Enterprise Wants to Save Car Rentals Through Travel Tech

Car rental giant Enterprise Holdings purchased Deem in early 2019. But before it could make good on grand plans for the travel technology company, the pandemic struck.

The idea for Enterprise was to keep San Francisco-based Deem at arm’s length — it builds agnostic platforms for corporate agencies that book all forms of travel, not just car rentals. But as Enterprise finally un-pauses, will Deem still be relevant in the new travel landscape where demand for new ways to took trips is skyrocketing?

Deem’s president, who has been working in corporate travel since 1994 and joined from Enterprise, said he has a strategy in place to make good on the promise of the acquisition.

“The pause was good for us,” said David Grace. “Trying to triple your staff in a short period of time can be a challenge. It could strain culture.”

It’s all part of the long game for Enterprise, as it’s a relationship that goes back to 2011, when it offered Deem’s platform to its corporate customers that didn’t have a managed travel program. As well as hiring its own cars, what about booking flights and hotels? Grace believes that ultimately this drives a lot of value to Enterprise. It then became a minority investor in 2016, and in January 2019 decided to buy it outright.