Corporate Travel Must Embrace Tech to Be Competitive, New Report Says

August 28, 2024

The corporate travel industry must embrace emerging technology to remain competitive and accelerate growth, according to new research from GBTA and Cvent.

The time for technology to transform, disrupt and accelerate business travel growth is here according to a new study, “The Future is Now: Technological Transformation in Corporate Travel,” published by the Global Business Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization, and made possible by Cvent, an industry-leading meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider.

Based on a survey of business travel professionals in North America and Europe, the report reveals that while 88 percent of travel management company (TMC) respondents, 74 percent of suppliers, and 59 percent of travel buyers generally feel their organization does a good job with technology, a significant opportunity exists in actively integrating advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain into their travel programs.

In addition, while travel program spending on technology is expected to largely remain flat, most suppliers and TMC professionals say their company is ramping up technology investment in the year ahead. However, lodging suppliers are considerably less likely to do so than other types of suppliers. The report emphasizes the need for all travel industry professionals to better understand and adopt advanced technologies to remain competitive.

“As both our everyday and professional lives have ever-increasing touchpoints with technology, it is in parallel that we see the reach of the technological footprint in the business travel industry,” said Suzanne Neufang, CEO, GBTA in a media announcement. “The report gives a view to the potential for technology to do more, to further enable and empower all aspects of our industry to greater services, tools, platforms and achievements.”

Key findings from the GBTA and Cvent report include:

AI and Blockchain are Top of Mind. The corporate travel industry is increasingly open to integrating AI and blockchain—a shared, secure ledger used across a network—to enhance efficiency and traveler experience. Three-quarters of buyers (75 percent) are interested in adopting an AI-powered travel program chatbot to automatically answer questions specifically about their program. Half of buyers are interested in offering blockchain-based booking (51 percent) or payment (49 percent).
Growing Reliance on Technology is Driving New Roles. According to respondents, a third of travel programs (29 percent) now have a full-time employee who focuses primarily on tech-related responsibilities, which could include sourcing new digital tools, configuring booking and expensing solutions, managing data collection, or driving technology transformation across the travel program. The role is slightly more prevalent in Europe, with 36 percent of travel buyers saying their company has one, versus 22 percent of respondents in North America.
Travel Program Technology Spend Varies by Region. On average, travel buyers estimate 18 percent of their travel program’s overall budget is spent on technology. Despite overall budget increases, only one-third (36 percent) of travel buyers expect their technology spending to grow this year, with European programs leading in tech investment. European buyers (43 percent) are more likely than their North American counterparts (30 percent) to expect an increase in spending on technology.
TMCs More Likely to Increase Tech Investment than Suppliers and Buyers. Most suppliers expect their company’s spending on internal technology (61 percent) and traveler-facing technology (56 percent) will increase this year. This is considerably lower than the share of TMC respondents who expect their investment in internal technology (83 percent) or their traveler-facing technology (79 percent) to increase. Only one-third of buyer travel programs (36 percent) expect to increase spending on technology in the coming year.
Hotel Technology Adoption is Mixed. More than one-third of respondents who work at lodging companies (37 percent)—such as hotel properties or chains—say their company’s use of technology has room to improve. This is higher than the number of other travel supplier respondents (10 percent) who said the same.
Hotels Adopting Technology are Highly Satisfied. Hotels commonly use technology platforms to simplify processes, market their property, and respond to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from corporate customers. These include a Property Management System (95 percent), a transient RFP platform (81 percent), an event-focused sales, marketing, and RFP platform (75 percent), room block management software (63 percent), and event diagramming software (53 perent). Of the hotel respondents who use these platforms, at least two-thirds are satisfied with each technology solution.

Data collection took place via an online survey of GBTA travel buyers, suppliers and TMCs in North America and Europe from Feb. 6–19, 2024, with 388 participants completing the survey.

The full report can be downloaded on the Cvent website. GBTA members can access the complete research report from the GBTA Member Hub.