Skift Take

After a few years of renewed focus on improving the business travel experience for employees, the corporate travel sector could soon flip back into cost-saving mode when faced with global pricing increases and a more uncertain overall business outlook.

 

This week we have a couple updates on trends that will define the corporate travel ecosystem over the next few years.

First, we have a look at how global air and hotel costs will rise in coming years. While costs have been rising for a while now, due to increased global demand, the difference going forward is that the global economy is at a high risk of a slowdown. This has major ramifications for business travel.

Second, we examined some research on how travel managers and meeting planners are gaining more control and visibility into spending on small meetings. It’s still a work in progress, but digital platforms can help solve many of the problems that have cropped up.

Check out these stories, and much more, below.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @sheivach. GBTA is rapidly approaching; shoot me a message if you want to meet up.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Business Travel Editor

Airlines, Hotels, and Innovation

Increased Costs Will Put Pressure on Business Travel Growth: A variety of self-defeating trade wars and increased travel pricing will likely prevent global business travel from surging in growth like it has over the last few years.

Digital Revolution for Smaller Meetings Is Still a Work in Progress: Avoiding digital tools to help manage simple meetings is a big missed opportunity. The good news is that more meeting planners and travel managers plan to experiment with new technology over the next year.

The Growth and Democratization of Flying Private: Any luxury industry experiencing an uptick in new, affluent young customers has a right to be bullish about growth, but it is a combination of logistics, customer service, and branding that will eventually set the winners apart from the other players.

American Airlines Legend Bob Crandall on How Mergers Led to Increased Inequality: Bob Crandall called it in the late 1970s, saying airline deregulation would be the ruination of U.S. aviation. You can credit the retired American Airlines chairman and CEO with consistency as he argues that airline mergers — and mergers in general — have contributed to capital accumulation at the expense of workers, and the demise of small cities.

Every One of Expedia Group’s 23 Brands, Explained: Check out our Skift Takes on Expedia Group’s brands for consumers and businesses. Time for some #realtalk.

JetBlue to Slash Jobs as Part of $300 Million Cost Savings: When JetBlue first announced its cost-cutting plans, we knew this move would be inevitable. Job cuts are never easy. But sometimes necessary. Wall Street loves a good round of layoffs — sadly.

The Future of Travel

Skift Podcast: The Amazon Factor in Travel: Tune in for an expert take on how Amazon has already dabbled in travel and how the retail giant might return.

Japan Is Finally Introducing Ride-Hailing Ahead of 2020 Summer Olympics: Japan is slowly beginning to shed its isolated characteristics as it prepares to host the 2020 Summer Olympics and also recently legalized alternative accommodations across the country. It will be interesting to see if taxis can successfully collaborate with ridehailing apps, which hasn’t been the case in many other countries.

Expedia’s Hotel Boss on Becoming a Global Platform: We still think there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll see Expedia-branded hotels in the near future if not sooner.

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Skift Business Travel Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Thursday.

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Tags: corporate travel, ctir

Photo credit: In this March 10, 2016 file photo, passengers check-in at the North terminal of the domestic passenger terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. David Goldman / Associated Press

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