The readiness standards for a travel program to implement a new travel management company have changed. What was once considered "go state" is simply... KEEP READING

There's an old saying that you don't get fired for buying IBM. But whoever said that obviously never worked at a small or midsize enterprise, where... KEEP READING

In recent months, much discussion has ensued about the value of the travel management company RFP and its future place, if any, in the TMC sourcing... KEEP READING

Corporate meeting and event teams face the opportunity of a lifetime. It may not feel that way, with last year's hotel commissions-cut announcements... KEEP READING

There's good disruption and bad, and plenty of corporate travel buyers will argue whether the disruption in ground transportation by transportation... KEEP READING

We've only dipped our toes into using data to create richer experiences and stronger connections at events, but that's all about to... KEEP READING

Global ties between major carriers are set to tighten this year as several joint business agreements near approval, and the global alliance structure... KEEP READING

The U.S. will tax tickets purchased with frequent-flier points at $50 for domestic, $100 for international coach and $500 for international business... KEEP READING

Buzzword or not, artificial intelligence will move beyond travel booking to all aspects of the travel experience from before booking to real-time... KEEP READING

If you are a corporate travel manager, then you probably start each day with a scan of the latest news on data privacy, or rather the lack of data... KEEP READING

Greater deployment of emerging technologies in 2019 will make the business trip cycle easier to navigate—and increasingly populated with personalized... KEEP READING

The scale and dynamism of Asia/Pacific economies make the region a vital component of many corporate travel programs. As China opens more connections... KEEP READING

When corporate travel booking and management provider TripActions earned "unicorn" status by reaching an investor valuation of $1 billion in November,... KEEP READING

Companies send employees abroad now more than ever, but the evolving demographics of the average business traveler bring with them new health and... KEEP READING

This time last year, Marriott International hit the corporate market with some big news: It would slash meetings commissions from the conventional 10... KEEP READING

Earlier this year, talk of the International Air Transport Association's New Distribution Capability standard and its deployment in the U.S. was getting... KEEP READING

Many travel managers now find themselves tasked with managing meetings. On its face, this makes complete sense. After all, they are both travel related,... KEEP READING

After the recent British Airways data breach, travel managers received a flurry of enquiries from anxious travelers wanting to know how their company... KEEP READING

For many years, travel program success has been measured in savings. In an effort to simplify hotel program management, companies define success by the... KEEP READING

The CEOs of flight disruption compensation reclamation firms AirHelp and Paxfour offer their views as to whether flight disruption compensation from an... KEEP READING

Too often, organizations are happy to tick the necessary boxes to cover themselves if something should go wrong for their travelers and overlook the... KEEP READING

Today's travel marketplace offers an array of choices. Airports are upgrading their facilities, access to lounges is expanding, ease of check-in is... KEEP READING

How do you know your travel management company has a secure data environment? A simple assurance that "We take data security seriously" is not... KEEP READING

Escalating geopolitical tensions have created a charged environment for business travelers, even in regions that traditionally have been considered... KEEP READING

Mental and physical health are important issues for road warriors and that high volumes of travel are correlated with a number of poor wellness... KEEP READING

Research by my colleagues and me over the past several years shows that physical, behavioral and mental health issues cluster among employees who travel... KEEP READING

T&E generally accounts for 10 to 15 percent of a company’s expense base, but the bottom line isn’t the only factor in travel policy. American Express... KEEP READING

The process by which companies obtain negotiated rates from hotels is broken and has been for years. Consultants are hired, RFPs are sent, discounts are... KEEP READING

Twenty years ago, an HR executive asked me how to evaluate the success of a managed travel program. As a result, I created a checklist of the components... KEEP READING

Meetings management programs are under a lot of pressure to prove their value. They could be mature programs that have been delivering savings and... KEEP READING

In 2016, I heard of an experienced sales director running his company’s South African operations while traveling back and forth from that country and... KEEP READING

Every corporation wants to believe its organization is well run and all its employees have good intentions. The majority of people do, but in every... KEEP READING

Among the things travel buyers care about, savings is arguably the most essential, the most visible, the most measured. Savings, defined here as the gap... KEEP READING

We all know that business travel promotes business relationships, helps companies establish new markets and brings key people closest to the... KEEP READING

Geopolitical uncertainties and natural disasters in destinations normally deemed safe will keep risk management top of mind for travel managers in 2018.... KEEP READING

