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Hospitality Net
20-05-2025
- Business
- Hospitality Net
Achieving the Perfect Business Trip: New Study Reveals Top Challenges and Technology Solutions for Success
While business travel drives critical business outcomes, it can also come with challenges for organizations and employee travelers alike. These challenges can sometimes make the pursuit of the 'perfect business trip' seem like a distant fantasy. Yet, it is an aspiration the industry can work to achieve — with travel managers identifying various technological innovations that can reduce friction and drive trip success. This is according to new research released today by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world's largest business travel association, in partnership with Direct Travel, Spotnana, and Troop. Findings from 'The Perfect Business Trip,' a report stemming from a survey of U.S.- and Canada-based corporate travel managers outlines the challenges they face in their travel programs including the use of online booking tools (OBTs) and addressing travel disruptions, as well as managing travel management companies (TMCs), meetings programs, and expense reporting and insights. Achieving a more 'perfect' business trip is within our reach through industry innovation and collaboration. Our latest research pinpoints the key challenges and offers technological solutions to ultimately transform business travel into a more seamless experience for both travelers and travel managers. Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA Corporate travel managers cite their top sources of friction When asked to rate the level of friction experienced with key aspects of their travel program, 57% of travel managers responded that the online booking experience for unprofiled guest travel brought at least some friction along with it, closely followed by the management of travel disruptions (55%) and expense reports (50%), as well as the travel management company (TMC) servicing process (50%) and the online booking experience for meeting and event travel (50%). The survey also found that rising travel costs continue to be viewed as a challenge despite stabilizing travel prices, with more than half of travel buyers (53%) calling it the single greatest challenge they face in managing costs. Meanwhile, travel programs continue to struggle with 'leakage' for bookings made outside of 'managed' channels like TMCs or OBTs. Most travel managers (67%) said their company's air travel leakage increased (19%) or stayed the same (48%) over the past year. Hotel leakage is an even bigger challenge, with a total of 81% reporting that it grew (24%) or stayed the same (57%). This is more than a wake-up call—it's a signal that the future of managed travel is already taking shape. Travel managers want intelligent, connected solutions that meet today's needs and anticipate tomorrow's challenges. That's exactly what we're building with Avenir—a platform powered by leading partners like Spotnana and TROOP, designed to integrate global content, automation, and high-touch service into one seamless experience. By combining smart technology with trusted support, we're delivering the perfect trip from start to finish. Christal Bemont, CEO of Direct Travel Despite slow adoption, NDC shows promise as buyers experience OBT challenges New Distribution Capability (NDC) has the potential to drive savings and a better shopping experience. Yet, NDC continues to face a slow road to adoption, with more than one-third of buyers (37%) saying their program is not making any NDC bookings. An additional one-fifth (22%) say NDC bookings account for less than 10% of their program's overall air bookings. The single most cited reason why? Over half of travel managers (54%) surveyed say their TMC cannot adequately support NDC (28%), and there isn't enough NDC content available through their OBT (26%). Even when OBTs do have NDC content, they often do not have key features to support these bookings. Just 13% of buyers said their OBT supports self-services changes and cancellations for NDC bookings, while only 17% said their OBT allows employees to access free or discounted seats based on their loyalty status. This comes as travel programs experience a number of pain points with their OBT. These include the ability to manage exchanges and cancellations (identified by 64% of buyers), the ability to manage unused tickets (54%), limited access to NDC fares (46%), access to comprehensive global content (44%), and bookings for unprofiled guest travelers (43%). TMC innovation is a priority A majority (58%) of travel buyers are open to switching TMCs within the next year, suggesting that improvements are clearly needed in this sector. Buyers were asked to indicate the pain points travelers experience when using their TMC, with inconsistent service quality (41%), poor technology and user experience (36%) and slow or ineffective issue resolution (32%) standing as the most common pain points. Travel buyers say various innovations are important when it comes to TMC servicing, with 54% listing proactive disruption management among their top three desired innovations, just ahead of risk management/duty of care capabilities (46%) and the ability to easily service NDC bookings (35%). Buyers would also like to see better integration between TMCs and OBTs, with 63% noting it as a service improvement that would enhance their travelers' experience. Small meetings are often 'unmanaged' More than half of respondents (53%) said small meetings, those with under 25 attendees hosted by their company, are typically planned outside of a managed program. This means that companies do not have formal policies and processes for small meetings; rather, they are organized by part-time planners such as executive assistants. Companies with 'unmanaged' small meetings also do not have KPIs or dedicated technology for small meetings, and they do not collect data about small meetings in a central location. This poses a number of challenges ─ ranging from cost management to process inefficiencies and poor understanding of the ROI of small meetings. Additional key data points from the report include: Only 14% of travel buyers said their company's travel and meetings programs are mostly integrated, with 46% saying they're mostly siloed. 