. Concur becomes worth the cost once you have multiple travelers per month, need finance team visibility into spend, or must enforce travel policy compliance automatically. Most teams under 10-15 travelers a month can delay the switch until those pain points show up.
What integrations do we need to set up again after switching to Concur?+
You'll need to connect Concur to your accounting system (QuickBooks, NetSuite, or SAP) since Expedia for Business has no accounting integration to carry over. You'll also want to reconnect your corporate card feed for automatic expense matching and set up SSO if you use Okta, Azure AD, or Google Workspace for employee login. None of this transfers automatically - each integration is configured fresh during Concur implementation.
How does the cost compare over 12 months between Expedia for Business and Concur?+
Expedia for Business has no subscription cost - you only pay per-booking service fees, so a small team booking a few trips a month might spend very little annually beyond the trips themselves. Concur typically runs $8-12 per user/month plus implementation costs, so a 10-person team could pay $1,000-$1,500+ per year just in subscription fees before accounting for the setup time. The switch only makes financial sense once the value of automated expense tracking and policy compliance outweighs that fixed annual cost.
Related comparisons
More Other tools people are leaving
All Other alternatives →More Finance tools people are leaving
All Finance alternatives →What would you save without Expedia or SAP Concur?
Pick your team size and see the yearly number.