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

Many organizations for years have aggregated and analyzed key meetings management data metrics like negotiated venue savings and cost avoidance, food and beverage use and meetings policy compliance rates. But as meetings management and expense management technology mature and begin to accept application programming interfaces from other types of systems, meetings managers now have access to far broader streams of data that allow much deeper and wider measurement of the effectiveness of a meetings management program. How are they integrating data streams and using the insight? Read on to learn about the methods used to collect meetings data and measure performance cited by leading practitioners.... Download Now!

The gig economy, super commuters, infrastructure builders, other project-based workers, and even smart, self-sufficient, and value-conscious leisure travelers, are helping to boost demand for one of the fastest growing segments of the hotel industry: Extended Stay. Why are so many independent travelers and economic decision makers choosing extended stay hotels? Business travelers who stay five or more nights in a hotel currently comprise more than one-quarter of the demand for the nation’s 56,000 hotels and 5.2 million rooms. Extended stay inventory currently represents just 8% of total rooms with more than 50,000 more rooms in the pipeline. What is the appeal and opportunity for extended stay within man¬aged travel? Read on as this white paper highlights the value of extended stay for managed travel and workers paying for their own lodging... Download Now!

Few topics in recent years have captured the business travel industry’s collective attention as has the spread of Millennials in the workforce. The habits and desires of today’s youngest workers, and their perceptions of structured travel programs and established processes, have transfixed travel managers and suppliers alike as all strategize ways to attract the interest and influence behavior of travelers 35 and younger. A “seismic change” is underway in the workplace, according to Randstad and Future Workplace as in 2016 “3.6 million Baby Boomers are set to retire, one-fourth of Millennial workers will take on management roles and Generation Z (born between 1994 and 2010) start to enter the workforce.” Learn more, including insights and recommendations from a BTN Group webinar in this Executive Summary.... Download Now!