The CapTrav Blog
I was both impressed and disheartened by the recent Business Travel News Article regarding Long Lake’s acquisition of Amex GBT. It is true that the application of AI for “boring stuff” such as mapping workflows, cleaning up data, and other mid-office functions is where real optimization can probably occur. Also true given the complexity of … Read more
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One year ago, I predicted that TMC’s would need to urgently reinvent themselves in 2025 or begin to lose relevance. The blog, “TMC’s Must Re-Invent Themselves Now”, focused on core aspects of their traditional service model that were being threatened by uncontrollable external threats: new technology entrants and supplier disintermediation strategies. The blog argued that … Read more
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Only a few weeks out from the official announcement and GBT has already begun to actively solicit Concur users from competing TMC’s with enough knowledge of the client’s travel program to raise a suspicious eye. Yet, TMC’s have been strangely quiet. The optimist may argue that competing TMC’s are waiting to see how things shake … Read more
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New technology applications in the corporate travel industry continue to flood the market. In the past several years, next generation TMC services, booking technologies, Fintech solutions, and others seek to disrupt legacy solutions. In virtually every case, a better user experience sits atop a better way to distribute, access, manage, or book travel content. At … Read more
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Data scientists have coined a giant self-learning computer The Busy Child as it constantly re-programs itself with an exponentially growing IQ that in short order may decide human beings are not particularly valuable. The Busy Child’s goal is efficiency and knowledge, weeding out the information it doesn’t need and assimilating information into better information. What … Read more
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As I think about 2025, what comes to mind is the proverb, “necessity is the mother of invention”. To me, this is the most apt forecast I can provide for the travel industry because it paints a picture of need and sense of urgency. While this article generally targets TMC’s, by no means are they … Read more
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It will be remembered as the year that Crowdstrike grounded flights, causing many to cancel their attendance at the big annual trade show. For me, it was a busy week and by the end of the expo, I was both disappointed and optimistic. I took off for a 5-hour drive home in the rain and … Read more
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While the corporate travel landscape always seems in constant change, 2023 marked a defining comeback moment. Transaction levels grew significantly, new technology challenged the old guard causing travel managers to think about how best to move their programs forward, and new supplier strategies provided a glimpse into the future of content distribution While the corporate … Read more
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Drawing a direct line to return on investment (ROI) in corporate travel is not always perfectly straight. In many cases, demonstrating the value of preferred supplier relationships versus the spot market can be hard to benchmark. Policy compliance and duty of care implications are seemingly intuitive but hard value is not necessarily forthcoming. Travel is … Read more
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Originally posted on The Company Dime, Brandon Strauss of CapTrav and KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions explains why he’s in “watch and learn” mode when it comes to generative artificial intelligence. Originally posted on The Company Dime, Brandon Strauss of CapTrav and KesselRun Corporate Travel Solutions explains why he’s in “watch and learn” mode when … Read more
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Both travel management suppliers and corporate clients have a lot of good things to look forward to in 2024. Three distinct but necessary ingredients have been marinating over the past several years which will significantly expand the capabilities and value of managed travel to a broader audience and pay dividends across the entire travel supply … Read more
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While estimates range according to source, global business travel spend is somewhere north of $750 billion. When you consider volume by mega-TMC’s, super regionals, and new marketplaces, less than 10% of the industry’s total volume is formally managed. On even closer inspection, a significant minority of that scant 10% is represented by the top 200 … Read more
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Industry suppliers and buyers have agreed on one thing post-pandemic – the industry is changing. But consider that while the industry continues to evolve, change has already occurred and most of us are just catching up. Any successful corporate travel program is dependent on striking the right balance between cost savings and service. This calculus … Read more
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Brandon’s presentation to an audience of clients, prospects, and suppliers takes a deep dive into the key topics facing the corporate travel industry today. Told through the lens of how our changing workforce demographic has altered the travel landscape, Brandon explores NDC, American Airlines, GDS content fragmentation, and more. Watch entire presentation below.
