How Perk's AI Strategy Is Redefining Business Travel and Spend Management

Jan de Vries · 2026-08-13

When Nikita Miller stepped into the role of Chief Product Officer at Perk in September 2025, she walked into a company in the middle of a major transformation. What was once known as TravelPerk had just rebranded, and the Barcelona-founded scale-up was no longer just a business travel platform. It was becoming an AI-native travel and spend management ecosystem, with its sights set firmly on the US market. That shift isn't just about a new name on the door. Perk has been busy integrating acquisitions like Yokoy, expanding into expense management, and building a product strategy that tackles what Nikita calls "shadow work"—the tedious, repetitive tasks that employees deal with when they travel or spend money for their company. ### The Problem With Shadow Work Think about the last time you booked a business trip. You probably had to hunt for a hotel, check the company travel policy, book the flight, and then save every receipt. After the trip, you had to reconcile those expenses, file reports, and hope accounting didn't kick it back with questions. That's shadow work, and it eats up hours of employee time that could be spent on higher-value tasks. Perk wants to automate as much of that as possible. From reconciling invoices to sourcing hotels and organizing events, the goal is to eliminate the manual grind. Nikita's vision is simple: let the technology handle the busywork so people can focus on the work that actually matters. ### AI Won't Replace People—It Will Reshape Their Jobs One of the biggest fears about AI is that it will make human workers obsolete. Nikita pushes back on that idea. She argues that the real question isn't whether AI will replace employees, but how it can create space for people to do higher-value work. While AI can automate invoice reconciliation, reporting, and other repetitive tasks, it can't replicate strategic judgment or decision-making. Understanding *why* a business should pursue a certain direction remains a distinctly human responsibility. That's a refreshing take in an industry that often gets caught up in the hype. ### New Roles, New Skills There's a common assumption that AI-driven businesses will need fewer people. Nikita challenges that too. In many cases, AI is actually creating new forms of work and increasing demand for different skill sets. - Systems thinking is becoming more valuable as companies build interconnected AI agents and products. - Teams need people who can manage and oversee AI-driven processes. - There's growing demand for roles that bridge the gap between technical capabilities and business strategy. Instead of shrinking, the workforce is evolving. The companies that thrive will be the ones that recognize this shift and invest in developing those new skills. ### Personalization at Scale Perk is already moving toward a more agentic future. The company has linked travel, spend, invoices, and events into a single platform, giving users easier access to information across different systems. It's also investing heavily in personalization, using years of travel and spending data to improve recommendations for individual travelers. At the same time, CFOs and administrators get greater visibility over policies, approvals, and costs. It's a win-win: employees get a smoother experience, and finance teams get the control they need. ### Going Global, the Local Way Nikita believes that Perk's experience building across multiple European markets has prepared it for the US. But she's careful not to treat the US as a simple extension of the European business. The expectations around business travel and financial products are different, so Perk has recruited local teams and adopted a localization strategy. That approach seems to be paying off. The company recently secured a €300 million credit facility (roughly $350 million) to support expansion. The investment is being directed across AI, product development, spend management, invoicing, corporate cards, and new ideas aimed at both employees and the Office of the CFO. ### Building a 100-Year Company Nikita's long-term vision for Perk goes beyond becoming a bigger travel platform. The leadership team talks about building a "100-year company"—a lasting business that removes unnecessary administrative work and lets employees spend more time on meaningful, productive activities. Having spent much of her career in the US, Nikita sees strong entrepreneurial ambition on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe is producing more significant technology success stories than ever before, but the fundamentals of entrepreneurship remain universal: ambition, resilience, and a willingness to work through difficult problems. ### What This Means for You If you're running a business, the takeaway is clear. The companies that succeed in the next decade won't be the ones that just bolt AI onto their existing processes. They'll be the ones that rethink how work gets done, eliminate the shadow work, and free up their people to focus on what really matters. That's the kind of thinking that builds companies built to last. And it's exactly what Perk is betting on.