Citi launches new travel platform with Booking.com

Financial services firm Citi, formally known as Citigroup,
is launching a new travel booking platform in partnership with Booking Holdings’
brands Booking.com and Rocket Travel.

The new portal, known as Citi Travel with Booking.com,
will launch this fall, replacing the existing City Thank You Travel Center.

This is just the latest of many announcements in the
past year from banks and financial firms launching or updating their travel
offerings – a sure sign they see travel as a valued offering for their customers.

Others making moves in this space include Capital
One integration Hopper Cloud, American Express partnering with GetYourGuide,
Revolut
working with Expedia and the upcoming new travel
portal being developed by JPMorgan Chase.

In a statement, Booking.com says Citi’s new site will give users the
ability to compare hotel, air and car rental options on both the Citi website
and mobile app. Users can pay for travel with their Citi card or its loyalty
points, known as ThankYou Points, or a combination of the two.

Booking.com says the portal will provide 24/7 customer support for “help
along every step of the booking and travel process,” although it is not clear
if that support will be providing by Booking.com or Citi or both.

In
February this year Booking.com came under fire after
announcing it would outsource most of its call center support services to a
third-party, Majorel.