How a Navan agreement is usually built
Navan is the company formerly known as TripActions, renamed in 2023. It sells travel, expense management and the Navan corporate card as one product family, and it publishes plan options on its website, including entry options for smaller companies and negotiated enterprise terms for larger ones. Because the products can be bought together, a single order form can contain a platform or plan fee, per-trip fees, agent servicing fees, card terms and a traveler rewards program.
That bundling is a legitimate commercial choice, and it can lower total cost. It also means the fee you see on a travel invoice may depend on terms that sit in the card or expense schedule. Read every schedule in the order form together before benchmarking, and list each condition that changes a travel price. Our Amex GBT vs. Navan teardown shows how the same program prices under a legacy TMC model.
Navan fee lines to audit
| Fee line | Typical contracted range we see | What to verify in your contract | Red flag on the invoice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan or platform fee | $0 entry plan to negotiated annual fee | What counts as a billable user and which modules are inside the plan | Billing on every profile, not travelers who booked |
| Self-service per-trip fee | $5–$12 per trip | Whether a trip with air, hotel and car is one fee or several | Separate fees for components of one itinerary |
| Agent-assisted booking | $25–$45 | Whether in-app chat questions count as assisted bookings | Assisted fee on bookings the traveler completed |
| Out-of-network or offline-only content | $40–$65 | Which suppliers, fares and groups are outside platform inventory | Routine domestic trips coded as out-of-network |
| Exchange, refund, void | $20–$45 per touch | Self-service change availability by carrier and fare type | Agent fee on a change the app could have handled |
| NDC change servicing | $10–$25 extra | Whether NDC changes are online, agent-only or excluded | NDC surcharge applied to every ticket on the carrier |
| Card-linked fee discount | Tiered by card volume | Threshold, measurement period, consequence of a miss | Retroactive true-up invoice after a slow quarter |
| Traveler rewards | Share of below-budget savings | How rewards are funded and how the company share is reported | Rewards issued on trips priced above policy |
Card rebate and fee bundling: separate the economics
When travel fees are discounted in exchange for card volume, or a rebate is offered on travel spend placed on the card, you need three numbers to judge the deal: the rebate you would earn, the rebate or benefit you give up on your existing card program, and the travel-fee discount that depends on the card. Net value equals (new rebate rate − forgone rebate rate) × card spend, plus the fee discount, minus switching and reconciliation cost.
Illustrative program, labelled as such: $3.0M of annual card spend, a new rebate 0.2 points above the current program, and a $15,000 travel-fee discount conditional on 80% card penetration. The visible gain is $21,000. If the card threshold is missed for two quarters and the discount is reversed retroactively, the program can end the year behind. Ask for the measurement period, the threshold and whether a miss affects future periods only. Our forensic T&E audit reconciles card feeds against travel invoices to test this.
Offline and out-of-network servicing fees
Platforms built for self-service price human help as the exception, so the definitions decide the bill. Three categories need precise wording: an agent-assisted booking (an agent completes the booking for the traveler), an out-of-network booking (content the platform does not sell online, such as some group fares, rail in certain markets or properties outside its inventory), and a servicing touch (an exchange, refund or disruption change).
Pull the last two quarters of agent-coded transactions and sort them by reason. If more than 15% of agent fees come from routine domestic trips, the issue is either content gaps or a definition that is broader than you intended. Fix it in the contract or through policy, and compare with the self-service rates in our 2026 TMC fee benchmarks.
Enterprise hotel LRA loading audit
Navan shows hotel content from several sources, and travelers will often see rates that are not part of your program. That can be useful, but nights booked outside your negotiated rates do not count toward the volume you promised hotels in your RFP, and they may not carry the LRA protection, breakfast or cancellation terms you negotiated. Test loading every quarter:
- Take your top 20 properties by room nights and confirm each negotiated rate is loaded, bookable and shown with the right rate code.
- Search three high-demand dates per city and record whether the negotiated LRA rate appears when public rates spike.
- Compare room nights booked at negotiated rates with total nights at those properties; below 70% needs a fix.
The method and the math behind LRA protection are in our LRA vs. NLRA guide.
Contract clauses to demand from Navan
Clause 4.1 · Card independence
Client’s travel transaction fees, platform fees and service levels shall not depend on Client’s use of any payment card unless a card-linked discount is stated in Schedule A with its threshold and measurement period. Failure to meet a threshold shall affect only the following measurement period and shall not result in any retroactive charge.
Clause 6.3 · Negotiated rate loading
Supplier shall load Client’s negotiated hotel rates within [5] business days of receipt, display them whenever available for the dates searched, and deliver a quarterly report of room nights by property and rate type booked.
Clause 2.6 · Assisted and out-of-network definitions
An agent-assisted fee applies only where an agent completes a booking that the traveler could not complete online. Content is out-of-network only if listed in Schedule D, which Supplier may not expand without [60] days’ notice and Client’s written consent.