The signs are positive for corporate travel in 2025 with a recent GBTA study and hotel earnings reports from large chains all pointing to growth.
Group travel in particular seems to be flourishing with an uptick in internal meetings and further growth predicted for 2025. Research from American Express Global Business Travel, released in October, revealed that 66% of meeting planning professionals expect their budgets to rise.
Dennis Vilovic, founder and co-CEO of Troop, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2021, believes group travel could increase by 30% next year despite pressure from some large corporations for employees to return to the office full time.
During an interview in the PhocusWire studio at The Phocuswright Conference, Vilovic discussed trends in group travel such as longer trips for meetings, mostly internal meetings, secondary locations and group sizes of less than 100.
Vilovic said that one factor contributing to increases in group travel is companies wanting to recreate the "water cooler moment" that remote employees don't benefit from.
The discussion also touched on developments in business travel technology where Vilovic is anticipating disruption in 2025 in every step of the travel booking process. He believes more open platforms and artificial intelligence initiatives "in the end will create more value for travelers."
Watch the full interview below with PhocusWire's Morgan Hines.