HRS & SAP Concur Extend Tech Partnership: Driving Savings for Travel Programs

HRS & SAP Concur Target Automated, Recurring Savings for Corporate Hotel and Meetings Programs in New Partnership Extension

Latest Agreement Builds Upon a Decade of Deep Integration, with HRS’ AI-Based Innovations Elevating SAP Concur’s Tech Leadership Position; Mutual Clients Averaging Savings of 20%

Cologne, Germany – 17 March, 2026 – HRS, the leading global corporate lodging and payment platform, announced the signing of a partnership extension with business travel and expense provider SAP Concur. The multi-year agreement builds upon more than a decade of superior technology and payment integration in the corporate hospitality management arena. HRS’ automation features an unrivaled end-to-end solution, with open API architecture and deep vertical expertise delivering unbiased transparency for transient and meetings volume. HRS, an SAP Concur Distinguished Partner Award winner, collaborates with SAP Concur today to serve multinational corporations.

The AI-powered HRS Copilot platform, showcased this week at the SAP Concur Fusion Conference in New Orleans, is an intelligent assistant that unlocks the potential of full hotel spend management for corporate programs, inclusive of transient, groups, meetings and long stay segments. The technology helps leaders steer their programs via real-time optimization that automatically generates insights, identifies missed opportunities, and presents recommended actions. HRS Copilot then allows for cascading, one-click implementation of alterations, offering precise calibration and efficiency at each juncture of the hotel transaction.

HRS’ Connect booking platform leverages AI as a catalyst to reduce out-of-program bookings, with its unique personalization features and secure API integrated into SAP Concur Travel. New functionality in HRS Connect this year will further complement Concur’s capabilities by allowing corporate employees to use one singular, self-service booking interface for transient, groups, meetings and long stay segments – all woven in alignment with defined policies. Managers and travelers both benefit from harmonized payment and seamless expense flow. Mutual clients see a 20 percent decrease in lodging-related costs via efficiencies spurred by recurring automated processes.  

“We believe that mutual clients using SAP Concur Travel – integrated with HRS’ Copilot and Connect platforms – are blazing a new optimized technology trail in the modern travel management ecosystem,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “The potential of AI-powered next-generation solutions is best illustrated by the outcomes initial users in the SAP Concur community are seeing as 2026 unfolds.”

Meeting Worldwide Demand to Drive Corporate Lodging Savings

At a time when CFOs are scouring balance sheets for wasteful costs, procurement and meetings leaders need the power of AI to optimize real savings and drive efficiency across their programs. One prominent example that joint SAP Concur-HRS users gain from: superior payment automation and invoice auditing.

Advanced payment technology allows corporate travelers to literally walk into their hotel on arrival…and simply depart on schedule without the hassle of plastic at the hotel desk. Everything is paid via virtual credit cards or bank transfer. All major global issuers, including American Express, Citi, Mastercard and Visa, as well as relevant regional issuers like Ant Group’s Alipay (China) and SMBC (Japan), are supported, securing worldwide coverage and acceptance. The traveler’s hotel invoice – inclusive of detailed level 3 data – is then automatically itemized, corrected as needed and inserted into the SAP Concur expense report template in use by their employer. HRS’ patented procure-to-invoice audit trail then elevates invoice accuracy and compliance, policing contracted rates and amenities to ensure negotiated savings while dramatically reducing time spent on audits by back-office teams.

Accordingly, SAP Concur clients using HRS are seeing virtual card acceptance rates averaging 97 percent, with their travelers saving an average of 22 minutes per expense report filing.

Initial Success Metrics Open New Doors Performance

Initial metrics from corporations using these groundbreaking HRS solutions illuminate the immense savings and performance potential for corporations on their optimization path:

• Hotel program adoption up by 23 percent;

• 98 percent compliance with defined, preferred processes; and

• Clients using VAT Reclaim automation across continents are successfully reclaiming more than 90 percent of eligible funds, addressing a long-missed financial opportunity.

“Our partnership with SAP Concur continues to deliver unmatched AI-driven hotel savings scenarios for corporations committed to leveraging technologies on an end-to-end basis,” said Tobias Ragge. “We will build on our existing deep integration, giving corporate leaders confidence in the superior money and time-saving attributes our connected platforms offer to our mutual clients.”  

Tobias Ragge is speaking at the SAP Concur Fusion event in New Orleans on Wednesday morning March 18 at 9am (Central Time). This forward-looking session will cover AI’s evolving role in lodging and mobility, the future of hotel distribution, automated payment and more. The conversation will also reveal how technology integrations can unlock optimized value for managed travel programs. Attendees are encouraged to visit the HRS booth (#1004) throughout the event. More than 3,000 finance and travel executives attend the annual SAP Concur Fusion Conference.