Open for Business: A Corporate T&E Podcast Powered by TripActions - podcast cover

Open for Business: A Corporate T&E Podcast Powered by TripActions

TripActions
Open for Business is a series of conversations about corporate travel and expenses. We are speaking to the big-picture thinkers and the front-line decision-makers, the circles and squares charting the future of travel, technology, and corporate T&E management.

Episodes

Inside the Suite of TripActions Liquid Product Features

To introduce the suite of product features of TripActions Liquid and illustrate how the technology will revolutionize everything from payments to reconciliation for everyone from employees to CFOs, we’re sitting down with Robin Gandhi, TripActions VP of Product Management, Payments, and Omar Ghani, TripActions Director of Strategic Sourcing.

Nov 18, 202034 min

Why Now is the Perfect Time to Modernize Your T&E Platform

Companies that had long pushed their travel & expense programs down the list of priorities were forced into a rude awakening in March 2020. Suddenly getting travelers home safely, tracking unused tickets and waivers, adjusting policy to new travel restrictions, and fulfilling duty of care was put to the ultimate test. In the six months since, we’ve seen a huge appetite for modern T&E management from TripActions among enterprises who found themselves ill equipped with their antiquated, le...

Sep 24, 202029 min

Open for Business Podcast: A New Era for Modern Enterprise T&E Management

TripActions Enterprise Edition marks the start of a new era of modern enterprise T&E management. Two years in the making, TripActions Enterprise Edition gives enterprise leaders a comprehensive, unified T&E solution combining the best online booking experience, robust global inventory, expert 24/7 365 TMC travel agents, and modern payments and expense tech — all from a single, trusted partner. We're sitting down with TripActions CRO Carlos Delatorre and Chief Travel Officer Danny Finkel ...

Sep 18, 202040 min

Advocating Public Policy to Rebuild Confidence in Business Travel

TripActions has always believed in the power of data. Now we need data to restore business travel and ensure the industry remains as innovative and disruptive as it was before COVID hit. TripActions is taking an active role in advocating for testing, contact tracing, and an open data program that helps our customers and industry colleagues get back to business safely. We sit down with Noah Kowalski, Principal at Invariant, and Sai Jahann, General Counsel at TripActions, to discuss the importance...

Aug 28, 202031 min

How Hotels & Airlines are Approaching Hygiene & Safety to Give Travelers Confidence

The COVID-19 global health pandemic has greatly impacted the business travel and expense industry, along with those responsible for managing T&E within their organizations. So we recently sat down with Michael Levie , COO at CitizenM, and Amber Simonsen , Director of Guest Product Delivery at Alaska Airlines, to talk through how airlines and hotels are handling hygiene and safety so business travelers can return to work travel with confidence....

Aug 14, 202035 min

Re-Thinking Corporate Hotel Rates Post-COVID

The role of corporate negotiated rates has significantly shifted in the past six months. We’re sitting down with Elaine Kennedy, Vice President of Hotel Market Planning at Pegasus, Calvin Anderson, Chief Commercial Officer at Domio, and Tara Stangel, Head of Lodging Supply at TripActions, to talk through these changes, what to expect from the future of corporate negotiated rates and hotel RFPs, and what you need to do to properly prepare for this new reality.

Jul 31, 202045 min

The New Normal for Road Warriors

Although we are already seeing signs of travel rebounding, with booking activity recovering steadily week over week, most frequent flyers are uncertain what business travel actually looks like today. We sit down with Louise Miller , Managing Partner of Areka Consulting, and Mark Goldberger , Director of Enterprise Travel Management at TripActions, to hear about their travel experiences on the ground and in the skies since the onset of COVID-19 to get a glimpse of what other travelers can expect ...

Jul 23, 202036 min

Driving Business Continuity and Recovery

TripActions co-founder and CTO Ilan Twig led his team to quickly develop business-critical solutions that helped customers manage through COVID-19. These new products, sometimes built and released in days and over weekends, fundamentally changed how customers were able to respond to the crisis. New products and enhanced functionality released in the days and weeks following the virus outbreak include the coronavirus dashboard, regional blacklisting, automated unused tickets and waivers, and poli...

