GBTA BTI - A View From Europe

In this episode of The Business of Travel, the GBTA Europe Accommodation Committee explores how technology is shaping personalisation across the accommodation experience in business travel.​   Hosted by Daniel Norris, Regional Director of Sales at ehotel and members of the GBTA Europe Accommodation Committee, the conversation brings together perspectives from across the business travel ecosystem, including travel management, accommodation providers, and hotel operations.​   Together, the panel discusses how personalisation is evolving beyond traveller preference alone and becoming increasingly connected to compliance, operational efficiency, booking experience, payments, and data integration. Listeners will gain practical insight into where technology is creating value today, how personalisation expectations are changing, and what organisations should consider as they evolve their accommodation programmes.   Speakers: Daniel Norris, Regional Director of Sales, ehotel​ Juliet Howie,  Account Manager, Radisson Hotels Group​  Andrea Batchelor I Global Hotel Lead | Travel & Expense, Barclays​ Jo Westlake, Executive Director, Global Corporate Clients, Acco​   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Digital accessibility is often treated as a compliance checkbox—but in reality, it's a complex, evolving discipline with direct implications for risk, customer experience, and operational efficiency. In this episode, a Product Manager and Accessibility Compliance lead at Cytric Easy at Amadeus IT Group (Nick Hebrant) breaks down what accessibility actually means in practice. The conversation demystifies WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines, clarifying that they are not rigid standards but guidelines—introducing interpretation, subjectivity, and inconsistency across organizations and regions. Key insights include: Why most accessibility issues are invisible and rooted in underlying code The absence of standardized scoring, and what VPAT/ACR reports really represent The operational and global complexity of managing accessibility across platforms Common pitfalls, including misaligned audits and lack of product context For Travel Managers (conversation led by Cristina Chimenti), the takeaway is clear: your role isn't to solve accessibility technically, but to manage the conversation strategically. By understanding on vendor mindset, structured progress, and informed questioning, organizations can move beyond focusing on compliance as an end goal. Accessibility isn't a finish line—it's an ongoing journey that separates reactive organizations from resilient ones.  Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Nota: Este episodio está disponible en español. En este episodio de The Business of Travel, Mariana Pérez Ponce de León, Regional Director, Mexico, Central America and Colombia de GBTA, y Daniel Duarte, South Regional Manager de GBTA, conversan con Alfredo Dellepiane, Sr. Director – LAC Agro & WCS Head, Visa Commercial Solutions, LAC, sobre los hallazgos más recientes del GBTA Business Travel Index™ para América Latina. La conversación explora el crecimiento de los viajes de negocios en la región, las tendencias por mercado, la percepción de los viajeros, la gestión de costos, los pagos corporativos, la sostenibilidad y los factores económicos que están dando forma al futuro de los viajes de negocios en América Latina. Un agradecimiento especial a Visa por patrocinar esta serie de podcasts del BTI y por apoyar año tras año la investigación de GBTA. ---- Please note: This podcast episode is presented in Spanish. In this episode of The Business of Travel, GBTA's Mariana Pérez Ponce de León, Regional Director, Mexico, Central America and Colombia, and Daniel Duarte, South Regional Manager, are joined by Alfredo Dellepiane, Sr. Director – LAC Agro & WCS Head, Visa Commercial Solutions, LAC, to unpack the latest GBTA Business Travel Index™ findings for Latin America. The conversation explores regional business travel growth, market-by-market trends, traveler sentiment, cost management, corporate payments, sustainability, and the economic factors shaping the future of business travel across Latin America. A special thank you to Visa for sponsoring this BTI podcast series and supporting GBTA's business travel research year after year.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

In this episode of The Business of Travel, presented by the GBTA U.S. Accommodations Committee, Fred Veliyev, Principal Product Manager at Cvent Transient, David Mollov, Managing Director of Travel Industry Solutions at Emburse, and Annette Cumming, SVP Business Development at CerebriAI, discuss the key trends that emerged from the 2026 hotel RFP season.  The conversation explores what buyers should know as they evaluate hotel program performance, supplier strategy, sourcing decisions, and the evolving technologies shaping accommodation programs. Listeners will gain practical insights into the current hotel sourcing landscape and considerations for building stronger, more informed hotel programs moving forward.    Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