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2023 has already experienced unprecedented industry change. Sounds clichéd, yes? But the sentiment is unavoidably true. In 25 years, I have not seen so much industry change; complexity across the entire corporate travel supply chain that has a profound impact on operations, content aggregation, and supplier disintermediation. Added to this, staffing shortages for airlines, hoteliers, car … Read more
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Whether you buy car tires, toothpaste, a pair of jeans, or an airline ticket, retailers seek a competitive advantage and brand loyalty. While much has changed in the corporate travel business over the past 40 years, basic business strategy perseveres. Deregulation of the airline industry in 1978 paved the way for our modern day Global … Read more
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Selecting the right Travel Management Company (TMC) for your organization has never been more important than it is today. TMC’s are uniquely positioned to bring the right technologies and people together to service business travelers and help realize cost savings opportunities through both preferred vendor agreements and consortia programs. Even more, TMC’s help better align … Read more
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I have read suggestions over the past few months that business travelers have forgotten how to travel. This sentiment has also come up with clients as we engage in discussions around a return to a “new normal” in the corporate travel environment. At first glance, I’ve thought of these discussions in terms of a hybrid … Read more
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Corporate travel programs have always fallen into one of two tidy buckets – managed or unmanaged. Historically, a managed program has been largely defined as a travel program whose operations are handled by a single Travel Management Company (TMC) of record whereas an unmanaged program is defined as a program that either has no TMC … Read more
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A Minute with ALTOUR Partner of KesselRun Travel Solutions as well as President and Co-Founder of CapTrav, Brandon Strauss participated on the ALTOUR Webinar – The Shift in Hotel Programs & Is Your Strategy Aligned to Meet Todays Environment. Watch Brandon’s follow up interview with ALTOUR’s Doug Payne, SVP Corporate Sales on A Minute with … Read more
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Strictly defined, corporate travel leakage is any air, car, or hotel booking that a traveler makes outside of corporate policy. Typically, corporate travel leakage refers to a traveler who does not book through his company’s Travel Management Company (TMC). Even in the most well-run corporate travel programs, industry experts across every supplier type generally agree … Read more
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Many of the new technology entrants in the corporate travel business have created vertically integrated “procure to pay” solutions. All position themselves as savvy tech companies that provide a superior user experience that drives efficiency. This strategy should ring true to the historically underserved small to mid-market for a variety of reasons. For smaller companies, … Read more
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We all find ourselves prognosticating the “new normal.” What percent of travel will never return? Is business travel even important now that we are used to videoconferencing? Many have even tried to come up with a simple litmus test to measure the cost/benefit for a particular meeting. While there is no roadmap to help answer … Read more
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While employees may be eager to get back on the road and return to their road warrior lifestyles, leaving the impact of 2020 and 2021 behind, there’s one facet of travel the past year brought to the forefront: Attention to Risk. If your company doesn’t have a travel risk management solution in place, now is … Read more
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Danny Hood has seen it all during a career spanning four decades. In 1993 he joined WorldTravel Partners, which became WorldTravel BTI in 2001 and BCD Travel in 2006. He Served the company as president of the Americas until 2010, Over the years, corporate travel boomed and busted a few times, and Hood was involved … Read more
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Travel and expenses are not always managed centrally together, but nonetheless, travel and expenses always go hand-in-hand—and accordingly, when choosing an expense management solution, your travel manager should be a key player in the conversation. Whether or not your intent is to integrate travel and expense as a function internally, understanding travel’s needs and how … Read more
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It seems odd that less than 10% of the $1.4 trillion corporate travel industry is formally serviced under a traditional management model. Historically, industry suppliers have catered to larger, typically multinational organizations. Travel Management Companies (TMC) have the human and technology resources that can handle large volumes and layers of complexity with a high degree … Read more
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The first four blogs in this series, The Problem with Corporate Credit Card Data, The Problem with Expense Data, The Problem with TMC Data, and The Problem with Supplier Data, all discuss the shortfalls of each in terms of capturing all available corporate travel booking data in order to optimize a company’s travel expenditures. It … Read more
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We will focus on airline and hotel data in this installment for a few reasons: There is a long history of the challenges posed by the supplier types mentioned above in terms of the quality and robustness of the data provided to both TMC’s and clients. These challenges go back well before my time in … Read more