Jul 20, 202031 min

The Future for Rail and Business Travel

Corporate travel by train has grown in popularity amongst business travelers in the UK and around Europe for more than two decades. With advancements in technology, changes in network competition, and shifting consumer expectation, it is poised to become a preferred mode of transportation for millions of business travelers, and not just in Europe. As business travel picks back up, the numbers are clear: Not only are 74%+ of frequent business travelers comfortable or somewhat comfortable travelin...

Jul 08, 202031 min

Open for Business Podcast: How Remote Companies Think About Business Travel

In a world in which remote work replaces traditional offices, corporate travel is positioned to play an even more important role in the lives of professionals than before. The value and importance of in-person connections and conversations haven’t gone away -- and organizations with remote employees will need to navigate this. In-person connections will be what makes remote work -- and all of its benefits -- possible for millions of more people. Business travel should be something that we look f...

Jun 11, 202047 min

The Future of Business Travel in Cities

Cities are the ultimate knowledge hubs. From Dallas to Dubai, we travel to metropolitan centers to congregate, sign deals over coffee and learn insights in auditoriums. Cities have also been the hardest hit in recent months and our adoration with these complex, crowded but stimulating and vibrant centers has been put on pause. Cities will be where we reconnect with clients and colleagues, where we go to hear big ideas on big stages, and forge personal relationships on restaurant patios. Cities’ ...

Jun 02, 202042 min

The Future of Loyalty for Business Travelers

One of the perks of frequent business travel is the ability to rack up airline and hotel points that can be used for upgrades and free hotel stays and tickets. The loyalty game has changed dramatically over the past few years and especially in recent months. As business travel resumes, business travelers are going to rethink their loyalty strategies and travel managers will want to consider their importance in rethinking policies that drive adoption. We sat down with Ron Davis , Director of Loya...

May 28, 202022 min

Navigating Unused Tickets & Waivers

Finance, operations, HR, risk and travel managers are starting to think through how they best support their organizations when business travel inevitably resumes -- from ensuring the health and safety of traveling employees to helping their organizations control costs. COVID-19 forced many organizations around the world to halt travel and cancel nearly all future flight bookings. The vast majority of these tickets were non-refundable, which typically would result in lost value. However, given th...

May 19, 202010 min

How Airports & Airlines Will Transform for the Future

Air travel is forever changed, which may be good news for business travelers. Everything from airport security to seat width is up for innovation as industry leaders diligently think through how to make air travel safer for business travelers around the world. We’re already seeing signs of change with mask mandates and new kinds of security checks. As business travel resumes, business travelers will want to prepare for a new way of moving through the skies, and travel managers are tasked with pr...

May 15, 202018 min

HR's Elevated Role in Business Travel

This episode of Open for Business explores the new responsibilities that HR and People teams have as organizations prepare to resume business travel. COVID-19 has shifted the workplace in many ways -- and highlighted the importance of culture in fortifying and supporting employees during unexpected interruptions. As traveling employees return to the road and office, HR and people teams will play an even more important role in caring for their employees. They must continue to create a purposeful ...

May 05, 202031 min

What Happens When Travel Stops

What happens when business travel stops? And more importantly, how do we prepare for when it resumes? This episode looks at how travel managers continue driving value with business travel on pause. While it might seem that the travel manager role becomes redundant when business travel stops, companies need their travel managers now more than ever.  Travel managers are preparing their organizations and travelers for when business travel inevitably resumes. They are ensuring that their progra...

Apr 28, 202047 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Building a Culture of Health at Home & On the Road

The corporate travel and expense community has a unique opportunity -- a universal pause on travel -- to reassess our relationship to wellness on an individual and organizational level. Our community of executive leaders, travel managers and road warriors are eager to get back out on the road, but want to do so in a way that supports their health, safety, well-being and productivity so they can leverage those critical in-person connections to build relationships, close deals, and drive growth. J...

Apr 22, 202044 minSeason 1Ep. 1