navan-cost-tuning

Navan Cost Tuning

Overview

Navan's platform includes a built-in policy engine, negotiated rate management, unused ticket tracking, and the Navan Rewards program — but these features require deliberate configuration to deliver savings. This skill covers the full cost optimization lifecycle: setting up travel policies with hard and soft caps, analyzing booking data via the REST API to find savings opportunities, enforcing negotiated corporate rates, recovering value from unused tickets, and incentivizing employees to choose cheaper options through Navan Rewards. No SDK exists — all analytics use direct REST API calls against https://api.navan.com/v1.

Prerequisites

• Navan Admin account with policy management permissions
• OAuth 2.0 credentials from Admin > API Settings (client_id, client_secret)
• Historical booking data — at least 3 months for meaningful analysis
• Navan plan — Business (free for up to 300 employees), Expense ($15/user/month after 5 free), or Enterprise (custom)
• Pricing details: https://navan.com/pricing

Instructions

Step 1 — Analyze Current Spend via API

Pull booking data to identify where money is being lost:

# Authenticate
ACCESS_TOKEN=$(curl -sf -X POST https://api.navan.com/ta-auth/oauth/token \
  -H "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded" \
  -d "grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=${NAVAN_CLIENT_ID}&client_secret=${NAVAN_CLIENT_SECRET}" \
  | jq -r '.access_token')

# Fetch last 90 days of bookings for analysis (page + size pagination)
curl -s "https://api.navan.com/v1/bookings?createdFrom=2026-01-01&page=0&size=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" \
  -o bookings.json

# Analyze: average booking lead time (days before travel)
# Response structure: records in .data array
jq '[.data[] | ((.departure_date | fromdate) - (.created_at | fromdate)) / 86400] | add / length' \
  bookings.json
# Target: 14+ days average lead time for maximum savings

// Identify top savings opportunities by category
interface BookingAnalysis {
  total_spend: number;
  avg_lead_time_days: number;
  out_of_policy_pct: number;
  unused_tickets: number;
  top_routes: { route: string; spend: number; trips: number }[];
}

async function analyzeSpend(token: string): Promise<BookingAnalysis> {
  const response = await fetch(
    'https://api.navan.com/v1/bookings?page=0&size=50',
    { headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}` } }
  );

  if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`HTTP ${response.status}`);
  const { data: bookings } = await response.json();

  const routeMap = new Map<string, { spend: number; trips: number }>();
  let totalSpend = 0;
  let outOfPolicy = 0;

  for (const b of bookings) {
    totalSpend += b.total_amount;
    if (b.out_of_policy) outOfPolicy++;

    const route = `${b.origin}-${b.destination}`;
    const existing = routeMap.get(route) ?? { spend: 0, trips: 0 };
    routeMap.set(route, {
      spend: existing.spend + b.total_amount,
      trips: existing.trips + 1,
    });
  }

  return {
    total_spend: totalSpend,
    avg_lead_time_days: calculateAvgLeadTime(bookings),
    out_of_policy_pct: (outOfPolicy / bookings.length) * 100,
    unused_tickets: await countUnusedTickets(token),
    top_routes: [...routeMap.entries()]
      .map(([route, data]) => ({ route, ...data }))
      .sort((a, b) => b.spend - a.spend)
      .slice(0, 10),
  };
}

Step 2 — Configure the Policy Engine

Set up travel policies in Navan Admin > Policies with these recommended tiers:

Policy Rule	Configuration	Savings Impact
Flight cap	Soft cap at lowest logical fare + 20%	10-15% on airfare
Hotel cap	Per-city nightly rate (e.g., NYC $250, Austin $180)	15-25% on lodging
Advance booking	Flag bookings made < 7 days before travel	20-30% on last-minute trips
Cabin class	Economy for flights < 6 hours, Business for 6+	Varies by route mix
Approval workflow	Manager approval for out-of-policy bookings	Reduces out-of-policy by 40-60%

Step 3 — Enforce Negotiated Corporate Rates

# Check if negotiated rates are being utilized
curl -s "https://api.navan.com/v1/bookings?page=0&size=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | \
  jq '{
    total_bookings: (.data | length),
    bookings_with_negotiated: [.data[] | select(.negotiated_savings != null)] | length,
    total_savings: [.data[].negotiated_savings // 0] | add
  }'

Upload negotiated rates in Navan Admin > Rates. Navan automatically surfaces these as preferred options during booking.

Step 4 — Track Unused Tickets

# Identify unused or partially used tickets
curl -s "https://api.navan.com/v1/bookings?page=0&size=50" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | \
  jq '{
    cancelled: [.data[] | select(.status == "cancelled")] | length,
    total_credit_value: [.data[] | select(.status == "cancelled") | .credit_amount // 0] | add
  }'
# Credits expiring within 30 days should be rebooked or refunded

Step 5 — Enable Navan Rewards

Navan Rewards gives employees personal travel credit when they book below policy limits. Configure in Admin > Rewards:

• Activation: Enable Navan Rewards for all employees or specific departments
• Credit calculation: Employee earns a percentage of the difference between policy cap and actual booking
• Redemption: Credits apply to personal travel booked through Navan
• Reporting: Track rewards earned and redeemed via the admin dashboard

This creates a direct incentive for employees to choose cheaper options — Navan reports typical 5-15% additional savings from Rewards adoption.

Output

A cost optimization implementation delivering:

• Spend analysis report identifying top savings opportunities by department and route
• Configured policy engine with hard/soft caps and approval workflows
• Negotiated rate enforcement surfacing corporate rates during booking
• Unused ticket recovery preventing credit expiration
• Navan Rewards activation incentivizing employee cost-conscious booking behavior

Error Handling

HTTP Code	Meaning	Resolution
200	Success	Process response data
401	Token expired	Refresh OAuth token and retry
403	Plan does not include this feature	Check Navan plan tier at https://navan.com/pricing
404	Endpoint not available for your region	Contact Navan support for regional API availability
422	Invalid policy configuration	Verify cap amounts and currency codes
429	Rate limited	Reduce analytics query frequency

Examples

Monthly savings dashboard query:

# Generate a monthly savings summary
curl -s "https://api.navan.com/v1/reports/savings-summary?period=2026-02" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${ACCESS_TOKEN}" | \
  jq '{
    period: .period,
    total_spend: .total_spend,
    policy_savings: .in_policy_savings,
    negotiated_rate_savings: .negotiated_savings,
    rewards_credits_earned: .rewards_earned,
    unused_tickets_recovered: .credits_rebooked,
    total_savings: (.in_policy_savings + .negotiated_savings + .credits_rebooked)
  }'

Resources

• Navan Help Center — Policy setup guides and API docs
• Navan Pricing — Plan comparison (Business free up to 300 employees)
• Navan Integrations — ERP connectors for automated expense reporting

Next Steps

• Add navan-reference-architecture for end-to-end integration design
• Add navan-performance-tuning to optimize the API calls powering cost analytics
• See navan-observability to monitor policy compliance rates over time