Sharing Economy Makes More Inroads to Managed Travel — Corporate Travel Innovation Report

The Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report is our new weekly newsletter focused on the future of corporate travel, the big fault lines of disruption for travel managers and buyers, the innovations emerging from the sector, and the changing business traveler habits that are upending how corporate travel is packaged, bought and sold.

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The Future of Corporate + Business Travel

A handful of headlines caught our attention this week for the bigger story they tell about the travel industry and their implications for the corporate travel segment.

Two of those stories focused on the rental car company Hertz, which cut its projections for the full year citing excess capacity (read: Uber and Lyft), and invested in an on-demand parking service. Separately, enthusiastic analysts predicted Airbnb will reach one billion room nights by 2025.

Leisure travelers might have been at the forefront of these shifts, but business travelers have already been embracing ride sharing options over rental cars, often with the blessing of their employers’ travel policies. And more companies are — albeit cautiously — giving their workers the OK to choose Airbnb over traditional lodging.

So where does that leave travel management companies and individual travel managers? Scrambling to catch up to the technology that already exists, and the changing habits of their travelers.

— Hannah Sampson, Skift

Social Quote of the Day

There is a check box in our corporate travel system that’s like “do you want to rent a car” and I always think “why would I, ever?” @mims

Business of Buying

Travel Companies Want A Bigger Piece of the Corporate Travel Pie: Business travelers remain a high priority for airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and — increasingly — players in the sharing economy. Read more at The Globe and Mail

Lingering Uncertainty Is  Causing U.S. Business Travel to Grow at an Anemic Pace: Forecasts are calling for business travel growth to rebound in 2017; we are eager to see if companies agree. Read more at Skift

Charlotte Already Sees Impact of North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Bill on Convention Business: Tourism bureaus in North Carolina are losing significant convention business due to the governor’s new anti-LGBT law. With some states placing a ban on non-essential trips, travel managers need to be aware of political clashes. Read more at Skift

Report: Women Book Flights Earlier, Spend Less on Airfare: Analysis of millions of air transactions showed that female business travelers saved on airfare by booking earlier than male coworkers.  Read more at Business Travel News

Corporate Travel Tech

Interview: Amex Global Business Travel’s CTO on Corporate Travel Going Mobile: As travel management companies begin to embrace mobile for booking, expect business travelers to push for more personalized service. Read more at Skift

Disruption + Innovation

Hertz Cuts Outlook Due to ‘Glut’ of  Rental Cars:  If by “excess capacity” he means “Uber,” then yes, we agree. The new lower projections are bad news for Hertz and its rental car company competitors. Read more at Skift

Hertz Investment in On-Demand Car Service Tied to Tech Overhaul: Hertz’s investment in on-demand valet-parking service Luxe should be seen in the context of Accorhotels recently acquiring Onefinestay. Car rental companies and hotels are both feeling pressure from the sharing economy and they will be making more such investments and acquisitions as these startups mature. Read more at Skift

Analyst Predicts a Billion Nights a Year in Airbnb’s Future: If this is indeed the case, we also imagine an Airbnb made up of many, many more professional hosts. Read more at Skift

Comments

The Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report is curated by Skift editors Hannah Sampson [[email protected]] and Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]]. The newsletter is emailed every Thursday.

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