You knew it was coming, but how are Corporate Travel 100 companies really engaging with artificial intelligence in practice in 2025? Even in the CT100, most companies are still dabbling with large language model chatbots offered as information sources for policies or required processes. No. 99 Takeda named its chatbot “Tip”—possibly short for Tipton—but capturing the essence of what a first-wave of travel program artificial intelligence has achieved. Companies like No. 46 Toyota Motors North America and No. 23 Gilead and No. 16 Microsoft all have converted AI functionality like this—as have a number of others.
AI-powered booking capability could be considered a second wave. BTN named McKinsey & Co. director of travel and events technology Jamie Stewart the 2025 Travel Manager of the Year for his work on bringing large language model-based booking interface Skylink into existing Slack-based workflows for McKinsey travelers and forwarding artificial intelligence-driven processes through the travel program in ways that realize personalization, compliance and cost savings.
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HAVE AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE UPCOMING? Business Travel Show America in New York City brings you together with education sessions and peers that can help you plan and execute effectively. CHECK IT OUT. Panel: AI in Action - How
Travel Managers Are Engineering Smarter Programs. Wednesday, Oct. 15 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM.
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McKinsey drew Amex GBT into its innovation pathway, and its new Skylink booking tool through Slack has drawn bookings equally away from its traditional Concur channel and from live agents. It has reduced average booking times to about 99 seconds from 12 to 15 minutes. No. 42 Sony is also working to implement Skylink as a booking interface.
The next wave of AI is coming fast and has more at stake because it will rely on AI to evaluate conditions and take informed action on behalf of travelers and travel managers. Salesforce at No. 47 is one company pushing forward with such capabilities. After the company acquired some specialized AI firms in 2024, the Salesforce travel team is experimenting with how to empower AI with the right parameters so that it truly alleviates travel management tasks.
The company envisions enabling multiple agents, entrusted with specific activities, to “talk” with one another to drive workflows. Salesforce already is having conversations with suppliers and service providers to lay the tracks that would link internal Salesforce agents to a travel management company or supplier agent to trigger certain actions. That’s a future state, not happening now—but the opportunities are out there for travel managers to drive real innovation that already is changing the models of how employees experience business travel and new industry standards around how travel managers will manage it.
_________________________________________________________________
HAVE AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INITIATIVE UPCOMING?
Business Travel Show America in New York City brings you together with
education sessions and peers that can help you plan and execute
effectively. CHECK IT OUT. Panel: AI in Action - How
Travel Managers Are Engineering Smarter Programs. Wednesday, Oct. 15 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM.
_________________________________________________________________