The business travel marketplace is changing rapidly…
But as travellers gain access to more choice than ever before, the real challenge is making that choice simple, relevant and easy to navigate.
Think about how we shop online.
Twenty years ago, you might have visited one or two shops to find what you wanted. Today, a single search can bring together hundreds of retailers, products, prices and options, often without you even thinking about where that content has come from.
Business travel is undergoing a remarkably similar transformation.
The traditional model of searching and booking travel is evolving into something much broader: a travel marketplace where content can come from multiple sources and where airlines, hotels and other suppliers can present increasingly personalised products and offers to travellers.
That brings enormous opportunity. But it also creates a fundamental challenge for corporate travel: how do you give travellers more choice without giving them more complexity?
That was the focus of our latest Travel Talks, The New Travel Marketplace, where we were joined by Sabre to explore how the way we buy business travel is changing – and what this means for travellers, travel managers and TMCs.
The Marketplace is Getting Bigger
For many years, the Global Distribution System (GDS) was at the heart of corporate travel distribution. It provided a consistent way for travel buyers to access airline, hotel, car rental and other travel content in one place. But the travel industry has evolved considerably.
Today, content can come from a growing number of sources. Traditional GDS content sits alongside New Distribution Capability (NDC) offers, low-cost carrier content, direct connections and increasingly sophisticated supplier products.
For the traveller, this is potentially fantastic news. More sources mean more options. More options can mean better prices, greater flexibility, richer products and a more personalised travel experience.
But there is a catch. More content doesn’t automatically mean a better travel experience.
If accessing that content requires travellers or travel bookers to search multiple systems, understand different booking processes or compare inconsistent information, then choice quickly becomes complexity. The real opportunity lies in bringing all that choice together.
NDC is Changing What “Content” Means
One of the most significant developments in the travel marketplace has been the growth of NDC. Rather than simply displaying traditional fares and availability, NDC enables airlines to distribute richer and more dynamic offers. These can include different fare attributes, ancillary products, bundles and more personalised propositions.
And NDC is no longer simply a technology discussion happening in the background. It is increasingly becoming part of the everyday corporate travel landscape.
Sabre, for example, has been integrating NDC alongside traditional ATPCO/EDIFACT content within its travel marketplace, allowing travel buyers to shop and manage different types of content through increasingly unified workflows. British Airways NDC content became available through Sabre’s marketplace in 2025, for example.
This is an important distinction. The future isn’t necessarily about replacing one distribution model with another. It is about bringing different sources of travel content together so that buyers can access the right product through the right channel, without having to understand the technology sitting behind it.
From Distribution System to a New Travel Marketplace
This is why the language around the GDS is changing. Rather than thinking about it simply as a database of fares and availability, it is increasingly useful to think about the GDS as part of a much broader travel marketplace.
The marketplace connects suppliers and buyers and brings together different types of content, while technology helps organise and present that content in a way that can actually be used.
Sabre describes its marketplace as connecting travel suppliers with buyers and bringing together content from multiple sources. Its strategy increasingly incorporates traditional content, NDC and other sources into a more unified shopping experience.
That evolution matters because the corporate travel environment has a requirement that consumer travel doesn’t always have: the booking needs to work for the traveller and the organisation.
A traveller might want the cheapest flight, the best seat or the most convenient schedule. The organisation may simultaneously need to consider policy, negotiated rates, preferred suppliers, sustainability, duty of care and overall programme value.
The marketplace therefore has to deliver more than choice. It needs to deliver relevant choice.
The Tempting Danger of Giving Travellers “Everything”
There is a temptation to think that the best travel experience is simply the one with the most content.
But imagine searching for a flight and being presented with thousands of possible combinations, different fare families, ancillary options, supplier offers and booking channels. At some point, more choice becomes less useful.
This is where technology has an increasingly important role to play. The smartest travel technology won’t simply expose more content. It will help interpret, organise and personalise that content. It should understand the traveller, the trip and the company’s travel programme, then present the options that actually matter.
That is a very different proposition from simply giving somebody access to a bigger database.
Personalisation Will Become Increasingly Important
Consumers are already accustomed to personalised digital experiences.
Netflix recommends what to watch. Amazon recommends what to buy. Spotify learns what we listen to. Business travellers increasingly expect the same level of relevance from their travel experience.
A traveller who regularly flies between London and New York shouldn’t necessarily see exactly the same proposition as someone travelling once a year. Their preferences, loyalty status, company policy, previous choices and trip requirements can all potentially influence what they are offered.
The technology is moving towards a world where travel shopping becomes increasingly contextual and personalised. The important thing is ensuring that personalisation doesn’t undermine corporate controls. A good corporate travel marketplace should make the right choice easier for the traveller while still operating within the framework established by the organisation.
And What About the Role of a TMC?
With all this technology developing, it would be easy to assume that the role of the travel management company becomes less important. In reality, the opposite may be true.
As the marketplace becomes more complex, the ability to navigate it intelligently becomes more valuable.
A TMC needs to understand where content comes from, how it can be accessed, how different offers compare, how they can be serviced and how they fit within the client’s wider travel programme.
Technology can provide the marketplace. Expertise makes sense of it. And that human element remains particularly important when something goes wrong.
A traveller facing a cancellation, disruption or last-minute change doesn’t want to understand which distribution channel their booking came through. They simply want somebody to fix the problem. That’s where technology and high-touch service need to work together.
The Future Isn’t More Choice. It’s BETTER Choice
The travel marketplace is undoubtedly becoming more sophisticated.
Traditional GDS content, NDC, direct connections, low-cost carrier content and other emerging sources are creating a richer ecosystem in which suppliers can bring more products to market and travellers can access more choice. Sabre’s continued expansion of its marketplace illustrates this direction, with NDC content increasingly sitting alongside traditional content within common shopping and servicing environments.
But the ultimate measure of success won’t be how much content a travel platform can access. It will be how effectively it can turn that content into a simple, relevant and useful experience. For corporate travel managers, that means looking beyond the question of “How much content do we have?”
Because the future of business travel isn’t about making travellers navigate an increasingly complicated marketplace. It’s about using technology to make the complexity disappear. And that is perhaps the most important shift of all: from simply providing more choice, to delivering a travel experience where the right choice is easier to find, easier to book and easier to manage.
It’s Not Just About Availability
The more important questions are whether your travel programme can make all of this work effectively.
Can our travellers easily find the right options?
Can we maintain visibility and control?
Can our travel programme accommodate new types of content?
Can different sources be compared consistently?
Can bookings be serviced effectively after they have been made?
Can technology personalise the experience without compromising policy?
And, perhaps most importantly, can we make all this feel simple to the traveller?
The New Travel Marketplace
Want to hear the full conversation and explore how the travel marketplace is evolving? Watch this episode of our Travel Talks series, featuring insights from Sabre and Gray Dawes Travel on the future of corporate travel technology, content and distribution.
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