KAYAK for Business and Mesh Payments have partnered to link corporate travel booking, trip-specific card payments, and expense management.
KAYAK for Business, the corporate travel offering powered by KAYAK, has formed a strategic partnership with Mesh Payments, a corporate card and expense platform for global organisations. Under the partnership, KAYAK for Business will handle travel planning, booking, and trip management, while Mesh Payments provides global cards, spend controls, and expense management, combining both in a single experience for travellers and a single record for finance teams. The integrated offering is scheduled to be available by December 2026. The companies aim to address a common setup in business travel, where booking, payment, and expenses run on three separate systems that are typically only reconciled after the money has been spent.
Booking, payment, and expenses around a single trip
Travellers can search, book, and manage trips on KAYAK for Business, using inventory sourced from direct supplier connections, NDC, GDS, and other sources. Payment runs either on Mesh virtual cards, issued locally in more than 40 countries, or on the company’s existing corporate card programme, with policy applied at the moment of purchase rather than at month-end. A card issued for each trip carries its budget and policy, covering costs such as meals and ground transport, while every transaction is coded, matched to the trip and traveller, and reconciled automatically, removing the need for travellers to file expense reports.
Both companies apply AI within the offering. KAYAK for Business integrates AI alongside traditional search, allowing travellers to build policy-aware, bookable trips from natural-language requests and manage changes through conversational AI, with human support available when needed. Mesh uses AI to identify the purpose of each transaction so that expenses are completed automatically. Eva Fouquet, SVP of KAYAK for Business, stated that booking a business trip should be as easy as booking a personal one and visible to finance from the start. According to Fouquet, the booking, card, and expense now sit around a single trip, allowing finance teams to see travel spend as it happens rather than weeks later.
Controls and visibility for finance teams
For finance teams, the integration provides real-time visibility into travel spend based on actual card transactions rather than booking estimates. On-trip spending is scoped before departure through a card issued per trip, replacing open limits that are reconciled afterwards. Unique, controllable payment credentials also replace shared, static ones, limiting the impact of any single compromise. The offering works with a company’s existing card programme or with Mesh-issued cards, so businesses do not need to switch banks or reissue cards.
Oded Zehavi, Co-Founder and CEO of Mesh Payments, stated that booking shows what a trip is expected to cost, while payment shows what it actually costs. According to Zehavi, Mesh attaches a card with the budget and policy already applied to every trip, giving finance teams the actual figure while the trip is under way. Mesh Payments works with more than 1,500 companies, while KAYAK for Business serves midsize companies and global enterprises. By linking a virtual card to each trip, the partnership moves spend control from post-trip reconciliation to the point of purchase.
