Skift Take
After years of inaction, the big travel management companies are finally figuring out how to create a better booking experience for travelers. The dream of the personalized and automated future of corporate travel, though, may never come to pass.
Corporate travel moves slowly compared to most other sectors of travel due to deeply entrenched players angling to advance their interests in a manner that often holds back improvements to the business traveler experience for employees.
At the Global Business Travel Association convention this week in San Diego, the battle for the future of corporate travel was on full display. Yet, rival segments of the industry are starting to team up to fix some of the longstanding problems that have plagued the sector.
The biggest news in advance of the event involved long-awaited partnerships between a variety of travel management companies, global distribution systems, and airlines. Industry giants American Express Global Business Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, for instance, will partner with Sabre and Amadeus on various initiatives to bring stronger merchandizing and richer content to their customers.
We are skeptical of partnerships, particularly when it comes to travel technology, but even these represent an important step forward for a sector that has traditionally seen taken a siloed approach to these issues. IATA's New Distribution Capability was first announced in 2012 and wasn't designed to cater to travel management companies in any concrete ways; it was pushed out by the airlines with their interests in mind, namely wrenching power away from the global distribution systems.
Fast forward six years, and everyone is st
