Business Travel Show 2021: The CTM Wrap-up

 

Business travel is firmly back on the agenda in the UK, and our team were at the ExCel centre in London on the 30th September and 1st October to shout about it at the Business Travel Show Europe 2021.

The event brings together the business travel community for two packed days of keynote sessions, buyer workshops, networking, evening events and pre-booked meetings for the world’s top travel buyers to understand the current market and talk to suppliers from all over the world face-to-face. Corporate Travel Management (CTM) was one of a host of exhibitors at the event and proud conference sponsor.

Speaking to many at the event, it was the first event of its size and scope that they had attended since restrictions had been relaxed and larger in-person events were allowed to go ahead since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. For the majority of our team, the last large event they attended also happened to be the 2020 Business Travel Show.

Business travel doesn't have to cost the earth

Sustainability was a key topic and featured in many of the sessions led by industry leaders across the two days. The CTM team was proud to show off a range of new features in Lightning, our proprietary online booking tool that help travellers make more sustainable travel choices, especially after Lightning was recently crowned Best Online Booking Platform at the Business Travel Awards earlier in September.

Our new carbon budget feature that allows companies, teams, and even individual travellers to be assigned a carbon budget for travel was a huge hit and we’re excited to have more tools centred around carbon budgets on the way. These include approval by carbon usage and even more granular carbon costs assessments of flights that will include data on the engine, fuel type and age of aircraft that all contributes to the final carbon impact of a journey.

“CTM’s Green Choice” for flights, hotels, trains and car hire now helps travellers select the most sustainable travel deals at a glance inside Lightning. Users can now easily compare a flight and a train journey on applicable routes to find the decide on the most environmentally friendly route for an upcoming trip. By adding the carbon cost and giving clear visual cues to the user, we’re making it easier than ever before for travellers to make the most sustainable choices for their travel plans.

We also debuted European Rail in Lightning at the show, helping simplify the complexities of cross-border train travel in continental Europe with Lightning’s signature ease of use and superior speed of booking. The ability to book Deutsche Bahn and SNCF trains among others will be a huge benefit to CTM customers and we can’t wait to use it on our next trip from our EMEA HQ in London to our European offices in Paris and Berlin.

In-person is the go-to for the meetings that matter

Getting our team back together in person with each-other and many of our customers and industry colleagues for the first time in 18 months made the Business Travel Show 2021 like no other.

Our stand was buzzing from activity from beginning to end and it was a joy to catch up with so many people over coffee and cocktails over the two days. A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for a chat, or just to admire cocktail expert Oliver’s skills. Our personal favourite cocktail was Lightning Lychee, but we’re a little biased due to the name.

Travel and expense tech has changed, how can you choose the right tools?

Our very own General Manager of Sales, Shelley Mathews, took to the stage to uncover the fundamental challenges travel buyers face when they’re choosing, implementing and adoption online booking and expense management software during a packed session in one of the venue speaker hubs.

Shelley was joined by the fantastic Michael McSperrin, Senior Manager, Global Facilities – Property & Travel from AMS. Michael spoke at no less than three sessions over the course of the two days and shared many insightful stories from his own time spent working with travel and expense technology providers, including this comment when asked about the benefits and drawbacks of buying an OBT from his travel management partner, “For me, because travel is only part of my role, I want things to be as simple as possible. My travel management company providing our online booking tool means I only need to go to them when I need something, which makes my life easier.”

Travel is back, onwards and upwards

The CTM team had a hugely successful event and it felt great to have so many in-depth discussions with travel buyers. We got to find out how their programme had changed, how their goals had shifted in the last 18 months and also met many new travel managers who recently found themselves responsible for procuring and managing travel after reshuffles in their organisations. Getting to know them and their challenges face-to-face reminded us all why travel is so important.

We’re already looking forward to the 2022 event in June. See you there!