Andrew Sheivachman

As companies become more cautious about business travel spending, the corporate travel ecosystem will begin to feel the pressure.

Egencia is leveraging the tech-savvy of its parent Expedia Inc. to compete at a high level in the corporate travel space. It has a real competitive advantage against other travel management companies, which have begun to pivot from providing travel services to developing travel technology solutions to solve the problems that travel buyers and agents can't.

The flow of Chinese investment into travel and tourism, along with other sectors, continues unabated. China is not only making its mark with outbound travelers but its money is flowing into strategic assets as well.

Soon, Marriott's leadership will begin the task of deciding which Starwood brands will exist going forward. Until then, the hotel giant is working to create a better technology platform for its properties to serve guests with.

While corporate travel management companies are still playing catch up to the leisure space when it comes to the sharing economy and online booking, it seems like their executives have realized the scope of the problems they face and are looking to increase the pace of innovation going forward.

The irony of this conversation, unfortunately for car services, is that ridesharing trips already account for nearly half of ground transportation spending expensed through U.S. companies. So the fingerpointing and recriminations continue.

Big travel management companies are going to look to acquire technology companies and smaller competitors as they struggle to scale up their technology platforms.

It may indeed be the case that combining business travel and leisure travel isn't a priority for most folks. But as more millennials become business travelers, they're certainly going to look to explore during their business trips.

It makes sense that business travelers who don't travel very much would try to include some leisure elements when they do hit the road.

Smaller companies are using new solutions to incentivize employees to make smarter travel buying decisions. Big companies with entrenched travel policies are lagging behind, and wasting money in the process.