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How to resolve AdBlock issue? Why your business needs a corporate travel agent
By Leon Gettler, Talking Business >>
BUSINESS TRAVEL is now more crucial than ever in what has become an increasingly volatile market. This is why business needs a corporate travel agent.
CT Partners CEO Matt Masson and his company are specialists in this area. CT Partners is the name of Australia’s most influential independently-owned travel buying network, representing 33 of the country’s largest independent corporate travel management firms and premium leisure agencies.
Together, they manage travel for more than 1.4 million Australian travellers annually. 
“This year, more than others, we have seen a lot of disruption in the first six months with things like the London Heathrow airport closure, we’ve seen volcanic activity, we’ve seen fires across Europe,” Mr Masson told Talking Business.
“So these natural disasters, and also man-made disruptions, are becoming common. So if you’re not managing travel at your business, you should be thinking about that and exploring options,” he said.
Dealing with disruptions
“Knowing who to call in times of a crisis is paramount,” Mr Masson said. “The challenge, when there is a major disruption, is that the airline or the hotel in a city like LA, where there have been a lot of disruptions, the actual end supplier gets bombarded or inundated when there is an incident.
“So by going though a travel professional, that enables you a far better response time,” Mr Masson said.
“And let’s say with airline disruptions, the travel (service) will not only reschedule you on a flight far quicker than the airline can in many cases, but they’ll also manage your credit. They’ll hold that credit if the airline is a fault and they’ll save you time and money by using that credit with the airline to book you future business travel. And that’s very difficult for an end consumer to do where they’ll have to sit on hold with the supplier for several hours.
“For those that do have a managed travel program, the four things I would suggest that any company or buyer should look out for is what kind of reporting does that travel company provide and what kind of return on investment because they should be able to buy more effectively through their collective buying power,” Mr Masson said.
“Second, how proactive are they in finding better value options?
“Third is, how well does your travel agent manage risk? And tied up with that is the whole reporting package, duty of care in the event of an emergency and finally a growing area of importance is sustainability.”
Meetings spaced quarterly or half-yearly
Mr Masson said one of the big trends for 2026 is likely to be corporates meeting in person on a quarterly or bi-annual basis now, because of the impact of remote workers.
“I think companies are realising that’s important for culture and sharing of strategy … and also building relationships in the company, whether that’s a conference or senior leadership team meeting,” he said.
“We are seeing that happen on a more regular basis whether at an off-site or an office venue.”
Mr Masson said the strength of the network of CT Partners was the way it uses data.
But that works both ways.
“We rely on what the suppliers report to us and we also provide them with insights into booking patterns or say the impact of recent disruptions in North America,” Mr Masson said. 
“What does that look like for an airline’s loads in the second half of 2025? Should they be reducing capacity because we are expecting a downturn?”
Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness
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