45% of buyers identified budget uncertainty and management as a challenge in planning and managing travel for meetings at their company, while 42% noted both last-minute challenges and coordinating attendees. A manual and time-consuming expense submission process stood out as the most- commonly mentioned pain point in expense reporting (63%), with innovations that streamline payment and expense processes being viewed as the most important, such as automated receipt capture and matching (55%). Methodology A total of 166 responses were received from travel managers across the U.S. and Canada between March 4-15, 2025. 'The Perfect Business Trip' full report can be downloaded on Direct Travel's website here and also via the GBTA Hub here for GBTA members. About GBTA The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premiere business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area and serving stakeholders across six continents. GBTA and its 8,000+ members represent and advocate for the $1.48 trillion global travel business and meetings industry. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. For more information visit About the GBTA Foundation The mission of the GBTA Foundation, the US 501c3 charitable arm of the Global Business Travel Association, is to help the global business travel industry create a positive impact and better future for people and the planet. The GBTA Foundation focuses on the strategy and execution of GBTA's global sustainability programs, supporting initiatives related to climate action; diversity, equity and inclusion; and other talent-related topics via education, research and advocacy. For more information visit GBTA Enquiries GBTA View source
Skift
16-05-2025
- Business
- Skift
Women Leaders in Meetings: Anne Marie Rogers
Anne Marie Rogers believes in the power of women to elevate other women — and she lives it every day. Women leaders often describe finding themselves at a place where they finally feel they have 'arrived.' They're confident, with a strong network — at the top of their game. That's when they turn their focus to how they can elevate others, their industries, and their communities. Anne Marie Rogers is at that place, and just loving this phase of her journey. With almost 30 years at Direct Travel, she was recently promoted to vice president, meetings & events. She is a founding member of the Women In Leadership committee of the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), a group whose mission is to advance other women. As a member of the SITE Foundation's Executive Committee, she also works on programs for the organization's 'Young Leaders.' At home, she volunteers with the University of Minnesota's children's hospital. Skift Meetings asked Rogers about her philosophies around motivating her multigenerational team of sourcing managers, tech experts, and meeting planners. She also shared her journey as a SITE leader, and her passion for giving back. How would you describe your leadership style? A true leader knows when to get involved and when to be hands-off. One of my leaders told me a long time ago that people tend to perform to the level that you let them. Our company president told me once: 'Hire a great team and then get out of their way.' When you expect that your team's going to do great things, they do. As a leader, what are the challenges that keep you up at night? Keeping good talent. There are so many options these days, and you want to make sure that your people feel supported, motivated, and inspired. Everybody works differently. I've got the younger ones who want to work at midnight, and then people with young families who are working around those schedules. I do one-on-ones with people every other week, and we do our team meetings every other week. But it's really about just listening — listening is so important. I'm just trying to make sure that they have everything they need, because they're all smart, great people who know their jobs. In the old days, if anyone thought people were feeling left out, you would just put everyone in the conference room and you'd talk it out. You could have those spontaneous conversations. I think you need to be a lot more intentional these days to make sure your team feels supported and communicated with. How is your job changing right now? The polarization and everything going on right now does impact conferences and meetings. It's been important to reassure clients that we're managing their budgets and that we're flexible, and to find a way to still honor all the things that these companies are looking for. Take sustainability. It comes up all the time now, and we are asked about our sustainability policy. For a program we just did in Ireland, we sourced all local gifts. You can't do cut-and-paste programs. They all have to be interesting, exciting, and creative. It keeps you on your toes. How did you end up leading SITE's Women in Leadership Committee? The group started as a more informal gathering of women who wanted to support each other and do projects for women. We were doing some research and podcasts, and then Rhonda Brewer (vice president of sales at Motivation Excellence) asked me if I would take it over. My favorite thing about Women in Leadership is that our small committee — and now we are building it up to serve the larger SITE community — has focused on women elevating other women. It's about really listening to what people need and sharing what you need without feeling threatened by being vulnerable. I have found that community to be an amazing group of really strong, powerful women who are so secure that they're not afraid to ask for or offer help. Back in the day when I was in my 20s, you would never reach out to people, especially your manager, for help. These women are so ready to share their knowledge, and that inspires me so much. Can you share your experiences giving back, both to the industry through SITE and as a volunteer helping children with cancer? I never realized when I started volunteering with SITE's Young Leaders program how two-way mentorship is. I feel like I've learned more than maybe they've learned. I really value that authentic, fresh viewpoint they bring, like asking why we are doing things a certain way. They're not afraid to shake it up and throw out the big, scary ideas. I get off those calls thinking, 'These people are the light of our future. They are the best and the brightest.' As far as my volunteering, my dad was always very involved with the University of Minnesota. But when I got involved with their children's hospital, you see how it makes a difference. and how these kids are fighting for their lives. And I realized that what we do there can make a real difference.'
