Turning trends and information into direction 

A tree is only ever as strong as the roots no one sees.

The canopy gets the photographs. The roots do the holding - quietly, underground, indispensable.

Business travel is the economy's root system: unphotographed, structurally load-bearing, and the first thing anyone notices only once it's gone. In 2026 alone, it accounted for $1.71 trillion in spend and 1.84 billion trips - and almost none of it made headlines.*

A supplier gave away real value for years - service that became the backbone of processes inside its clients' businesses. When the company was sold, new owners cut it first: it had never been priced, so it generated no revenue. The industry is still reeling - spending far more to repair the processes than it would ever have cost to pay for the service in the first place. 

Fresh out of a degree in tourism management, my first job was at Worldhotels in London. A couple of colleagues were barely ever at their desks - gone for days, secretive about where. I finally asked. The answer was business travel: an entire industry quietly running the corporate world, and one my degree had never mentioned once. 

The Practice