Corporate travel and expense management platform Navan, Inc. and Hilton have announced a strategic partnership to create a direct connection service between hotels and travel management companies, aiming to transform the corporate hotel booking experience.

This collaboration integrates Navan's travel technology with Hilton's next-generation distribution framework, making Navan the first travel management company to gain direct access to Hilton's central reservation system and content services. The direct connection is built on Hilton's proprietary application programming interface and consists of two core components: a booking interface that provides Navan with real-time access to Hilton's central system for room availability, pricing, and reservations, and a content interface that pulls authoritative hotel property and room type information directly from Hilton.

Dane Molter, Senior Vice President of Travel Marketplace at Navan, Inc., stated that advancing this direct link with Hilton will enhance the user experience from hotel search through booking and checkout. Frank Passanante, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales and HRCC at Hilton, noted that through close collaboration and leveraging Hilton's technical and commercial expertise, the partnership is driving the evolution of hotel distribution models to better serve the booking and travel management needs of corporate clients.

For clients of Navan, Inc., this partnership delivers several practical benefits: access to a broader selection of hotels within the Hilton portfolio, acquisition of high-quality hotel content sourced directly from Hilton to reduce information discrepancies, and more consistent global support for virtual payments across Hilton properties. According to a Navan spokesperson, this integration will be rolled out to customers in phases, with implementation beginning this week. Both parties indicated that this direct connection also lays the groundwork for deeper future automation and post-booking integration.