Social capital becomes a practical lens for business travel value.
BTN's second What to Watch conversation uses social capital as a useful frame for business travel, and it roots that idea in Pierre Bourdieu's 1983 work on capital.
The Biz at BTN Podcast
Business Travel News
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In their own words
A podcast from the editors of Business Travel News. Join Business Travel News editors to talk with some of the smartest suppliers, buyers, intermediaries and technology companies in the managed travel space. We’ll talk trends, return to travel, technology innovation, new commercial models, market dynamics. If it affects business travel, you’ll hear it first on TheBiz@BTN. BTN’s first series of podcasts gets up close with the innovators and envelope pushers who most influenced the business travel sector in 2020. What are they doing now and what is their outlook as the industry recovers? BTN Editorial Director Elizabeth West i...
As heard by us
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
It makes corporate travel's distribution systems, technology risks and buyer-supplier tensions legible through focused interviews and multi-perspective panels.
The Biz at BTN treats corporate travel as an operating system under pressure. Michael Baker frames focused series, while Donna Iroldi leads panels that bring airlines, aggregators, travel management companies and corporate buyers into the same conversation.
Why you'd press play
American Airlines pulls fares from traditional channels; you hear from the people left to make booking work.
Press play if you want
- to hear travel buyers weigh the consequences of airline booking changes
- an editor's seat-selection chatbot fiasco before you trust a bot with your next flight
Talks about
Best episodes of The Biz at BTN Podcast
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear case for putting biodiversity into corporate-travel decisions, from menus to hotel location.
This episode moves sustainability beyond a narrow carbon frame and gives biodiversity a more practical shape. Michael Baker and Olivia Obregole-Grease tie the idea to decisions corporate travel teams can actually touch, from menu choices and fixture specifications to hotel…
Hotel shopping is framed through a practical, attribute-based lens.
Episode 5 takes a clear look at attribute-based shopping for hotels and draws a useful parallel to how NDC is changing airline sales. Michael Baker and Will Pinnell keep the discussion rooted in operating detail, moving from upgraded rooms and suites to welcome packages, spa…
Traveler wellness gets treated as a policy question, with clear cost tradeoffs.
This episode treats traveler wellness as a policy choice, and George Kalka's "Nourish, Delight, and Choice" frame gives that idea some shape. It links remote work and changed expectations at home to what travelers now want on the road, while also tying wellness to employer…
A practical NDC briefing that stays close to the operating details.
The episode treats NDC as an operating problem, not a slogan, with Michael Baker and Donna Iroldi leading a supplier-side look at how airline retailing changed after American Airlines pulled a large portion of its fares out of traditional EDIFACT channels.
A practical look at internal meeting data getting cleaned up for real use.
This episode centers on Travis Steed of Elevance Health and a new tool for managing internal meetings. Baker presents Elevance's meetings program as part of a broader travel and events operation, and Steed says the team handled a little under 1,000 events last year with an…
A practical final installment in BTN's NDC series, strongest when it stays with buyer priorities.
This final BTN NDC installment shifts the lens from suppliers and TMCs to travel buyers, and that change gives it real focus. Donna Iroldi leads a three-person panel through the practical questions around NDC and the effect on travel programs over the past year to 18 months,…
A grounded panel on NDC, GDS reach, and the sticking points in travel distribution.
This episode tracks the business travel industry’s progress and friction around NDC, with the panel staying close to the middle of distribution: the TMCs, the GDS, and the airlines deciding how content moves.
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Episodes
- 1
The Winners' Circle - Best Practitioner Oracle's Brian Hendrickson
Hidden gemOracle's Director of Travel Operations and his team successfully launched NDC (New Distribution Capability) distribution within their legacy travel ecosystem in just 3 weeks, following American Airlines' EDIFACT channel shutdown.
·31m·1 clip - 2
2024 What to Watch - Editor Roundtable
Hidden gemMichael Baker brings five BTN editorial colleagues together for a roundtable on 2024 corporate travel trends, including M&A, loyalty programs, AI, credit cards, and online booking tools.
