The Future of Corporate + Business Travel

So now we know. The uncertainty surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential election is over, but new questions await.

Will President-elect Donald Trump double down on protectionist rhetoric with action? Will travelers from other countries avoid visiting the U.S.? Will we see economic growth speed up? Will business travel follow?

Skift asked corporate travel executives what they hoped they would see from the new President, and the answers included infrastructure investment, an end to gridlock in Washington, D.C., policies that promote the free movement of travelers, and an abandonment of the divisive language that plagued the campaign.

Will they get their wish? We don’t know. But we’ll be paying close attention.

— Hannah Sampson, Skift

Social Quote of the Day

BRITAIN: Brexit is the stupidest, most self-destructive act a country could undertake.
USA: Hold my beer. — @bpedaci

Business of Buying

China’s Business Travel Spending Growth is Slowing But Still Significant: China is already the world’s largest business travel market and getting even larger, though most of that travel takes place within the country. We’re interested to see how the global industry adapts when more of those business trips are international. Read more at Skift

5 Travel Executives React to Muted 2017 Business Travel Outlook: A lack of business travel demand generally means lower prices and less spend for businesses. It also means business travel could be waning, a bad sign for the overall economy. Read more at Skift

Dissecting the Future of the Newly Combined Marriott and Starwood: It’s still very early into the integration of these two massive hotel companies, but so far it’s fairly clear what Marriott has in store for Starwood, even if the details have yet to be ironed out. Read more at Skift

Election 2016

Corporate Travel Insiders Hope Trump Will Focus on Business Improvements, Tone Down Rhetoric: It will take months and maybe years for the full impact of a new U.S. President to be felt in the corporate travel industry. Right now all we have are campaign promises and threats, and lots of questions about the future. Read more at Skift

President Trump: The Travel Industry Reacts With Caution, Not Enthusiasm: One of the most controversial presidential campaigns in U.S. history is over. You would think having a hotel operator in office would thrill the industry. So far that’s not the case at all. Read more at Skift

The Future of the Travel Industry Is at Stake: We at Skift will try and make sense of the epochal changes ahead, for ourselves, for this industry we so dearly love, and for the world curious about the future of travel and our industry. Read more at Skift

Disruption + Innovation

Airbnb Forms Loyalty Partnership with Delta Air Lines: Airbnb seems increasingly focused on forming loyalty links with airlines, especially as the company prepares to branch out into other sectors of travel beyond just accommodations. Could an Airbnb loyalty program be far off? Read more at Skift

Small Companies Have Embraced Airbnb for Business Travel: Small companies are leading the charge when it comes to using Airbnb for business travel. Lower prices when compared to hotels, and accommodations with better locations in pricey cities, have no doubt contributed to the trend. Read more at Skift

Hertz Loses Half Its Market Value Following Earnings Report: We are not sure that Hertz can ever fix its issues, especially as on-demand services like Uber and Lyft give business travelers fewer reasons to hit the car rental desk at the airport. Read more at Skift

Comments

The Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report is curated by Skift editors Hannah Sampson [hs@skift.com] and Andrew Sheivachman [as@skift.com]. The newsletter is emailed every Thursday.

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