GBTA 2025 Recap: Conversations, Connections, and What’s Within Our Grasp
The GBTA Convention 2025 brought together thousands of travel professionals in an upbeat, well-organized event that made navigating the busy schedule refreshingly easy. With many hotels within walking distance of the convention center, attendees could skip the shuttle lines and focus on what mattered: meetings, insights, and meaningful conversations.
For Grasp Technologies, even without a booth this year, the event was fast-paced and highly productive. Our team hit the ground running—literally—scheduling dozens of meetings and engaging in spontaneous conversations in hallways, lounges, and even on the move. A few scooters or rollerblades might’ve come in handy, but we managed to keep up with the energy of the conference just fine.
Compared to previous years, the 2025 convention felt more stable and upbeat. Last year’s event was impacted by a widespread Crowdstrike outage that affected key airlines, including Delta’s hub in Atlanta. This year’s experience stood in stark contrast: organized, accessible, and bustling with activity.
The ratio of buyers to suppliers also felt balanced, creating stronger opportunities for meaningful dialogue—not just sales pitches. Conversations were richer, more focused, and highly relevant to what’s shaping the business travel ecosystem today.
What People Are Talking About: AI, Payments, and the Same Old Data Challenges
Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the conversation—across sessions, networking events, and partner meetings. What was interesting, though, was the tension between excitement and uncertainty. Many attendees spoke enthusiastically about integrating AI into their processes, but fewer could articulate how it would deliver tangible outcomes. As one colleague noted, “Sometimes people don’t know why—they just feel innovative using it.”
Alongside AI, virtual payments were a hot topic, with Virtual Credit Cards (VCCs) emerging as the next evolution in how businesses manage travel spend. There’s growing interest in solving reconciliation challenges, improving security, and simplifying workflows—all areas where we know graspPAY can make an impact.
Data asymmetry, meanwhile, remains a stubborn industry pain point. Despite the advances in tech, many organizations still struggle to align and integrate their data across platforms. It’s a challenge that’s not new—but still very present.
Interestingly, topics like ESG and DEI, which were highly visible in past years, took a back seat at this year’s event. While still part of the broader conversation, they weren’t central to the majority of discussions we had.
Grasp in Motion: Our Presence and Product Focus
Even without a booth, we set out to meet, connect, and gather insights—and we did just that. Our name sparked a range of reactions, from “Who?” to “Of course we know Grasp!” Conversations often centered around graspPAY, which stood out as the most relevant solution in the context of industry-wide interest in payment innovation, particularly because of the greatly expanded number of banking partners.
Client Touchpoints and an Unexpected Tagline
We met with numerous clients and partners throughout the week, and while every conversation had its own nuances, the overall sentiment was positive. These meetings weren’t just check-ins—they led to real follow-ups, next steps, and in some cases, new opportunities already in motion.
Perhaps the most unexpected highlight came from a keynote session, where the speaker—a well-known innovation expert—posed the question: “What opportunity is within your grasp?” A line we didn’t write, but we’re certainly borrowing.
That keynote, given by Jeremy Gutsche, titled “Create the Future - How to Innovate in Times of Chaos, AI & Change,” was a standout moment of the week. Inspiring, relevant, and full of sharp insights, it perfectly captured the energy of the conference and the questions many attendees are asking about the future of business travel.
And of course, no recap is complete without mentioning the TRAIN concert, sponsored by American Express GBT, which added a memorable (and musical) close to a full week.
What’s Next
We’re already following up on the many conversations sparked during GBTA, with next steps underway across sales and partner channels. The next few months will be big for graspPAY, with anticipated launches involving Mastercard issuers, American Express, U.S. Bank’s mobile wallet, and an ATPCO proof of concept.
We left GBTA energized—and more certain than ever that we’re building the right tools for the future of business travel. Until next year, we’ll keep moving forward, one conversation (and virtual card) at a time.