·50m·3 clips - 3
2024 What to Watch 01 - John Morhous - Do We Still Know What Corporate Travel Is
Hidden gemBTN launches its first podcast with a close look at its What to Watch feature for 2024.
·28m·1 clip - 4
2024 What to Watch 04- George Kalka - A Different NDC Nourish Delight Choice
BTN Executive Editor Michael Baker interviews Fox World Travel's George Kalka about the rising importance of traveler wellness in corporate travel programs.
·18m·1 clip - 5
Podcast Episode 03-Olivia Ruggles-Brise - Thinking Beyond Carbon
Hidden gemBTN Executive Editor Michael Baker interviews BCD Travel's Olivia Ruggles-Brise about moving beyond carbon-centric sustainability in corporate travel.
·19m·1 clip - 6
The Winners' Circle - Best Practitioner Elevance Health's Travis Steed
Hidden gemMichael Baker interviews Travis Steed, Travel Services Manager for Elevance Health, about a dashboard that combines Cvent or Lenox registration data, BCD booking data, and HR records for internal meetings.
·25m·1 clip - 7
NDC Ecosystem Update 2024 Part 3 The Buyer Journey
Hidden gemBTN Executive Editor Michael Baker frames this as the final episode in a three-part special report on business travel changes since American Airlines moved fares out of traditional EDIFACT channels.
·37m·2 clips - 8
2024 What to Watch 05 - Will Pinnell - Distribution Revolution Not Just for Airlines
Michael Baker interviews Will Pinnell from HRS about attribute-based shopping in hotels, a trend applying NDC concepts from airlines to hotel distribution.
·23m - 9
2024 What to Watch 02 - Paul Tilstone - 'Social Capital' Key to Business Travel's Value
Hidden gemPaul Tillstone and Michael Baker explore social capital in corporate travel, grounding the discussion in Pierre Bourdieu's 1983 framework of economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capital.
·22m - 10
The Winners' Circle - Best Practitioner Akamai Technologies' Priscilla Campbell
Hidden gemPriscilla Campbell, Director of Global Travel and Expense at Akamai Technologies, says the company’s FlexBase policy lets about 95% of employees choose home, hybrid, or office work.
·22m·1 clip - 11
The Winners' Circle - Travel Manager of the Year Gilead Sciences' Steve Sitto
Hidden gemBTN closes its Best Practitioners series with Steve Siddow.
·30m·2 clips - 12
NDC Ecosystem Update 2024 Part 2 TMCs & OBTs
Hidden gemNDC remains a distribution plumbing problem.
·56m·3 clips - 13
NDC Ecosystem Update 2024 Part 1 Airlines & Aggregators
Hidden gemMichael Baker frames BTN’s three-part report around changes in business travel distribution since American Airlines pulled fares from traditional EDIFACT channels, then hands the discussion to Donna Iroldi for a supplier panel on NDC.
·43m - 14
The Winner's Circle - Best Practitioner Salesforce's Dorian Stonie
Hidden gemMichael Baker speaks with Salesforce Senior Director of Global Travel Dorian Stoney, whom BTN named a best practitioner for his work advancing NDC adoption.
·26m·1 clip - 15
Path Back to Business Travel: Yvonne Moya Negotiates Global Partnerships During the Pandemic
Jul 6, 2021·33m - 16
Path Back to Business Travel - Michelle De Costa, Global Head of Travel, Takeda
Jun 24, 2021·32m - 17
Path Back to Business Travel - Emma Jones, Global Director Procurement, Willis Towers Watson
Jun 24, 2021·25m - 18
The Influencers - Episode 1: Jamie Pherous, Managing Director, Corporate Travel Management
Jun 24, 2021·36m - 19
The Influencers - Episode 2: Emmanuelle Gailland, VP Distribution, Air France-KLM
Jun 24, 2021·26m - 20
The Influencers - Ralph Kaiser, CEO, UATP
Jun 24, 2021·28m