GBTA 2023 Recap with Katie Bussiere

In case you missed it...Sertifi sponsored and exhibited at this year’s Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Convention in Dallas, Texas. Joining other travel-enthused professionals was Sertifi’s director of travel & enterprise sales, Stephanie Soria, and business development manager, Katie Bussiere. I sat down with Katie to get her take on the event, hear what she learned and who she met with, and get the inside scoop on all-things travel. 

Mimi McNulty: Let’s start with your overall experience. How was it? Who was there and what was happening? 

Katie Bussiere: It was great! The show was like a mini HITEC for travel. It was very informative; they hosted a lot of sessions on payments, sustainability, and the travel market. It was also great getting to network and meet with customers. There were various travel vendors but also hotels, resorts, management companies, and large brands like Hyatt, Hilton, Sonesta, and Marriott. 

MM: What were some of the main topics being discussed? 

KB: A lot of hotel brands were focused on how they can adapt their hotels to the travel market, how they can better serve their corporate travelers, and how they can better receive that type of travel data. There were also a lot of questions about virtual cards.  

MM: How was the Sertifi booth? What were attendees interested in? 

KB: We had some really positive connections while we were there. We got a lot of, “We love Sertifi!” comments, which are always nice to hear. A lot of people were interested in our integration with Infor and HotelKey. Others wanted to learn about Sertifi as a whole, looking for ways to streamline processes and make training faster for new team members. ACH payments were also brought up a lot. 

MM: That’s great! Did you attend any sessions? What were your biggest takeaways? 

KB: Yes, I did. I went to see Stacey Mack, the senior sales director of virtual payments at Grasp Technologies, speak at two different sessions. Those sessions were all about virtual cards. Virtual cards are going to be the wave of the future so where the travel market is going, so how virtual cards are going to be used in hotels and how hotels can capture card details securely were big topics. 

MM: Where do you think Sertifi fits into the conversations being had at the event? 

KB: I think that Sertifi is in a good position to explore the virtual card piece because we are already set up to process and support digital payments. Our e-confirmations solution is also useful for delivering a seamless and secure experience between TMCs, travel advisors, and hotels. At the booth, one of my focuses was educating visitors about our e-confirmations and how that can change the game.  

MM: Well, thank you, Katie, for taking the time to meet with me! I’m so glad you were able to attend GBTA and have this awesome experience. 

KB: No problem!