Corporates funding their strategic meetings management programs entirely through commissions may want to create backup plans. This year could see one or... KEEP READING

As corporate travel rolls into 2018 with all engines powering full speed ahead, it’s worthwhile to take a step back and consider which travel... KEEP READING

The countdown to May 25, 2018, is set for compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation. Strategic meetings management program... KEEP READING

Nearly every industry undergoes major evolutions as technology evolves. Television shifted from scheduled viewing to time delays, then on-demand.... KEEP READING

African business travel management can no longer ignored. The World Bank has identified substantial sub-Saharan African growth in key life indicators... KEEP READING

It’s hard to miss the increasing footprint artificial intelligence has in our everyday lives. This point is best illustrated by the remarkable... KEEP READING

Chinese consumers love mobile tech. China now represents the largest business travel spend in the world, according to GBTA. By the transitive property,... KEEP READING

Of the 1.8 million meetings held annually in the U.S., small meetings—50 people or fewer—represent a large percentage. They are often simple, one-day... KEEP READING

This past holiday season, Amazon sold “tens of millions” of Alexa-enabled devices; the Echo Dot was the top-selling item across all Amazon.com... KEEP READING

Hertz will buy Avis: There are too many car rental companies. Enterprise/National is eating the cake of the other companies with amazing pricing... KEEP READING

2017 was a year of fire and fury for women. Revelations about sexual harassment in the workplace rocked the entertainment and media industries, as well... KEEP READING

This year, we’ll see incentives for all! Ok, let’s be honest, I used that to grab your attention, as that’s absolutely not a phrase you are going to... KEEP READING

Suspicious buyers, leery travel agencies and global distribution systems have long feared that the International Air Transport Association’s New... KEEP READING

If you look back at the last two years, [all this technology] was new. People were super excited talking about things, and then last year people saw... KEEP READING

Now that duty of care is high on the corporate agenda, trip-approval systems need to factor it in. Focusing purely on the budget aspects of corporate... KEEP READING

Major hotel chains’ recent expansions of their advance-cancellation penalties reflect a lack of understanding of the potential costs for corporate hotel... KEEP READING

Midsize companies play a crucial role in the strength of a country’s economy and face a different set of challenges from larger companies to grow their... KEEP READING

If the reception Airbnb received at this year's GBTA Convention is any indication, the simple answer to the question in the headline is yes. While CNN's... KEEP READING

Many organizations now view itinerary tracking as an absolute necessity for travel risk management, but to keep their personnel safe, are companies... KEEP READING

The relationship between Concur and the travel agency community thus far has been symbiotic. Concur receives high-margin revenue in the form of... KEEP READING

I read your op-ed, The Case Against Gamification & Price-to-Beat Tools, with interest on Friday. Given my role as CEO & founder of Rocketrip, I felt... KEEP READING

Travel disruptions and unexpected events are all too common: Weather delays, infrastructure failures and natural disasters are just a few examples of... KEEP READING

Incentivizing employees with gift cards and other benefits can help save money on trip itineraries. Companies like Rocketrip and TripActions are... KEEP READING

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration's ban of certain carry-on electronic devices on inbound flights from 10 Middle Eastern airports puts two... KEEP READING

Adding data from your expense management system to the travel agency data you already use to power your hotel sourcing power may enable you to negotiate... KEEP READING

More and more companies are realizing that today's consumers expect the brands they do business with not only to provide quality goods or services but... KEEP READING

Employers fret plenty about their liability in case of illness or injury to employees, but that liability is pretty limited, at least for business... KEEP READING

How would you define convenience for a traveler checking into a hotel for business travel? Is it knowing that there will be someone waiting at the front... KEEP READING

Justified or not, the handling of the U.S. government's surprise ban on laptops and other large electronic devices onboard certain flights from the... KEEP READING

The days of driving high year-over-year contract savings are gone for corporate travel buyers, especially for mature global programs. The hotel market... KEEP READING

2017 will be the year that adoption of shared economy services like Uber, Lyft and Airbnb becomes a permanent fixture in the corporate travel program... KEEP READING

Frequent business travelers have for many years been labeled road warriors. It comes from a time when business travel was an arduous, often lonely and... KEEP READING

Airlines will ratchet up segmentation strategies this year, leaving buyers with more options and, in some cases, more policy headaches. United Airlines'... KEEP READING

We all know that business travel promotes business relationships, helps companies establish new markets and brings key people closest to the... KEEP READING

