The corporate travel industry is in the midst of incredible transformation and expansion. Technological advancements are allowing for more connected experiences and increasing the level of service available for business travelers.
Direct Travel Executive Chairman Steve Singh has been vocal about his excitement regarding travel’s golden era of innovation and the role his vision for The Perfect Trip will continue to play.
In an episode of the Travel Again podcast, Steve shares his latest insights regarding the future of business travel. Below we have summarized the key learnings from the interview. We also encourage you to listen to the episode in full, which is linked again at the end of this post.
Open Platforms Are Revolutionary for Business Travel
In the past, corporate travelers relied primarily on closed platforms and proprietary environments. The industry is now moving to a new world and embracing solutions with cloud native architecture and open platforms in which anyone can extend and add value to them.
The benefit of open architecture for the end user is that different companies can integrate across the platform in such a way that the customer’s experience is just as delightful and seamless as if everything was done through the same company.
Let’s apply this idea to business travel. At Direct Travel, our next-generation travel technology Avenir is being built in this open way to also harness the power of our partners Spotnana, Center, and TROOP. Users will be able to manage their group travel with TROOP, which is integrated into Spotnana such that the actual travel is booked through Spotnana behind the scenes. Center is supplying the expense management and virtual cards, all while our team at Direct Travel provides our best-in-class service.
The true value of the cloud native architecture behind Avenir is that innovation can be leveraged from every partner, and it is all happening behind the scenes to meet travelers’ needs.
Travelers Require Increased Access to Content
Open architecture also leads to better access to content, which is a welcome modernization for business travelers. Those who manage travel must understand their team’s needs and provide their travelers with varied options – be it content through the GDS, NDC, or otherwise.
Going forward, expect to see solutions like Avenir provide the technology and the service to connect content from the supplier to the end traveler.
TMCs Will Evolve to Embrace Automation
Steve also predicts that the future of business travel will include AI agents that can anticipate a traveler’s preferences and book trips or assist with disruptions using an automated model. This will not replace the need for travel management companies and human service, rather, it will expand the ways a TMC can serve and empower travelers.
Imagine a scenario where interaction with a TMC happens both through digital means and human agents. If a traveler encounters a flight cancellation for instance, AI can quickly help summarize the issue so the traveler and the agent are already on the same page when they communicate. Through technology and automation, the agent is up to speed and can more efficiently provide care for the traveler – and ensure they are successfully rebooked on a new flight.
TMCs remain critically important to business travel, and those who manage travel for their organization won’t be losing their trusted partners to AI. Automation will simply complement the service and care that a TMC like Direct Travel already provides.
Improving Business Travel with The Perfect Trip
As his vision comes closer to reality with the release of Avenir, Steve reinforces that the reason behind the quest for #ThePerfectTrip is simple: Help improve the experience for travelers.
“The people who actually take the trips, and the people who enable those trips to be possible – they are the ones who have to benefit. If we can help bring about The Perfect Trip with the best technology and service, then let’s do it! That’s a worthy objective to go chase.”
-Steve Singh, Executive Chairman, Direct Travel
To hear all of Steve’s insights from the Travel Again podcast, listen to the episode in its entirety.
