Article · January 22, 2026 · Alexandre Veau

Business travel: three forces are redrawing the industry and imposing a new model

The column of Alexandre Veau, partner at IMPACT CONSULTANTS

Business travel is going through a historic shift. Not a post-pandemic adjustment, but a lasting redefinition of its foundations.

Business travel is going through a historic shift. Not a post-pandemic adjustment, but a lasting redefinition of its foundations. Travellers expect a radically different experience, companies impose new standards, and technology acts as the catalyst.

Three forces converge: travellers no longer accept traditional interfaces and journeys; they demand both content completeness and simplicity of decision; companies impose integrated, steerable and responsible solutions. Recent moves - TravelPerk rebranding to Perk, the Amex GBT + SAP Concur alliance, Marietton’s acquisition of Supertripper, Spotnana positioning on Offers & Orders standards - illustrate this accelerated reshuffling.

Business travellers want to book differently

Users no longer want to book, they want to converse. They no longer want to search, they want to obtain. Shaped by Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and now ChatGPT, business travellers have transposed their B2C reflexes into B2B usage. According to Amadeus Hospitality, 54% of business travellers say they are ready to let an AI book on their behalf, and 50% expect personalised recommendations from it.

Content completeness and personalised recommendations

Travellers want to see everything - GDS, NDC, direct airline connections, rail, low-cost, extended accommodation - but without cognitive effort, with intelligent filtering aligned with their profile and the travel policy. The challenge is no longer adding content, but structuring it. Agentic AI absorbs complexity in the back office and returns only a limited number of relevant options, enriched with proactive alerts.

Companies impose integration and control

Travel, Procurement, Finance and HR functions converge on the same objective: ending fragmentation. Organisations expect an integrated Travel & Expense platform covering the full cycle: request, approval, booking, payment, expense report, CO₂ tracking, duty of care and consolidated reporting. The TMC evolves from supplier to travel operating system.

A future shaped by orchestration, technology… and people

In time, TMC-platforms, conversational AI agents and human teams will not be opposed: platforms will provide the technological rails, AI agents the interaction layer, and human teams the guarantee of control, advice and accountability. The issue will not be AI versus TMC, but who can effectively orchestrate technology, human expertise, data and corporate rules. For the first time in a long while, business travel is not undergoing transformation: it is leading it.

Written by Alexandre Veau - Tuesday, December 16, 2025.