JTB Business Travel launches Teal to transform business travel management
TORRANCE, CA – JTB Business Travel, a service brand of JTB USA Inc., announced the launch of Teal, a modern, cloud-based travel management platform designed to simplify,
personalize, and transform the way companies manage their global travel programs.
Powered by Spotnana's industry-leading technology, Teal unifies Travel Managers, Travelers, and JTB Business Travel Advisors on a single platform to create a simplified, intuitive, and scalable experience for organizations of all sizes. JTB Business Travel is also the first Travel Management Company (TMC) to offer Spotnana's platform across owned points of sale in over 15 countries, expanding to 25 by the end of 2025 – enabling fast, truly global program rollouts.
Built to address the evolving demands of modern business travel, Teal empowers Travel Managers with real-time visibility, policy control, sustainability tracking, and integrations with HR and expense systems. For Travelers, Teal delivers an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly booking experience that offers full inventory access across air, hotel, rail, and car rental, along with real-time alerts, global support, and personalized, policy-aligned options. Travelers also gain the autonomy to book, modify, or cancel their trips independently – with seamless support on the road whenever they need it.
The results speak for themselves. According to data from Spotnana, the cloud-based platform that powers Teal, existing users have achieved a 94% average self-service online booking rate.
This type of efficiency leads to meaningful cost savings through streamlined booking, increased traveler autonomy, and stronger supplier management.
'At JTB Business Travel, we're always challenging ourselves to find new ways to deliver exceptional service through smarter technology,' said Geert de Boo, General Manager and Vice President of Global Business Travel at JTB USA, Inc. 'Teal supports our pursuit of that goal and represents a major step forward for our clients – bringing together JTB's global expertise and Spotnana's cloud technology to deliver the best possible travel experiences.'
Unlike legacy systems that require complex and lengthy rollouts, Teal makes it easy to deploy global travel programs – often as simple as configuring a list of countries to be launched. Teal also bridges the gap between managed and unmanaged travel by offering a turnkey, cost effective alternative that gives companies full support from JTB Travel Advisors with minimal lift to get started.
'Spotnana and JTB Business Travel are working together to offer businesses around the world a powerful combination of advanced technology and exceptional service,' said Steve Singh, Executive Chairman and CEO of Spotnana. 'By connecting JTB Business Travel's clients and expert Travel Advisors through Spotnana Cloud for TMCs, everyone can benefit from improved travel experiences, greater efficiency, and faster innovation.'
With Teal, companies can roll out consistent travel programs across markets in minutes, manage costs with greater accuracy, and support traveler wellbeing with always-on access to human-centered support.
Key Teal Features Include:
Simultaneous global rollout across languages, currencies, and regions
Real-time spend monitoring, safety tracking, and sustainability reporting
Comprehensive booking inventory for air, hotel, rail, and car rentals
Pre-built integrations with HR, finance, and expense management platforms
24/7 support powered by unified traveler profiles and policy information
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Travel Daily News
08-08-2025
- Travel Daily News
CoStar, Tourism Economics lower U.S. hotel growth forecast
U.S. hotel performance forecasts for 2025–26 were downgraded due to weak demand, macroeconomic concerns, and shifting travel patterns. ARLINGTON, VΑ. – CoStar and Tourism Economics further downgraded growth projections in a revised 2025-26 U.S. hotel forecast just released at the 17th Annual Hotel Data Conference. Given continued underperformance and elevated macroeconomic concerns, forecasted growth rates were lowered across the top-line metrics: demand (-0.6ppts), ADR (-0.5 ppts) and RevPAR (-1.1 ppts). Similar adjustments were made for 2026: demand (-0.5 ppts), ADR (-0.3 ppts) and RevPAR (-0.7 ppts). 'Unrelenting uncertainty and inflation, coupled with tough calendar comps and changing travel patterns, have caused lower demand,' said Amanda Hite, STR president. 'Additionally, as the year has unfolded, we've seen rate growth converge closer with demand. We expect little change in the economic outlook over the next 18 months, but we are optimistic that once trade talks have concluded and the impact of the budget reconciliation bill comes to fruition, hotel performance will recover.' 'The slowing U.S. economy should absorb the effects of tariffs without tipping into a recession,' said Aran Ryan, director of industry studies at Tourism Economics. 'The current environment – characterized by slowing consumer spending, reduced business capital spending, and declining international visitation – will transition to one boosted moderately by tax cuts and less policy uncertainty as we look to 2026.' Hite said.
