What happens when you can ask your travel data better questions? At BTS America 2026, ALTOUR showed what’s possible – and how we’re helping lead the way.
Business Travel Show America 2026 brought fresh energy to the conversation about what corporate travel can achieve. For ALTOUR, those busy couple of days in New York City presented an opportunity to showcase new thinking, strengthen relationships and demonstrate our global expertise. As a finalist in the Innovation Faceoff, we were able to demonstrate how our latest technology can help travel programs deliver more. From ALTOUR iQ’s Innovation Faceoff presentation to back-to-back meetings on the expo floor, the event provided a strong foundation for the year ahead.
At the heart of ALTOUR’s participation was a simple but powerful question: What if travel managers could do more with their data? As organizations ask travel teams to manage costs, strengthen compliance and anticipate disruption, the ability to translate information into meaningful action is becoming increasingly valuable.
ALTOUR’s Senior Director of Global Business Intelligence, Haley Rossow, brought that opportunity to the Innovation Faceoff stage, introducing ALTOUR iQ, our proprietary AI-powered conversational decision intelligence platform.
The idea behind ALTOUR iQ is one that shapes our approach to travel management: helping clients make sense of their programs and decide where to go next. For example, being able to ask why hotel spend has increased or what might improve compliance creates room for more useful conversations. Combined with the experience of our teams, those insights can help clients explore their options and make decisions that reflect their priorities.
That is also where we see the industry heading, with technology making it easier to understand what is happening and consider what to do next. As we look toward 2027, our focus is on bringing that intelligence into the relationships and services our clients already rely on. The ultimate goal is to give travel managers more time and confidence to plan ahead, with an ALTOUR TMC partnership that understands their business alongside them.
Across the Innovation Faceoff competition, other presentations reinforced the industry’s growing focus on practical applications of technology. One finalist demonstrated AI-supported workflows spanning venue sourcing, registration and guest travel, illustrating how automation could reduce the administrative burden of meetings and events. Another one showcased extended-stay tools incorporating policy controls and split billing, addressing complexities that can otherwise demand considerable manual attention.
Collectively, the showcased innovations pointed toward more connected travel management, with better data analytics and reporting, an improved traveler experience and smarter cost management. Presentations also explored linking travel investment more closely to business objectives, broadening the conversation beyond transaction costs. For ALTOUR, these themes reinforced the value of our broad offering, combining technology and experienced guidance across these priorities, with ALTOUR iQ adding new ways to turn data into actionable intelligence.
Those conversations continued on the expo floor, where the ALTOUR booth was abuzz with back-to-back meetings throughout the show. Our team took time to listen to customers and buyers, understanding what mattered most to them – from making better use of data and analytics to improving the traveler experience and managing costs. Each conversation helped us better understand their challenges, their priorities for the year ahead and where ALTOUR could make a meaningful difference.
The atmosphere underscored the enduring importance of personal relationships: technology may expand what travel teams can accomplish, but understanding a client’s challenges and helping them determine the right next step still depends on expertise, dialogue and trust.
The ALTOUR team left Business Travel Show America with valuable connections, renewed momentum and a clear opportunity to build on the interest generated by ALTOUR iQ. Our appearance as a finalist in Innovation Faceoff, active presence on the show floor and focus on practical business outcomes reflected a company looking confidently toward 2027.
Looking ahead, we are strengthening our AI capabilities by bringing together cutting-edge technology and the global travel expertise our clients rely on. Our goal is to help organizations make a clearer connection between travel decisions and business results – from support growth and building relationships to making budgets go further. By giving clients better intelligence and guidance, we are helping elevate travel’s role as a strategic contributor to their business goals.
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