Change is constant. Digital is magnifying stale practices that are in need of reinvention. This environment signals a glaring misalignment between hotel... KEEP READING

From the moment he descended the Trump Tower escalator to announce his candidacy for U.S. president, Donald Trump has defied predictions. Nailing down... KEEP READING

Few expense management firms employed machine learning before 2016, but booking tools like KDS using that type of artificial intelligence for predictive... KEEP READING

The complexity and frequency of world events significantly threaten and impact travelers more so every day. The world is interconnected and events can... KEEP READING

To say that there were dramatic changes in 2016 would be an understatement, but a few major travel "events" will have a longer-term impact on travel... KEEP READING

Consolidation is giving hotel chains more justification to raise rates worldwide, and most foreign cities offer a broad range of business-grade hotels,... KEEP READING

Corporate travel management is a data-intensive practice that has at times resembled an arms race between suppliers and buyers. Many travel managers... KEEP READING

In 2016, major hotel companies revamped their loyalty programs and introduced direct booking discounts linked to loyalty membership. The factors that... KEEP READING

Has anyone else noticed the words "retailing" and "merchandising" being used more than ever before: travel suppliers talking about themselves as... KEEP READING

Personalization seems to be everywhere these days, from item suggestions when you log on to Amazon to the promoted photos and ads in your social media... KEEP READING

I know I am not the only one looking to the next few months with a keen eye. People are wondering how our country will change or if it will change at... KEEP READING

2017 will see data strategy emerge as a foundational priority for both corporate travel managers and the travel management companies they work with: How... KEEP READING

When I was a child, my career aspiration was to be a teacher or a preacher. I knew from a young age that I simply wanted to help people. From my days as... KEEP READING

It has been interesting to watch the major hotel companies’ recent attempt to shift bookings to their direct on-line channels by incentivizing members... KEEP READING

An executive at your company is traveling in Europe when a terrorist attack occurs near her location. You know where she is, based on a GPS-enabled... KEEP READING

Long security checkpoint lines are not only tedious; they also may be dangerous for business travelers. While authorities have strengthened security to... KEEP READING

Hoteliers have some worries. U.S. occupancy, while high, is stalling in growth. First-quarter earnings were lackluster thanks to slow U.S. business... KEEP READING

Today's travel manager faces a more variable role than travel managers of days past. They can navigate and institute a list of preferred hotels and... KEEP READING

It's a bit awkward, isn't it? To be back where we were five months ago. Marriott International is buying Starwood Hotels & Resorts. It's as true now as... KEEP READING

In my predictions for 2016, I forecasted the continuation of large hotel corporation mergers and acquisitions. According to industry buzz, it looks like... KEEP READING

Travel & expense is the dark horse of the corporate travel management industry. Wait, what’s that? You’ve been paying attention to... KEEP READING

Desktop applications are no longer good enough. 2016 will see mobile business travel bookings and new mobile applications to manage... KEEP READING

If the domino theory applies to airlines, 2016 could be a year of great tumbling. Merger activity has been the dominant topic on the U.S. domestic... KEEP READING

Meet Terry, the most important persona in the corporate travel industry. Terry is not the travel manager. Instead, Terry represents... KEEP READING

Since the card networks announced their plans to transition to the EMV standard in 2012, players including issuers, merchants, acquirers and processors... KEEP READING

Picture two companies: Company A and Company B. Both companies are submitting a request for proposal for a negotiated rate at Hotel... KEEP READING

The use of “virtual collaboration” technology, tools allowing people to work together digitally instead of in person, will... KEEP READING

Should the federal government make airlines provide ancillary fee data in every channel they list fares? The answer to that question has been subject to... KEEP READING

In 2016 travel managers will begin looking inward at their programs rather than outward toward the supply chain. The irony is that... KEEP READING

A patent application filed June 22 and posted online Christmas Eve quietly revealed how broadly Uber may extend its reach into the... KEEP READING

In 2016, the total cost of travel is a focus for most travel managers as the industry climbs out from under the procurement... KEEP READING

A travel policy can be a lot like a junk drawer. Stuff gets thrown into it. You know you need to clean it out but never seem to get around to it. There... KEEP READING

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris only reinforce America's need for us to remain vigilant about homeland security and for our Congress to... KEEP READING

As the airline industry continues to consolidate, it has become apparent that today’s model for contracting up-front corporate discounts will change.... KEEP READING