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While there are a myriad of booking options for corporate travelers, every study I’ve either read or conducted over my career clearly demonstrates the value provided by the TMC both in terms of service and cost savings. When examined closely, the customer support provided by a TMC when dealing across disparate supplier types, differing travel … Read more
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*This is Part Two in my blog series. In case you missed the first article, check out Part One: The Problem with Corporate Credit Card Data. It wasn’t that long ago when I’d sit in a client’s office and stare at the stack of printed Excel pages with neatly attached expense receipts. The backlog of … Read more
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A corporate credit card can play an important role in a company’s success by helping its travelers with costly up-front travel and entertainment expenses, leveraging the financial float on money spent, and utilizing the reporting data it provides to help populate automated expense management solutions. In addition to these benefits, the idea of marrying pertinent … Read more
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While the concept of corporate duty of care came into the spotlight in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, risk programs have used a variety of technology and processes to ensure their travelers are safe for years. Duty of care represents both the legal and fiduciary responsibility an organization has to its travelers when traveling … Read more
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CapTrav President, Brandon Strauss, explains the purpose of benefits of CapTrav as a business travel reporting resource. Watch the interview with Al Gilbert below.
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I have been aggregating corporate travel survey data now for close to 20 years. Primarily among multi-national organizations considered “mid to large market”, our client base covers virtually all industries with varying corporate cultures. A central goal conducting these surveys is to balance senior management expectations in terms of the impact of policy change on … Read more
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It seems like every year we reminisce about how much the industry has changed over the past year. 2020 was no different but of course under much different circumstances. In spite of the pandemic which brought the corporate travel industry to its knees, we saw record investment in start-ups, lots of innovation from traditional travel … Read more
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Have You Heard? Corporate Travel Will Never Be the Same What we are hearing in the corporate travel industry is the sound of inevitability – a fundamental change in the way the corporate travel industry functions. The pandemic may be helping us move along at a faster clip, but this change has been happening for … Read more
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Al Gilbert Interviews Danny Hood Travel veteran, visionary, and entrepreneur Danny Hood looks back over his career building travel technology and travel management companies based upon coaching great team members like Ron Wagner, Ben Parodi, William Niejadlik, and many others. Danny discusses the the value of CapTrav, the benefit of failure, and what he might … Read more
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I’ve written numerous times about the importance and issues regarding corporate travel compliance. Studies show that even well managed programs still suffer from between 25-50% program “leakage” across air, car, and hotel bookings. For corporate travel business owners, managing “leakage” becomes part of their program strategy – how can we convince the traveler that booking … Read more
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While the corporate travel industry may still be facing a multi-year return to normalcy, I think we are seeing a lot of evidence that points to a faster recovery than predicted and one that positions business travel to prosper beyond our expectations. Recent news of three highly effective vaccines may not only help wipe COVID-19 … Read more
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Is It Rocket Science? 20 years ago, the corporate travel industry found itself in a difficult position and was forced to ask an incredibly challenging question: How can we aggregate and utilize disparate booking sources for air, car, and hotel reservations? The question came as a result of burgeoning online booking sources, content fragmentation, and … Read more
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In my last blog, A Recipe for Recovery, I pointed out that history proves that greatness emerges even when things seem darkest. While it’s difficult to consider how this translates to corporate travel as we continue to witness our industry crumble, the “what’s next” question deserves a lot of thought if you consider how corporate … Read more
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Corporate travel is complex. I try to make sense of it by thinking about each component both separately and in terms of the role it plays as part of the whole. In a lot of ways, the corporate travel industry can be viewed as its own unique, but imperfect supply chain – not linear, sometimes … Read more
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Last year, Russ Klein, the CEO of the American Marketing Association (AMA) wrote an interesting article specifically extending the concept known as “willful suspension of disbelief” from works of art and science fiction to business innovation. Loosely defined as our ability to avoid critical thinking when examining something surreal for the sake of enjoyment, he … Read more
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Whether or not you believe the COVID-19 pandemic will forever change our corporate travel programs, there are some key aspects that are changing now that will have a significant impact on how Travel Managers and corporate travel business owners manage their programs.
