Last week’s Trending event brought together industry leaders, buyers, and suppliers to discuss the evolving landscape of business travel in 2025. With AI, data, and traveller behaviour at the forefront, the event provided a platform for future-focused insights, collaborative discussions, and strategic action points.

Read on for a detailed breakdown of the key insights and download the full 2025 Priorities slides via ITM Resources.

Jo Lloyd, FCM opened the day's sessions by focusing our 2025 plans on making the complicated simple. Utilising AI to understand the motivational influences behind leakage and efficiently conveying the consequenc es for non-compliance. Future-gazing, predictions and speculations included: 

• Cuddling people into compliancy (utilising AI generative learnings to understand traveller requirements)
• Understanding traveller motivations to close the leakage gap (feeding data into your OBT as a two way exchange)
• Realising the benefits of conversational data (enhancing user experience and driving compliancy via bots such as travel assistants)

Main action: Start with the basics and then add complexity with consideration to traveller experience and company liability.

David Oppenheim, BA talked us through their commercial priorities and the demand/ supply imbalance within the airline market. Key investment implications include:

• A focus on ROI and share performance metrics (expect a reduction in rebate deals and an uplift in rewards for clients who drive incremental business)
• New digital channels (app enhancements launching Spring/Summer 2025)
• A new loyalty scheme ‘The Club’ effective in April 2025 (which rewards their most valuable travellers via tier points expansion. NB current status considered until April '26)
• An uplift in product distribution via NDC (content availability and differences will become more apparent in 2025)

Main action: Buyers should focus their opportunities on NDC to increase access to content. Working collaboratively with all suppliers (not just the TMC).

Understanding Tomorrow's Business Traveller explored the contextual differences between generations. Highlighting the evolving wants and needs of each demographic based on their own life cycle.

Main action: Understand what proportion of your travellers are Gen Z and think about how you can support, communicate and engage with them (no more than 7 options please)!

Golden opportunities as part of Amex GBT's tale of two generations include:    

• Identifying influencers within your business to engage travellers and drive policy compliancy 
• Actively demonstrating your programme's commitment to social and environmental targets to attract new talent and responsible partners 
• Providing the right information at the right time (the decisions we make are influenced by those around us, the number of options available and how they are presented to us). NB: Hall & Partners/IPA stats alongside poll results available via event materials tab
• Blending human and AI support to meet individual needs and reduce the rising stress levels involved in travel will help to increase compliance
• Understanding barriers to AI adoption(e.g. traveller deferred responsibility to a person on the phone vs a bot directly correlates with traveller experience)
• Experienced travellers may be more accepting of personalised tech (e.g. travel assistants), in comparison to Gen Z travellers who are used to 'shopping around' for the best deal

This year's Buyer and Supplier 2025 Priorities Results celebrated the alignment of stakeholders within the business travel ecosystem. With a few exceptions, we learnt what buyers and suppliers would like more of (and less of) as we continue to strengthen our partnerships. Detailed within the slides available to download via ITM Resources.

Main action: Be open and honest. Mutually beneficial partnerships strengthens your proposition, helping you to become more agile and deliver enhanced duty of care. Working together to achieve your goals we can reach optimal product/ service satisfaction.

Translating the Buyer Results and Bridging the Gap to align suppliers and buyers. Our expert panel provided further context on market findings. 

Highlighting the interchangeable nature of the top 3 buyer priorities, the focus shifted to return in value as travel budgets are dependent on a company's growth and leadership (NB: a travel managers reporting line is also key to your approach).

Main action: Buyers - consider how you are viewed by your supplier.

Are you a strategic partner (a client they have to work with), a leverage partner (key but one of many), a pain to work with (self importance not aligned with competitive market) or non critical (just a drop in the ocean). Suppliers - don't wait for your review meeting, constantly share, learn and adapt. 

Supplier opportunity centred around:

• Actively working towards delivering objectives, taking away buyer discussions and progressing them 
• Establishing the short, mid and long term goals for success (as you work through and achieve short term goals you'll have greater success upselling for long term goals 
• TMCs lifting the lid on the complexity of your sector, help buyers to understand your constraints (advisory boards etc.)
• Sharing data/ feedback ahead of your meeting so that you can discuss how to address and identify strategic steps to move forward
• Developing an agile incident response (what provisions do you have in place?)
• Holistic sustainable reporting (not just a singular view)

Buyers were encouraged to:

• Work with suppliers to increase content access (consider whether your account manager is the gatekeeper to OBT content (or is it your payment process? Can v-cards be used for all platforms?)
• Ask Suppliers: Are you a traitor or a faithful? Help us to help you, the then help us! If you spend all your time fighting fires then you can't invest time in driving relationships.
• Embrace AI with small steps, then add to it (bring efficiencies via small changes and then build on it)
• Bring stakeholders at the appropriate level to the conversation so that you can have meaningful discussions that progress your programme
• Increase agility via robust reporting (check for data drop off to give yourself the full picture)

Main action: Understanding the strategic objectives of both your company and your partners, enables you to build mutually beneficial relationships, regardless of your seniority. Raising your profile as someone who progresses valuable business objectives not only supports your career progression but translates to efficient programme management. 

Other words of wisdom included an appeal to suppliers to make their offering unique. In-person meetings are your opportunity to make yourself stand out and become invaluable. All you need to do is listen. Think about how you can support each other. You can achieve more together. Be the meeting that they are looking forward to next week!

Dimitris Hiotis, Simon Kucher decoded airline and hotel pricing as suppliers provide more tailored options driven by preferences and booking behaviour.

While suppliers move towards a continuous pricing model**, simplicity was highlighted as the key to customer retention. Understanding the lifetime value of an individuals requirements, consequently leads to repeat purchase and loyalty. 

Insightful advice included:

• Realising the long term benefits of a strong partnership/ value exchange (shift from transactional to value - not squeezing accounts for short term gain)
• Focusing on ease of use, flexibility and effectively communicating benefits such as duty of care and sustainable considerations is key to traveller compliancy
• Continuous/ dynamic pricing means that there are more pre set price points available. This helps suppliers to manage inventory and is categorised via a series of codes displayed on your ticket/ confirmation (related to the discounts and terms).

Main action: Global business travel is expected to grow by 3%, with the UK (and UAE) leading this trend. Showcase your value within your business (e.g highlighting the alignment between travel compliance and sustainability goals),to secure a voice in strategic decision-making.

The event concluded with CWT's Power of Forecasting session, where consultants from FESTIVE ROAD and temoji went head to head on our industry's most philosophical questions.

Main action: While maximising programme efficiency and human expertise were clear winners among the audience. It was a balance of sustainability as a moral imperative and business necessity that resonated most with those in the room. Building your own gang of experts and looking at the bigger picture was the final takeaway of the day.