Perk taps Katanox to streamline hotel payments and distribution

Perk is partnering with Katanox to improve how hotel stays are booked, paid, reconciled and settled across its AI-native travel and spend platform. The deal is meant to reduce payment friction, expand hotel partner access and support Perk’s push deeper into corporate travel infrastructure.

Why it matters: - The partnership targets one of corporate travel’s least efficient workflows: hotel payments. - Perk can use Katanox’s hospitality infrastructure to reduce manual reconciliation, limit card-based friction and gain more control over settlement. - Hotels stand to get faster, guaranteed payouts and cleaner settlement data. - The deal supports Perk’s expansion beyond travel into a broader travel, spend and events platform. - Global business travel spending is forecast to reach $1.71 trillion in 2026, with worldwide business trips expected to exceed 1.84 billion, according to the Global Business Travel Association.

What happened: - Katanox announced a strategic partnership with Perk, formerly TravelPerk. - Perk will use Katanox to improve how hotel stays are booked, paid, reconciled and settled. - The companies will work together to expand Perk’s access to hotel partners through the Katanox platform. - The partnership connects Perk’s AI-native travel and spend platform with Katanox’s hospitality payments and distribution rails.

The details: - Katanox positions itself as financial infrastructure for hospitality. - The platform unifies B2B payments, reconciliation, settlement and connectivity in a single system. - Katanox says this setup replaces legacy workflows that rely on virtual credit cards, manual reconciliation, fragmented settlement data and disconnected systems. - Katanox’s account-to-account payment infrastructure is designed to reduce dependency on card-based workflows and remove avoidable friction from hotel bookings. - Perk travelers are expected to benefit from better content, including loyalty options, embedded hotel payments and enhanced expense automation. - Perk has recently expanded beyond travel into a broader travel, spend and events platform, supported by AI-native automation and a reported $300 million private credit facility. - Perk’s platform uses AI to automate policy, budgeting, expenses, receipts and approvals across travel, spend and events.

Between the lines: - The partnership reflects a wider convergence between corporate travel, spend management and hospitality payments. - Perk appears to be betting that deeper financial infrastructure will make its platform more scalable and easier to connect with hotel supply. - Katanox is strengthening its pitch as the underlying payments and distribution layer for modern hospitality commerce. - For travel platforms, better payment rails can matter as much as better inventory access because they affect cost, control and operational speed.

What’s next: - Perk will integrate Katanox to automate hotel transactions from booking through settlement. - The companies will look to deepen direct relationships between Perk and hotel partners. - The partnership is aimed at scaling hotel content while improving financial operations and traveler control over spend. - Katanox will continue positioning its platform to travel management companies and corporate travel platforms that want more direct payment and reconciliation workflows.

The bottom line: - Perk is using Katanox to turn hotel payments from a back-office headache into part of its core travel platform advantage.