The Business of Travel

The GBTA Foundation, the charitable arm and outgrowth of GBTA’s overall mission, was relaunched by the association in July 2022 to create a positive impact and a better future for people and the planet. As GBTA marks and celebrates the 100th episode of its “Business of Travel” podcast, GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang sits down with Delphine Millot, Senior Vice President, Sustainability, who heads up the GBTA Foundation and brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the Foundation’s work.   The discussion centers around how the Foundation came to be, why is it important, the Foundation’s priorities and significance of its four pillars – sustainability, WINiT, Ladders and DE&I, and how business travel professionals and companies can get involved in the Foundation’s work and give back to invest in the future of our industry and the professionals who make it what it is. For more information, visit www.gbtafoundation.org.

Based on a recent GBTA study, sponsored by Deem, travel managers are challenged with understanding and providing technology solutions for accessible travel. Almost a third of travel managers say their corporate booking tool does a poor job accommodating these travelers and two-thirds say their company does not have clearly defined processes or resources for accessible travel.   Business travelers also report difficulties when booking trips - facing challenges such as vision, cognitive or motor impairments that can make it impossible to use traditional devices and websites effectively.   Join GBTA and Deem's Head of Product Design, April Durrett, as they discuss the latest research and evolving technology design principles, and how that impacts travel for everyone — with or without disabilities.   In this podcast you'll learn how: * Travel managers are feeling about their current accessibility challenges * Travelers with impairments navigate online booking solutions * Accessible technology can encourage policy adoption and boost employee compliance * Creating accessible solutions helps more people travel more confidently * Meeting WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines makes a difference for all of your travelers

We have all heard about climbing the corporate ladder, but have you ever thought about what it means to keep the ladder down for others? Join Annette Cumming and Lisa Caswell as they explore the important topic of leveraging opportunities to support and promote women in leadership.

Jon Gray, Rockport Analytics sat down with Chris Ely, head of GBTA Research during the 2022 GBTA Convention to get a closer look into the 2022 Business Travel Index from GBTA made possible by Mastercard.

Sustainability is emerging as a major driver in the evolution of business travel and that definitely includes in the hotel space. Jean Garris Hand, Vice President, Global ESG, Hilton sat down with Debbie Iannaci, head of GBTA Communications and Research during the 2022 GBTA Convention to provide insights on how sustainability is shaping business travel, Hilton’s commitment and efforts in prioritizing ESG initiatives and innovations including their updated ESG framework, and how they are helping corporate customers focus their carbon footprint and getting to a net zero future.

With data and technology available increasingly in abundance in the business travel sector, how can you harness and make the most of it? Peter Psaltakis, Director Solutions Engineering, and Stephen Pitcher, Chief Data Science Officer, both from FCM joined Debbie Iannaci, head of GBTA Communications and Research during the 2022 GBTA Convention to provide their perspectives on why travel managers are challenged with converting data into insights, the role artificial intelligence (AI) can play, how predictive analytics can aid proactive decisions, and data’s role in the “triple bottom-line” of people, planet and profit.

Julian Walker, Vice President of External Communications and Public Relations for CWT, and Shawn DuBravac, CEO, Avrio Institute, sit down at the 2022 GBTA Convention to discuss the recently released 8th Annual CWT GBTA Global Business Travel Forecast 2023. Topics include the pressures on travel supply pricing, staffing challenges, and rising overall costs against a backdrop of strong travel demand and capacity limitations.

How should we be thinking about the current state of business travel and the industry and what might be coming next and why? Henry Harteveldt, founder and travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research sat down with Debbie Iannaci, head of GBTA Communications and Research during the 2022 GBTA Convention to provide his informed perspectives on the general outlook for global business travel over the next year, when we might see recent travel disruptions dissipate, the potential long-term effects on travel brand loyalty, and what business travelers are thinking about now as they get back on the road and in the air.

Chris Ely, Research Director at GBTA and Ashley Sulewski, Global Strategic Manager at Uber for Business, discuss travel managers’ thoughts on how ground transportation has evolved post-pandemic in relation to sustainability, managed meal programs, bleisure, and more. Interested in seeing the data firsthand? Download our first-ever US and Canada–based ground transportation report here.

Group travel and events are coming back but how can booking and managing them be even better? Ryan Morris, Vice President Sales, Groups 360, joined Debbie Iannaci, head of GBTA Communications and Research during the 2022 GBTA Convention for a discussion including how booking group rooms and event space online is changing, what is now the typical group size and booking window, instant booking and the importance of robust hotel group inventory and rates and how the right tools can solve room block management headaches for travel planners.