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For industry observers and participants, neither crystal balls nor bottles of wine are in short supply these days. Projecting how and when corporate travel will start back up and what the new norm may look like has many of us turning to both. Read on to hear more.
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CapTrav is excited to announce the addition of Danny Hood to its executive team. A 2013 inductee into the Business Travel News (BTN) Hall of Fame, Hood, who served as President of WorldTravel BTI and then later as President of the Americas for BCD Travel will be actively participating in the strategic direction of CapTrav as an equity partner and member of its Board of Directors.
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Industry observers have watched SAP Concur dominate the corporate travel space since Cliqbook (Concur) took over the reign from GetThere. Today, Concur has an integrated solution for clients across most of the corporate travel supply chain – front end booking to mid-office functions and expense. They are the go-to solution where, in many cases, using … Read more
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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted that corporate travel compliance is the most important topic in the industry right now. Here are some best practices to follow.
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Why Everything In Corporate Travel Will Change John Rose, Chief Risk Officer Altour Brandon Strauss, CEO/Founder CapTrav COVID-19 has tested our Risk Management programs like never before. While many companies scrambled to locate and help their travelers get home safely, the vast majority were simply unable to respond to all traveler needs because … Read more
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Why Everything In Corporate Travel Will Change COVID-19 has tested our Risk Management programs like never before. While many companies scrambled to locate and help their travelers get home safely, the vast majority were simply unable to respond to all traveler needs because a significant number booked travel outside of the company’s travel agency. The … Read more
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We saw great promise for an innovative technology that could potentially change the way the industry thinks about procurement, preferred supplier deals, and capturing program leakage.
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No matter how well you manage your corporate travel program, chances are you have at least a few travelers who are convinced that they can find cheaper rates on air, car, and hotel purchases on their own.
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My sense that yet another year has flown by reveals something about my age for sure. On the other hand, it is undeniable that industry change came fast in 2019 and has left an indelible mark as we close out the year.
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Atlanta, GA, January 1, 2020. CapTrav announced the general availability of a new company website for customers, prospects and partners.
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When hoteliers advertise booking direct as the lowest-cost option, and when front-desk agents tell travelers they cannot receive loyalty points because you booked through a third party, how do you address “What’s in it for me?” and bring your travelers back into the managed program?
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Atlanta, GA, December 6, 2019. CapTrav, the leading provider of data aggregation and compliance management to the corporate travel industry, today announced that XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) has selected the CapTrav solution as its company standard
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For Immediate RELEASE: Contact:Michael WrightVice President of Sales and MarketingCapTravcaptrav.comwww.captrav.com Atlanta, GA, November 15, 2019. CapTrav, the leading provider of data aggregation and compliance management to the corporate travel industry, today announced the general availability of new features and enhancements to its solution. The main release for this quarter is specific to improvements in source … Read more
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For Immediate RELEASE: Contact:Michael WrightVice President of Sales and MarketingCapTravcaptrav.comwww.captrav.com Atlanta, GA, October 18, 2018. CapTrav, the leading provider of data aggregation and compliance management to the corporate travel industry, today announced that Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) has selected the CapTrav solution as their company standard. Aramark, the Fortune 500 global business service provider, serves the … Read more
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For Immediate RELEASE: Contact:Michael WrightVice President of Sales and MarketingCapTravcaptrav.comwww.captrav.com Atlanta, GA, September 20, 2019. CapTrav, the leading provider of data aggregation and compliance management to the corporate travel industry, today announced it has closed its initial round of funding for the company. The company raised funds solely from private investors, deciding not to include … Read more
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For Immediate RELEASE: Contact:Michael WrightVice President of Sales and MarketingCapTravcaptrav.comwww.captrav.com Atlanta, GA, June 14, 2019. CapTrav, the leading provider of data aggregation and compliance management to the corporate travel industry, today announced the general availability of its compliance dashboard. Customers will now have the ability to quickly review program compliance statistics, top travelers and city … Read more
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