Travel Daily News
29-07-2025
- Travel Daily News
Sonesta executes 31 franchise agreements in H1 2025
Sonesta adds 31 new franchise deals and opens 10 hotels in H1 2025, reinforcing its strategic growth and global brand expansion. NEWTON, MA – Sonesta International Hotels (Sonesta), the 8th largest hotel company in the US, announced the execution of 31 new franchise agreements during the first half of 2025 as well as 10 openings that showcase Sonesta's global expansion and continued growth strategy. 'The continued growth in the first half of 2025, with 31 new franchise agreements, highlights Sonesta's sustained momentum and our attractive value proposition for owners,' said Keith Pierce, Sonesta's EVP and President of Franchise & Development. 'We're seeing continued demand across our diverse portfolio, which speaks to our ability to meet the needs of various markets and strengthens our existing owner relationships.' Sonesta's ongoing franchise expansion, in spite of the macroeconomic and political headwinds that started the year, highlights its success in growing its footprint. This growth is bolstered by its fast, friendly, and flexible model, which especially appeals to hotel owners during times of uncertainty. 'Our tailored brand offerings and flexible standards are clearly resonating with developers looking for strategic growth,' said Brian Quinn, Sonesta's Chief Development Officer. 'These 31 new agreements, spanning our distinct brands, along with the 10 recent openings, demonstrate our continued commitment to providing solutions that drive success for our franchisees and expand Sonesta's footprint in key locations.' Sonesta had 10 new hotels add nearly 1000 new rooms to the portfolio in the first six months of 2025. They include (in order of opening): Sonesta Essential Baton Rouge – Baton Rouge, LA – Baton Rouge, LA Red Lion Hotel Charlotte – Charlotte, NC – Charlotte, NC Signature Inn Berkeley – Berkeley, CA – Berkeley, CA Americas Best Value Inn Donaldsonville – Donaldsonville, LA – Donaldsonville, LA Americas Best Value Inn Fredonia – Fredonia, NY – Fredonia, NY Sonesta Essentia Blue Springs – Blue Springs, MO – Blue Springs, MO Sonesta Essential Overland Park – Overland Park, KS – Overland Park, KS Signature Inn Miami – Miami, FL – Miami, FL Americas Best Value Inn/Knights Inn Pilot Mountain (dual brand) – Pilot Mountain, NC In late 2021, Sonesta RL Hotels Franchising Inc. launched four Sonesta-branded hotel concepts in the U.S., complete with a comprehensive platform of franchise services, hotel operations, and franchise support. Building on this momentum, 2023 marked another milestone with the introduction of four new brands: The James, Sonesta Essential Hotels, and two soft brands – Classico Collection by Sonesta and MOD Collection by Sonesta. In 2024, Sonesta expanded its reach by introducing the 'by Sonesta' endorser branding to the Red Lion portfolio, further reinforcing its commitment to strategic growth and innovation. Sonesta's diverse portfolio of 13 distinct brands provides owners and developers with a wide range of options across the upper-upscale, lifestyle, upscale, midscale, extended-stay, and economy segments. With a focus on strategic growth, an owner-first approach, available market opportunities, and direct access to its leadership team, Sonesta stands out as an attractive partner for developers seeking flexibility and innovation in hospitality. Guests of these new locations can earn or redeem points as members of the award-winning Sonesta Travel Pass guest loyalty program.
Travel Daily News
14-07-2025
- Travel Daily News
Google 's AI Mode to transform travel search
Google's AI Mode will soon dominate search, urging travel brands to adapt for AI mentions over clicks or risk losing visibility entirely. Google is moving closer to making AI-first search the default experience – and travel brands must respond now or risk becoming irrelevant. At the core of this shift is AI Mode, a conversational interface that is already live in a separate tab and poised for full integration into Google's main search engine within the next 12 months. Unveiled by Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AI Mode enables dynamic, multi-turn conversations. Instead of presenting a list of links, it delivers personalized, contextual responses – for example, refining results based on follow-up questions like 'Which family tours in Costa Rica are best for kids under 8?' or 'Do they include wildlife experiences?' 'This goes far beyond AI Overview snippets,' says Brennen Bliss, CEO of Propellic, a digital agency specializing in AI-driven strategies for travel brands. 'It's the equivalent of speaking to a personal travel advisor. And it's going to redefine search faster than most anticipate.' The end of top-of-funnel dominance? For years, travel companies have built their marketing around top-of-funnel content such as blogs, guides, and itineraries. These assets fueled SEO rankings, website traffic, and retargeting. AI Mode threatens to upend this model by keeping users within Google's ecosystem through continuous conversation. 'Users won't need to visit multiple websites to compare experiences,' Bliss notes. 'Instead, they'll consult Google's AI, which may surface your brand – or not. In this new model, your content might not drive traffic at all; it may simply train the AI.' Despite the shift, key decisions in travel still require context and trust – areas where conversational AI excels. Users often ask about accessibility, age-appropriateness, weather, or what to pack. AI Mode is tailored for such nuanced journeys. And while the AI may recommend a product – such as a sunset cruise in Santorini – it still cannot complete the booking (yet), though Google's commerce-focused Project Mariner may soon change that. Mentions replace clicks- The industry's focus must now shift from rankings to relevance. 'The goal is no longer to rank #1 – it's to be mentioned and trusted by Google's AI,' explains Bliss. 'Mentions are the new clicks.' For travel brands, this means adapting content and brand positioning to become part of the AI's trusted memory – the internal database of reliable, high-quality references the model repeatedly recommends. Google's cautious but inevitable rollout To mitigate risks to its ad business – which still accounts for nearly 80% of Alphabet's revenue – Google is integrating AI Mode features gradually, only when they show better engagement and monetization. Once the business case is proven, full-scale deployment will accelerate. 'Brands waiting for clarity may be left behind,' warns Bliss. 'Those acting now have a window to establish trust, fine-tune messaging for AI consumption, and position themselves for long-term visibility.' A clear call to action for travel marketers With over 15 million global travel queries per day on Google, the shift to conversational search is already underway. For travel and tourism brands, the priority is clear: adapt strategies, audit content for conversational relevance, and optimize for trust and AI visibility – or risk fading from the discovery journey altogether. In the age of AI-first search, discovery doesn't begin with a click – it begins with a mention.
