Journey Forward: Putting People at the Heart of Business Travel

The travel industry continues to evolve and change quickly. New technology, shifting traveller expectations, and continued disruption can impact every stage of the traveller's journey, and our members need to be one step ahead. 

These changes shaped the conversation at the Advantage Travel Partnership’s Travel Hero Conference, Journey Forward, which took place in September 2026 at Crowne Plaza London Docklands.

Bringing together Advantage Travel Partnership members and business partners, the event created a valuable opportunity to step away from the day-to-day, share experiences and explore what the future of travel means for our industry, our businesses and, most importantly, corporate travellers and how Advantage can help members navigate that change. 

Looking at the whole traveller journey

Opening the conference, the Advantage Travel Partnership team encouraged attendees to look beyond individual bookings and consider the complete traveller journey. 

From getting to the airport and managing disruption to accommodation, local transport, connectivity and expenses, every stage creates an opportunity to make travel easier.

It also creates commercial opportunities for travel businesses. Ancillaries are currently valued at $145 billion by IATA, providing a lucrative opportunity for travel professionals to drive sales. eSIMs, meetings and events, local experiences and expense-management solutions can all add value for travellers while helping agencies and TMCs strengthen their customer offering and generate revenue. 

Advantage’s scale, collective buying power and extensive partner network mean members can access commercial opportunities and expertise that would be difficult to secure alone. The message was clear: understanding the end-to-end journey allows members to deliver more value at every stage for their customers. Members were encouraged to make use of the support available from the central team who will conduct opportunity analysis across the entire single stop solution.

USING AI WITHOUT LOSING HUMAN JUDGEMENT

UNDERSTANDING THE PERSON BEHIND THE BOOKING

A fireside conversation between Nick Bettles, UK CEO of Talma Travel Solutions, and Carol Fergus, Director – Global Travel, Meetings and Ground Transportation at Fidelity International, brought the focus back to the corporate traveller. 

The traveller journey does not begin at the airport. It begins when someone wakes up and starts thinking: Will my car arrive? Will I get there on time? What happens if my plans change? 

For travel professionals, the opportunity is to anticipate these questions and provide information before travellers need to ask for it.

This becomes especially important during disruption. Technology can deliver alerts and offer alternatives, but travellers often still want reassurance from another person. Sometimes the most valuable support is not a new booking; it is listening, understanding someone’s circumstances and helping them feel that the situation is under control.

DESIGNING TRAVEL FOR EVERYONE

Keynote speaker Amar Latif OBE, founder of Traveleyes, offered a powerful perspective on accessibility and the assumptions we make about how people experience travel. 

As a blind traveller, Amar reminded attendees that travel is not only visual. Destinations are experienced through sound, touch, taste, smell, conversation and human connection.

His session encouraged the industry to ask better questions, recognise needs that may not be immediately clear and create experiences in which every traveller feels understood and supported. 

Communications expert Rebecca Wray’s closing session built on this theme by highlighting the value of curiosity and clear communication. Her advice was to ask questions, listen before making assumptions and choose the right communication channel for the situation.

THE VALUE OF COMING TOGETHER

The conference’s networking opportunities gave members and business partners time to continue the conversations, exchange ideas and build relationships with people facing similar opportunities and challenges. 

By bringing our independent member businesses and partners together, Advantage helps valuable relationships flourish and turns industry insight into practical action. Travel Hero Conference reinforced the day’s central lesson: the future of business travel lies in combining technology with human expertise. 

Technology can create efficiency. Data can reveal changing behaviour. But expertise, empathy, reassurance and human connection are what turn a journey into a positive experience. 

That is the journey forward – and the power of partnerships. Travel Hero Conference will be back in 2027.