History may well remember 2025 as a year of tumult in the business travel industry, with a turbulent economy driving a changeable demand environment, major travel management company mergers and partnerships, the accelerating influence of AI in all sectors and a blizzard of tariffs, regulations, new and canceled initiatives and international friction that marked the resurrected Trump administration in the United States.
So it is on BTN’s annual look at the reports that have garnered the most looks in the past 12 months, a snapshot of an industry trying to find its footing on ground that resists holding still and perhaps a window into the issues that will define 2026.
1. U.S. Could Issue New Travel Ban This Week (March 10)
The restored U.S. presidency of Donald Trump, which restarted Jan. 20 after a four-year hiatus, brought with it travel initiatives both new and returned. Among the latter is the ban on inbound travel from several foreign countries that the administration designated a security risk. The administration in March signaled it would create a new, expanded list of countries from where travel would be banned or restricted and followed through in June, adding 19 countries to its list. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 upheld that Trump was within his authority to issue the bans, stifling any challenge to his new list.
2. Amex GBT Reportedly Exploring a Sale (Nov. 25)
Much of 2025 — and 2024, for that matter — was spent discussing American Express Global Business Travel as an acquirer, after its lengthy and ultimately successful pursuit of rival travel management company CWT. More on that later, but a Bloomberg report in late November suggested Amex GBT itself might be an acquisition target, attracting “corporate-focused travel platforms and private equity suitors” without naming names. The following week, Amex GBT CEO Paul Abbott at The Beat Live conference declined to commenton the report, noting that “we don’t answer questions about market speculation when they’re true, and we don’t answer questions about market speculation when they’re not true.” No further reports on the topic since have emerged.
3. U.S. to Increase ESTA Fee by $19 (Sept. 8)
Amid extensive discussion and debate about the interest and ability among international business travelers to come to the United States, officials for many in 2025 made doing so a more expensive proposition. U.S. Customs and Border Protection increased the authorization fee it levies on inbound international travelers from countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program to $40 from $21. The authorization is good for two years. That move comes after the U.K. increased the charge for its own Electronic Travel Authorization from £10 to £16 in April and as the EU plans to raise the application fee for its forthcoming European Travel Information and Authorization System from €7 to €20.
4. Spotnana Leans in on TMC Partnership Ambitions (June 20)
Since its 2021 founding, Spotnana’s position in the industry has been a source of contention — is it a tech provider? A TMC? Both? In between? — particularly after it partnered with CWT and executive chairman and CEO Steve Singh’s investor group acquired Direct Travel. Singh clarified to BTN In June that Spotnana was shifting its strategy to focus on being a tech partner for TMCs, emphasizing its new Spotnana Cloud for TMCs platform.
5. Southwest to Offer Free Wi-Fi to Loyalty Members (Sept. 4)
As part of a flurry of changes to its proposition in the past two years, Southwest Airlines last fall introduced free unlimited in-flight Wi-Fi for all members of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, following word of similar moves from rivals Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines. The move underscored carriers’ evolving view of connectivity as a loyalty program driver rather than a standalone revenue enhancement.
6. CTM Reveals Major Accounting Errors, Suspends U.K. and Europe Chief Exec (Nov. 30)
It’s not easy to land on this list with a report published with only a few weeks left in the year, but the first word of CTM’s travails did so. The TMC’s announcement that it owed repayments to the tune of about $105 million to some U.K. customers since led to an ongoing string of repercussions, including the dismissal of its chief executive in Europe and the U.K., a probe by the U.K. government and its removal from the Australian Securities Exchange 200 Index.
7. J.D. Power: Airline Upper-Class Satisfaction Slips (May 7)
Premium-class corporate travel demand has proven a resilient segment for most airlines, but that doesn’t mean travelers themselves are entirely satisfied with the experience. J.D. Power’s annual North America Airline Satisfaction Study showed that overall satisfaction among travelers in first, business and premium-economy classes dipped year over year, even as overall passenger volume and ticket prices held steady.
BTN’s 2025 Airline Survey and Report
8. Deloitte Signs with Blockskye, Kayak BTX (Feb. 26)
In perhaps the highest-profile travel service supplier switch of 2025, consulting giant Deloitte — No. 2 on BTN’s annual Corporate Travel 100 listing of the largest travel programs — signed with blockchain-based provider Blockskye to provide travel management services for its U.S. program. Two years after PwC U.S. pioneered a similar move to Blockskye and Kayak, Deloitte’s shift illustrated the willingness among even the largest programs to embrace nontraditional solutions to thorny problems. Blockskye later in 2025 would raise nearly $16 million in a funding round.
9. AI in Air Pricing: Why It Matters for Buyers (Aug. 21)
Delta’s disclosure that it was using AI pricing management tool Fetcherr drew federal scrutiny and spurred broad discussion of the role of AI in airfare development, even as the carrier clarified that the technology isn’t being used for individualized fare targeting. This BTN Next feature explored the ramifications of the possibilities, including the effect on buyers’ sourcing and benchmarking strategies.
10. DOJ Drops Amex GBT-CWT Antitrust Suit, Merger Set to Close in Q3 (July 30)
The 18 months between Amex GBT’s announcement that it had agreed to acquire CWT and the close of the transaction featured federal legal challenges on both sides of the Atlantic, the invocation of a “failing firm defense” for CWT and a reduced valuation from the original deal. The U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to drop its lawsuit against the deal represented the final hurdle for the two TMCs to become one, which happened in September.
Bonus! 11. As Market Settles, Corps. Largely Maintain Tentative Approach (May 29)
The spring brought with it the beginnings of changeable macroeconomic conditions and a stream of disruptive news that led some companies to pull back on business travel plans, spotlighted in this BTN Intelligence report. This sluggishness in demand persisted through the summer. While the fall brought signs from U.S. carriers that a bounceback in business travel demand was afoot, that wasn’t necessarily echoed by other suppliers, notably hotels. This year’s demand trends remain TBD, with the wrinkle of the projected inbound international demand in the U.S. thanks to the FIFA World Cup in June and July.
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