Learnings from the GBTA 2025 Breakfast Table
The top trends and talking points from Denver, ColoradoFor the past three years, Gray Dawes has hosted a breakfast to mark the start of the GBTA Convention.
Featuring industry experts, travel buyers, trade journalists, and a selection of business travel movers and shakers, our casual breakfast event has grown to become the unofficial place to be for those looking to kick off their trip to Denver, Colorado, in style.
It’s a breakfast with a burgeoning reputation. Invites to attend have become a hot ticket around the convention grounds – this year, around 70 people joined us to talk about the future of business travel, their hopes for the industry, the top trends and talking points, and everything in between.
In this article, we spoke to our VP of Global Sales, Julian Munsey, who attended the breakfast and GBTA 2025, to find out the key takeaways and talking points.
1️⃣
Sustainability and ESG are Still as Important as Ever in 2025
We found that sustainability remained a dominant item on the business travel agenda. Industry players underscored that environmental responsibility is still a core business priority, with travel programs requiring both carbon and cost budgets to deliver measurable reductions.
Carbon Emissions & Tracking
Corporate buyers are now incorporating maximum carbon thresholds into corporate travel policies, akin to having a parallel emissions budget alongside financial constraints. This forces travel planning to consider climate impact as a first priority. Real-time visibility was also shown to be important. Emissions tracking software, some leveraging AI, is increasingly enabling travel managers to forecast, monitor, and react to carbon footprints with greater precision.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)
Currently, 5% of all airline content we buy in the Netherlands is SAF.
Airlines and corporate buyers alike addressed how SAF adoption is essential to decarbonizing air travel. Journalists and session speakers unpacked current challenges (like higher costs and limited availability) and highlighted the importance of corporate demand and structured procurement or book‑and‑claim systems to help scale SAF production.
This was particularly important as the discussion turned to an increase in sustainability mandates. Buyers now evaluate suppliers based on environmental certifications such as EcoVadis, SBTi-aligned policies, and participation in GBTA’s sustainable travel standards.
2️⃣
AI Technology and NDC Remain Hot Topics in Business Travel
GBTA 2025 introduced its first-ever Artificial Intelligence educational stream, spotlighting how AI is fundamentally reshaping corporate travel. Across multiple sessions, speakers explored cutting-edge innovations in travel booking, distribution, content, contracts, and traveler experience. This hot topic was also linked to the adoption of NDC in the US and beyond.
AI Tools
One of the biggest talking points surrounding AI was its role in streamlining booking experiences. This includes the use of AI agents that offer policy-compliant and personalized itineraries based on an analysis of travelers’ booking behaviours, travel preferences, and historic trips.
Another major talking point surrounded the ability of new AI-powered models being able to fully automatae the analysis of travel and navigate New Distribution Capability (NDC) friction points via intelligent aggregation and fare-parsing.
NDC and Fare Comparison
According to the GBTA news brief, nearly 29% of TMCs and booking platforms are now seamlessly offering NDC content, but many still face implementation challenges. The key questions that arose were:
- How AI can interpret airline contract feeds and match them to corporate policies.
- How can AI help blend NDC and traditional content into one searchable interface for travel bookers?
- Does AI have the capability to negotiate bundled services (bags, seats, ancillaries) intelligently based on traveler intent?
While the US corporate travel market has traditionally centered around dominant platforms, our breakfast event and the GBTA halls buzzed with strong interest in alternative booking tools and emerging, next-gen platforms. This included:
- Integrated booking & expense management via conversational assistants.
- Multi-channel sourcing powered by NDC-ready infrastructure.
- Alternative user-interfaces, particularly mobile-first UX embedded within messaging apps like Microsoft Teams.
We caught up with Jeff McAllister, Senior Sales Manager USA at Gray Dawes, after GBTA 2025 to get his thoughts.
“As always, the GBTA conference was a worthwhile experience where the travel community gathers together to collectively focus on the state of the industry and its emerging trends. While all have their own subjects of interest and reason for attending, the emergence and integration of AI seemed to be a topic of discussion across the floor and sessions alike with many differing opinions surrounding the definition of AI and its use cases.
Above all however, the most valuable aspect of GBTA is and always has been the ability to bring together an industry of peers who work shoulder-to-shoulder, and provide the opportunity for valuable discussions and networking, with the overarching goal being the betterment of the industry.”
Jeff McAllister
3️⃣
The Importance of Traveler Experience and Risk Management
Many GBTA attendees spoke about traveler experience, including the implementation of empathetic travel policies and comprehensive risk management. This echoes findings from the 2025 SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey, where 94% of business travelers said travel is helpful (39%) or essential (55%), yet nearly 90% would consider refusing a trip for safety, health, or burnout concerns.
Generational Travel
Generational inclusivity was a key focal point, something that we at Gray Dawes highlighted recently in our exploration of Gen Z business travel trends and habits. In short, policies should not adopt a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Different age groups may have distinct expectations, risk tolerances, and digital literacy. This aligns with broader trends in “traveler experience,” which highlight employee wellness and inclusivity as key priorities for TMCs.
Navigating Misinformation
Guests to the breakfast also dug into one of the most subtle yet growing threats – misinformation. In fast-moving crises, false or outdated information can spark confusion or even panic. That’s why organization-wide resilience was stressed, not only robust safety protocols but also clear, reliable communication channels that travel managers can use to act swiftly and confidently. The message was clear: safety is a collaborative discipline – not the siloed responsibility of any one department in an organization.
Our GBTA 2025 Breakfast Proved to be as Enlightening as Ever
Traveler experience and risk management emerged as critical pillars of modern travel programs. With generational shifts and rising expectations around traveler wellbeing, travel policies can no longer be static; they must be empathetic and align with the real needs of those on the move.
At the same time, the conversations reaffirmed that AI tools and NDC are no longer future concepts. They’re here, shaping distribution, personalization, and operational efficiency in new and exciting ways, and harnessing these technologies responsibly is now imperative.
And, woven throughout every discussion, was the enduring relevance of sustainability. From emissions tracking to ethical sourcing and inclusion, our peers echoed the sentiment that purpose-driven travel is not a trend, but a long-term responsibility.
As we left GBTA 2025, one thing was clear: the companies that lead the way will be those who put people, technology innovation, and the planet at the core of their strategies.
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