About CapTrav
Our Story
Corporate travel is broken. We can fix it.
Early Days
Founders Brandon Strauss & Nick Romano are entrepreneurs in the corporate travel and meetings space focused on technology and industry solutions. Over 15 years, they have seen it all – from the largest global organizations to small non-profits, every travel supplier type in the ecosystem, and every problem faced.
A chance meeting at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) turns into a business relationship, which later turns into a lot of late night discussions about the state of corporate travel, the frustrations of lots of corporate travel category owners, and how to make it better.
The Aha Moment
The trick to realizing a successful travel program is balancing cost savings and traveler satisfaction. But how? To get cost savings and realize program optimization you need good data analytics. But getting good analytics means the business must drive compliance to a set of tools that may not be user friendly or have desired features.
What if there was a way to ensure the quality of data the business owner needs while satisfying the end user? What if we could build technology that gave a client all of the perks of traditional travel management but without the headaches? What if “capture” of travel expenditures just happened – wherever a traveler was shopping?
CapTrav was born in 2017 but took another 4 years to fully develop. If you manage your travel program today, then you probably know why it took us so long. Corporate travel is arduous and complex. If you don’t manage your program, ask someone who does (or just take our word for it!)
Present Day
New tools and technology flood the marketplace, but they all have one thing in common – in order to get the data you need to effectively manage your program, you have to use their booking tool, expense tool, or payment solution.
Problem is, this is the only way these solutions can get the data you need and as a result, traveler satisfaction isn’t always solved.
For TMC’s, a lot has changed over the years but not for the better. Tools and processes have become archaic, reporting is insufficient, and travelers are unhappy. As a result, we have measured that TMC’s lose 50% of their potential bookings to supplier websites and that’s not a good result for anyone.
CapTrav doesn’t require any specific user behavior but does provide the analytics our clients need to determine where and how to apply policy. Managing any spend category requires corporate discipline and sometimes tough decisions need to be made. Our goal is to make sure you have the information you need to make smart decisions while keeping your travelers happy.
Our Story
Brandon and Nick said we can fix this.
PRESIDENT
Brandon Strauss
Brandon’s early career focused on mid-market supply chain consulting at Ernst & Young. He then went to work for BCD Travel, the 2nd largest Travel
Management company in the world, where he helped create and manage the first end-to-end, self-service booking platform in the industry.
For the past 23 years, Brandon has served as a Partner and co-founder of KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions, a leading corporate travel consultancy whose clients include household brand names as well as cutting edge start-ups.
Brandon has worked extensively with nearly every industry TMC and has deep knowledge around agency operations, supplier negotiations and strategy, and the latest industry trends including technology disruptors.
In 2018, he co-founded CapTrav where
he currently serves as President of the company. Brandon has a Business degree from Tulane University and an MBA from Georgia State.
Chief Technology Officer
Nick Romano
Nick is an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in building and growing companies.
He was co-founder and President of SignUp4, a meetings management software company headquartered in Atlanta, which was acquired in 2013 by Cvent.
Nick has been actively involved as a mentor at Atlanta Tech Village for the past 10 years, helping energetic entrepreneurs while keeping his finger on the pulse of the latest technologies across dozens of industries.
Today, Nick serves as co-founder and CTO at CapTrav and plays a hands-on role in its
continuing development and innovation. He has a nuclear engineering degree from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Georgia State.
