Norm Rose

The business travel market has seen a significant rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, with business travel spending for many corporations recovering to pre-pandemic levels at a total volume of $1.48 trillion expected for 2024, according to the Global Business Travel Association. In today’s competitive market for business travel services, the traditional travel management company (TMC) model (referring to travel agencies that focus on the managed corporate travel segment) is being challenged.

By Norm Rose and Mike Coletta In 2021, the cryptocurrency market regained the public’s attention as the value of one Bitcoin broke through its previous all-time high of nearly $20,000 to reach a price of almost $70,000. However, in 2022, the market suffered numerous high-profile failures, including the crash in value of stablecoin provider Terra’s UST and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

For decades, a debate has raged in the travel industry on the subject of “who owns the customer?”. But what exactly does “owning the customer” mean? In essence, it comes down to profiles and preferences. The suppliers and intermediaries that can collect (and therefore “own”) the most data related to user intent and preferences can offer the most personalized services to travelers, laying a foundation for long-term relationships and customer loyalty.