Promise and Pablum at Corporate Travel’s Biggest Gathering of the Year

Corporate travel is attracting a lot of interest from investors and the tech world due to emerging players with high valuations. At the Global Business Travel Association's (GBTA) annual conference in Chicago this week, it was business as usual for established industry players, with a few new twists. The somewhat unexpected news that Southwest Airlines is looking to revamp how it works with business travelers made perhaps the biggest waves. Southwest Airlines, which is notorious for avoiding dealing with global distribution systems, has cut deals with Amadeus and Travelport to bring content for business travelers to agencies next year. Southwest last month indicated it had joined NDC Exchange as well to help further modernize its distribution strategy. "Southwest had never made the investment in [the corporate travel ecosystem]," said David Harvey, vice president of Southwest Business. "We've listened to customers, and now you can use us on your channel of choice. Becaus