This spring as the busy summer travel season approached, long security lines at airports were becoming a serious issue. People were being asked to arrive at the airport earlier and earlier as wait times continued to swell. An influx of funding, collaboration between TSA with airports and airlines and increased enrollment in TSA PreCheck helped…
Download our new app, follow us on social, subscribe for the latest updates, and don’t forget to turn on your push notifications! With so many ways to get connected, mobile is becoming increasingly relevant in the corporate space, and travel professionals are beginning to assess their mobile travel strategies, or lack thereof. To educate organizations…
Average compensation for U.S. travel buyers saw a moderate 1.8 percent year-over-year increase in 2016 reaching $114,000, according to an annual study released today by the GBTA Foundation. Despite only a modest increase, almost three-quarters (73 percent) of travel buyers are satisfied with their compensation, while only 8 percent are dissatisfied – in line with…
GBTA Conference 2016 Buenos Aires gets underway this evening, and tomorrow conference attendees will hear from featured speaker Isela Costantini, president of the Aerolineas Argentinas Group. Having previously worked for General Motors, Isela took the reins of Aerolineas Argentinas, Argentina’s largest airline, in January of this year. During GBTA Convention this summer, we were able…
With the frequency and severity of global terror and health threats increasing, safety and security have become the number one concern for companies across the globe. From the Istanbul airport terrorist attack earlier this summer to the outbreak of Zika, mitigating risk for business travelers has never been more crucial. To assist companies in ensuring…
This Sunday is National Cheeseburger Day. What exactly does this have to do with one of the major U.S. airlines though? Today, Delta announced it will be serving Shake Shack burgers to its Delta One business class customers flying from JFK to LAX on Sunday in honor of National Cheeseburger Day. In addition, all flyers…
Once upon a time, people would dress up before getting on an airplane. On board, flight attendants would serve complimentary meals with real silverware. Playing cards would be handed out to passengers to help pass the time. While much has changed since then – gone are the meals, the silverware, and the dress clothes –…
Typhoon Meranti caused flight disruptions for China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines this week as it approached Taiwan, reports Business Traveller. According to Al Jazeera, Meranti hit southeastern China and is the third most violent typhoon on record and the strongest storm of the year globally. The TSA is boasting reduced airport wait times, with nearly 92% of fliers…
GBTA Canada’s 2016 Travel Sourcing Series continues today in Toronto and Wednesday in Montreal as industry professionals come together in a buyer-only setting to discuss hot topics in the industry from cost savings strategies to sourcing strategies and tactics for success. During GBTA’s Convention this summer, Nancy Tudorache, director of operations for GBTA Canada, sat…
There is no doubt that the sharing economy – particularly the rise in ride sharing and home sharing services – are changing the face of travel. The recent GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™ Global Report, in partnership with American Express, finds that beyond consumer travel, many business travelers and corporate travel policies are addressing the…
London City Airport flights were cancelled earlier this week after a stint by protesters on the runway. According to Buying Business Travel, nine protesters from the Black Lives Matter campaign group locked themselves together on the runway early Tuesday morning. Gatwick Airport set a new passenger traffic record by welcoming over 42 million passengers over…
In general, frequent business travelers are a content group with 88 percent satisfied with their business travel experiences and 84 percent that want to travel either the same amount or more frequently than they do now. It’s no secret that happy employees tend to be more productive, which could mean a better bottom line for…
*Update: Reports are there has been a partial rollback of the aggressive action TravelSky took. The major Chinese airlines have now restored the ability of foreign GDS’s to sell many (but not all) of their fares through foreign agents.* The announcement of TravelSky’s unilateral decision to discontinue the sale of domestic China flights on…
Business travel drives business growth. Despite the myriad of ways people can communicate, meeting in person is still the one of the most effective way to conduct business with the greatest ROI. Despite the diversity of reasons for business travel and the stress that can come from being in a new situation, traveling to a…
A security scare at Frankfurt Airport led to flight delays across Europe on Wednesday morning, Buying Business Travel reports. Police were forced to evacuate areas of the airport after a passenger entered the airside area without full completion of a security check. The TSA is under scrutiny after failing to follow protocol during security scares…
Of the five European countries included in the most recent GBTA Foundation Western Europe BTI Report – the U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy – Italy is the most perplexing. While it, like the other nations, will experience slow and steady growth for 2016 and 2017, it won’t grow at the same rate as neighboring…
As new cases of Zika have arisen in Nassau, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just added the Bahamas to its list of travel notices. The recent Zika outbreak has worried business and leisure travelers alike, prompting GBTA’s Risk Committee to host a webinar called Demystifying Zika and the Real Cost of…
In a Forbes article today, author and Forbes contributor Bernard Marr wrote, “Big data is sexy. Data scientists are the unicorns of the job market right now. Some days, it feels as though we are living right on the edge of some science fiction utopian future. But unicorns and sci-fi aside, for businesses, implementing something…
The U.S. State Department has just issued a travel alert advising citizens to refrain from traveling to regions of Ethiopia due to political unrest and anti-government protests. Shortly after, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added the Bahamas to their list of travel notices for Zika. Travel + Leisure reports local mosquito transmission…
During Convention, GBTA India’s new regional director, Gaurav Sundaram, joined us at the GBTA Broadcast studio to talk about what lies ahead for the region when it comes to business travel. In April, we announced the launch of GBTA India as part of our continuing global expansion. Gaurav shared three primary objectives for the upcoming…
*The following blog post was originally sent as an email to GBTA Members on Friday, August 19.* Earlier this week I sent you a note about all the happenings at GBTA Convention 2016 and what is in store for the year ahead. It is an exciting time for GBTA and given that members are the…
GBTA Ladders is a different kind of mentor program designed to bring together the best and the brightest in the travel industry to allow them to grow and cultivate their careers. Hear from Ladders participants Hank Benedetti of American Airlines and Will Pinnell of BCD Travel about what the program means to them, what topics…
In just a few short years, social media has gone from the domain of a few techies and college students to one of the main avenues that people use to communicate with one another. Indeed for some, it has become a truism that, “if it’s not on social media, it didn’t happen.” Given social media’s…
During Convention 2016, Kevin Maguire, GBTA Regional Vice President for the LATAM region, joined us at the GBTA Broadcast Studio to talk about the year ahead for GBTA in Latin America. Building on initial locations in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, GBTA has now expanded into Costa Rica, Panama, Uruguay and Chile with plans to include…
A large majority – almost 7 in 10 (69 percent) – of travel professionals indicate their travel program does not have a mobile strategy in place, according to new research by the GBTA Foundation in partnership with Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and the Carlson Family Foundation. However, of the travel programs that have not adopted…
Airlines aren’t the only ones facing complications recently, with HEI Hotels & Resorts announcing a malware attack lasting more than a year on 20 of its properties. According to Skift, customer payment card data from tens of thousands of transactions may have been exposed, though it is difficult to estimate the total number of customers…
Days before the start of GBTA Convention 2016 AccorHotels completed their acquisition of FRHI Hotels & Resorts, making newly apointed AccorHotels COO Kevin Frid a great person to talk to about one of the industry’s hottest topics – mergers and acquisitions. During a time of unprecedented consolidation in the travel industry, GBTA Executive Director and…
Embracing technology is nothing new to the business traveler. The Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. has a vintage travel insurance machine on display that used to be a fixture at airports around the world. The machines were designed for the traveler who needed a little bit more peace of mind regarding the security…
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