Yenny Yusra Journal

In many companies, business travel is still handled in a rushed way. Trips are often booked at the last minute, sometimes involving whole teams that need to leave town or even fly abroad. Without proper planning, travel ends up being more expensive and time consuming. Last-minute tickets can push costs far higher compared to booking early, and it is a problem almost every business has run into.

Bliink wants to close this gap. Instead of relying only on regular online travel sites, it offers a platform designed specifically for companies, startups, and small businesses. The idea is to make travel less of a hassle while keeping costs under control.

“Our platform does not just help companies save up to 30 percent on travel costs,” said Bliink CEO Larry Chua. “It also gives small businesses a flexible tool with no contracts, so they can focus on growing their business.”

Bliink is a travel technology company built to help small and medium businesses in Indonesia manage corporate travel more easily and affordably. Through its platform, users can book from more than 2.6 million hotels and 600 airlines, with 24/7 AI support to deal with sudden changes or emergencies. The goal is simple: give smaller businesses the same level of convenience and efficiency that big corporations already enjoy.

Bliink’s whitepaper highlights why change is needed. It shows that last-minute bookings can raise ticket prices by as much as 60 percent. It also points out that one in four employees admit to claiming personal expenses as business costs. On top of that, finance teams lose hundreds of hours every year dealing with manual bookings and reimbursements.

Why Face-to-Face Meetings and Flexible Booking Still Matter

The same report also shows how important face-to-face meetings have become again. About 67 percent of business travelers believe company revenue would drop without direct meetings, while 95 percent of executives worry about losing clients if they do not meet in person. In Indonesia, where personal connections play a big role in business culture, building trust often starts with a handshake. As the local saying goes, without personal closeness, it is not easy to get access to new opportunities.

This means the cost of not traveling, or of handling travel poorly, can be much higher than just the price of a ticket. Missed deals, delayed partnerships, and even employee burnout are all risks when business travel is not managed properly.

Bliink tries to address these challenges in a few ways. Small businesses can access flight and hotel rates usually reserved for large corporations. Companies can set simple travel rules to control budgets and keep things in check. Bookings and reimbursements can be handled in one place, cutting down on admin work. There are no contracts or minimum commitments, which makes sense for smaller firms with irregular travel needs. And if anything goes wrong, support is available anytime, from both the team and AI tools.

During panel discussion sessions with company and startup leaders, many admitted they need a platform like this. Flexible payments and the option to personalize services were seen as strong reasons to use it.

Loyalty to existing platforms can be hard to break, but if Bliink keeps delivering real savings and convenience, it has the potential to become a long-term partner for businesses of all sizes.