A Week with Corporate Travel Executives & HRS Leadership on the California Coast

Introduction

If you read Corporate Insights on a regular basis, you know that I’m often traveling, speaking and meeting with clients, hotel partners and prospective customers.  Given this unique moment, with many programs facing similar challenges with AI integration, cost pressures and more, I’ll admit that the tenor of conversations can be the same.

However, there are weeks that simply feel different. This was one. Sometimes it is the setting…sometimes it is the people…and sometimes it is the timing.

The past four days in San Francisco brought a confluence of people, setting and timing that promises to have an impact. HRS Stay, Work & Pay's West Coast Industry Roundtable and US leadership team gathered for conversations that shaped where we are going and how we’ll get there in 2026 and beyond. It was a privilege to sit with an impressive collection of clients, prospects and hoteliers across these days – all of whom  care deeply about the future of business travel.

Listening to the Market Leaders

Our west coast industry roundtable opened on Tuesday afternoon with our CEO, Tobias Ragge shared his perspective on current industry trends. But the bigger portion of our time was spent learning from  a set of existing and prospective customers about the future of travel and meetings from their vantage point.  These meetings allow us to listen first, absorb what the market sees, and calibrate our own understanding against the realities of the US corporate travel

We explored the growing convergence of transient and meetings segment management.

Deep discussions were had around automated payment, and the numerous benefits that synchronized end-to-end booking to payment journeys can facilitate. We talked about the expanding role of payment in travel and meetings and the way organizations seek to solve fragmentation while improving visibility and control. Finally, we considered the opportunity for AI, not as a future ambition but as an active force that is already reshaping service, preferred content, and even decision patterns.

Data surfaced again and again.

Not abstract data, but the practical kind that reveals what is really happening in a timely manner.  The group lamented  the challenges that exist in pulling credit card, TMC and expense data together to tell the full story.  This dialogue led to a thoughtful discussion on compliance, agency models, and the economic pressures facing buyers and hotel partners across the ecosystem. It was the sort of conversation that only happens when people feel safe to speak plainly with others that understand the pain points and resource constraints.

Providing Insight into our Technology

Our focus on HRS Copilot and our expanding Connect platform was very interesting to our guests. They helped us understand what resonates, what needs refinement, and what opportunities are emerging as we bring payment, data, and meetings into one connected experience.  Our Chief Product Officer, Martin Biermann was on hand to take in the candid comments that will help refine our technology roadmaps for 2026.

We closed Tuesday by making our way to Nobu Restaurants in Palo Alto for the next meeting in our Fete and Feast dinner series. These dinners are small by design, intimate and centered on relationships rather than presentations, and this one was no exception.

Seizing the Opportunity to Help Clients Enhance Meetings Management via Technology

After dinner, we traveled north to Sonoma where our US leadership meeting began on Wednesday. The setting was beautiful with an incredible group of colleagues that included Chaney Waddell, Tim Wagner, Pauline ROBIN, Alexander Olsen, Tobias Bittner and Kari Wendel. Rachel Lunderborg, MBA and Heidi Sanderson Daniels joined us for the first time as the newest members of our team, focused on building out our meetings platform.

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Seizing the Opportunity to Help Clients Enhance Meetings Management via Technology

After dinner, we traveled north to Sonoma where our US leadership meeting began on Wednesday. The setting was beautiful with an incredible group of colleagues that included Chaney Waddell, Tim Wagner, Pauline ROBIN, Alexander Olsen, Tobias Bittner and Kari Wendel. Rachel Lunderborg, MBA and Heidi Sanderson Daniels joined us for the first time as the newest members of our team, focused on building out our meetings platform.

We spent most of our day on focused on the convergence of transient and meetings, both from a client perspective and the synergies we’re building on our Copilot and Connect platforms.

Meetings behave differently, and they require different care. They are emotional decisions as much as financial decisions, and that reality shapes how we design, sell, and deliver.

Our growing number of HRS colleagues in North America who intimately understand the meetings space speaks to this investment we are making in both people and technology.

The rest of our time was filled with strategy work, including market definition, value proposition, and our differentiation in an increasingly noisy landscape. We also addressed the fine print including friction points, resource needs, gaps, dependencies, and collaboration opportunities. Our time together was honest, efficient, and free of ceremony. We closed with clear next steps and left with a shared sense of momentum.

As I left this morning for the Santa Rose airport, I found myself thinking about the power of small rooms, focused agendas, and our team of people who care deeply about doing work that matters. This week reminded me that progress is rarely the result of grand moments, but is built through consistent, simple, and very human conversations.  In fact, it tied back to my very first Corporate Insights Newsletter entitled, The Power of Small Meetings.

HRS is striving to make business life better by reinventing how businesses stay, work and pay. And when we’re together, we find the work is powerful and worth doing.

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