Valentine’s Day is approaching and I will be showering my beloved with her favourite flowers before escorting her to dinner. If you think all this romance doesn’t sound like me, you’d be right. I am a romantic in my own way but that’s year-round – I don’t like doing it to order on one particular, some might say ‘commercially motivated’ date in the calendar.  Nevertheless, love will definitely be in the air in Lowestoft on the 14^th. 

Being an old-fashioned type of guy, I met my partner down the pub, the traditional way, face-to-face, where I could turn on the Wylie cheeky chappy charm and not get swiped left. You know I’m a huge tech geek, but the thought of using mobile apps to find love sends shivers down my spine.

Dating apps are one example of how people want everything at the touch of a button. Ease of use, convenience, choice, the list is endless. Everything has to be a consumer-grade digital experience these days (if you want to stay ahead that is).

You can see these expectations filtering down through all facets of life and people becoming increasingly unsatisfied when UX/UI isn’t up to scratch. I still remember a 2024 ITM Pulse Check survey where a staggering 82% of travel managers said their online booking tool (OBT) doesn’t meet all their requirements. 

It’s forgivable to feel, to some degree, business travel is still stuck in the dark ages and be baffled why more progress hasn’t been made to level the playing field between the booking experience of leisure versus business travel, for example. But there are very valid reasons why corporate tools don’t look as pretty or flow as smoothly as their leisure counterparts. 

Style needs to be matched with critical functionality and business travel is hugely complex. There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work undertaken to ensure corporate tools meet pricing and ticketing rules in different countries, that they adhere to travel policy and duty-of-care responsibilities and cater to particular needs like group travel or specialist services, to name just a few of the challenges.

All these requirements impose genuine limitations on user experience. Most tools are still built on top of global distribution system engines that were engineered for professional agency bookers, not point-and-click consumers. GDSs have improved, while some corporate tools are moving away from the GDS as their engine anyway. Booking tool providers are also investing in upgrading their UX – though, I have to say, with mixed results.  

Like with love, things take time, effort and patience. So, don’t swipe left on business travel OBTs just yet. I genuinely believe we’ll edge ever closer to a proper consumer-grade experience in 2025.

Scott Wylie is Chief Technology Officer of TripStax