The GBTA Convention annually brings together thousands of business travel professionals to connect, learn, grow and shape the future of the global industry. So, what can attendees expect at GBTA Convention 2026 in Chicago, August 3-5, and how can they make the most of their experience? In this podcast, Alison Rogan, Vice President of the GBTA Board of Directors and Head of Travel, Events and Expense Management at HSBC; Kevin Sullivan, Treasurer of the GBTA Board of Directors and Managing Director of Sales at Southwest Business; and Edward Galvin, President of the GBTA Allied Leadership Council and Vice President & Head of North America B2B Commercial Payment Sales at Visa, provide an insider's preview of GBTA Convention 2026 in Chicago, highlighting what attendees can expect, must-see sessions, and new programming.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Simple meetings may represent the majority of meeting volume, but they often remain the least visible, least controlled, and most difficult to measure. In this three-part podcast series from the GBTA Europe Meetings & Events Committee, Jason Long, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at HRS, speaks with industry leaders about how organisations are tackling data gaps, improving compliance, and using technology and AI to build more effective and measurable meetings programmes. Across the series, listeners will gain practical insight into sustainability reporting, financial oversight, automation, and integrated technology strategies shaping the future of meetings management. In this episode - Jason Long speaks with Carol Fergus, Director of Global Travel and Events at Fidelity, about why simple meetings continue to create major visibility and reporting challenges for organisations. Together, they explore how travel leaders are working to connect fragmented data sources to better measure sustainability, savings, and traveller satisfaction outcomes.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License   

Simple meetings may represent the majority of meeting volume, but they often remain the least visible, least controlled, and most difficult to measure. In this three-part podcast series from the GBTA Europe Meetings & Events Committee, Jason Long, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at HRS, speaks with industry leaders about how organisations are tackling data gaps, improving compliance, and using technology and AI to build more effective and measurable meetings programmes. Across the series, listeners will gain practical insight into sustainability reporting, financial oversight, automation, and integrated technology strategies shaping the future of meetings management. In this episode - Jason Long joins Gill Day, Senior Global Account Director at BCD Meetings & Events, to examine how integrated technology can help organisations gain greater transparency and control across simple meetings programmes. The discussion highlights how automation and connected systems can reduce manual processes, improve compliance, and create a stronger foundation for scalable programme management.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Simple meetings may represent the majority of meeting volume, but they often remain the least visible, least controlled, and most difficult to measure. In this three-part podcast series from the GBTA Europe Meetings & Events Committee, Jason Long, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development at HRS, speaks with industry leaders about how organisations are tackling data gaps, improving compliance, and using technology and AI to build more effective and measurable meetings programmes. In this episode - Jason Long speaks with Andrew Needham, CEO of Headbox, about the unescapable role of AI in meetings management. Together, we'll explore the pros & cons of how AI can be used in the meetings space of business travel. We will examine how it reduces manual effort, prevents leakage, strengthens decisions and increases the user experience.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

AI in corporate travel is no longer theoretical. It is operational.​ In this episode of Business of Travel, the GBTA Europe Technology Committee takes a practical look at how AI assistants are being deployed across managed travel programs.​ Host Lenny Hornsby speaks with Johnny Thorsen, a technology leader with hands-on experience implementing AI solutions, about availability, onboarding, ideal client fit, limitations, and measurable impact.​ The discussion moves beyond buzzwords to address real questions:​ Where is AI working today?​ Where does human intervention still matter?​ What governance and data considerations must travel leaders understand?​ For corporate travel managers and global program owners, this episode provides a grounded framework for evaluating AI tools in managed travel. Speakers: Heinz Lennard Hornsby (Lenny) – Chair of the GBTA Europe Technology Committee Johnny Thorsen – VP Strategic Business Development, Serko Ltd.   Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License 

Diving into the European business travel outlook, using recent data from the GBTA Business Travel Index, our annual global benchmark sponsored by Visa, Chris Ely, Research Director, GBTA sits down with Romain Mialane, Visa, Sales Director, Europe.  What you'll hear:  What Europe data really says  How payments data adds context  What travel managers should be paying attention to as we head into the next planning cycle.    Music track is Space Jazz by Kevin MacLeod  Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License