It may surprise industry outsiders to learn that frontline travel agents remain a vital force in corporate travel. They weren’t wiped out by the Internet. They weren’t erased by self-booking tools. And, no, artificial intelligence and bots aren’t taking over anytime soon. At most travel management companies, frontline  counselors represent the largest single employee group.... Download Now!

Contact center solutions, content aggregation, data delivery, mobile technology and chatbot tech top the most common areas where TMCs will increase spending over the next year to enhance their business, according to a poll of 30 TMCs fielded in April and May and presented in a new Beat Research Report.... Download Now!

Travel managers are often inundated with historical data on where the dollars were spent but armed with little insight to how they might better influence purchasing decisions of travelers today and into the future. How can small and midsize travel departments—with limited resources and time—use real-time data to better manage and influence travel spending?... Download Now!

UATP CEO and Chairman Ralph Kaiser shared his views on the growth of alternative forms of payment and how his firm is simplifying the option for airlines.... Download Now!

Historically, the request-for-proposals pro¬cess that formed the bedrock of corporate travel procurement was relatively straight¬forward and stable. Every year, business travel buyers would commit certain levels of volume or share of their hotel spending to chains or individual properties and, in return, receive discounted rates for the next 12 months. Travel buyers would go through the same process every few years with airlines. Today, however, technology and data-management processes have matured and enabled travel suppliers to implement sophisticated yield-management strat¬egies. Hotel and airline inventory can be priced based on real-time assessments of demand and market con-ditions. And suppliers are working constantly to finesse those prices to maximize their revenue. As such, buyers may find an annual or multiyear deal to be far too blunt an instrument to handle such complex pricing strategies—a rotary phone in a smartphone world.... Download Now!

Communicating the benefits of travel program compliance to all travelers within an organization is a sizable task. Travelers, after all, take many shapes. They come from multiple generations; have varying levels of comfort with technology; include senior executives and support workers alike; and some travel far more frequently than others. To start, travelers need to know that a company travel policy exists—and they need to understand how it helps their company realize its goals. When travelers recognize that adhering to the policy will help the bottom line, improve safety standards, heighten service levels and achieve other program objectives, they are much more likely to comply with it. Engaging travelers and driving program compliance requires a range of techniques and communication channels. It also requires messages tailored to specific traveler groups.... Download Now!

In its fourth year, the Innovate Conference for the Advancement of Business Travel offered business travel executives the opportunity to articulate priorities and recommendations about four major challenges facing corporate travel buyers and suppliers:

• Evolving the Role of the Travel Management Company
• Defining & Enforcing Lowest Logical Policies
• Building a Better Hotel Procurement Process
• Taking On Total Cost of Ownership