The Wall Between Travel and Meetings Is Falling

The Spotnana-TROOP deal is a bet that CFOs want one number, not two.

David McMillin, Skift Meetings Head of Content

August 27th, 2026

When my friends ask me about what I do, I typically tell them I write about business travel. Everyone understands the concept of traveling for work, but many people are puzzled about what it means to “work in meetings.” To a lot of them, the meetings industry is invisible, and it only matters when a convention is in town, and their visiting parents wind up crashing with them instead because hotel rates are too high.

The Spotnana-TROOP deal suggests my shorthand wasn't so far off after all — meetings and business travel are actually merging. Skift Meetings’ Andrea Doyle dives into the move to bring travel and meetings under one roof as companies look to get a clearer picture of where all their money is going. The rest of this issue of The Stand-Up includes a look at more than six years of analyzing job listings in the industry and cautionary advice on the implications of facial recognition on attendee privacy. — David McMillin

DON’T MISS OUT

Skift Meetings Forum

When finance folds meetings into the travel budget, every planner in the room becomes a line item under one CFO's scrutiny.

On September 22 at NYC's Javits Center, senior planners from JPMorgan, Salesforce, Rotary, and the FIFA World Cup 26 host committee work through what tighter budgets and merged reporting mean for how events get funded and defended, with sessions like "How Meeting Leaders Can Do More With Less."

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FEATURED STORIES

Why Your Photography Waiver Doesn’t Cover Facial Recognition

By Andrea Doyle

A checkbox that says "photography and videography" may be doing legal and ethical work it was never built for. As facial recognition, AI-enabled wearables and passive recording become more common at events, planners are facing a bigger question: What exactly have attendees consented to?

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What Years of Job Postings Reveal About the Events Industry

By Barbara Scofidio

The METHOD Project, a stealth initiative analyzing event industry jobs and salaries, confirms what planners have been sensing anecdotally: The title with staying power and a salary bump isn't planner, it's marketer.

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The Wall Between Business Travel and Meetings Is Falling

By Andrea Doyle

Spotnana's acquisition of TROOP is a bet that managed travel and meetings belong on the same platform.

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WORTH YOUR TIME

Five things worth your time today.

Meet the man who is stepping into the top spot at FICP in September.
Learn how to build a case for why you belong in the C-suite at your company.
See why meeting planners continue to count on a city of firsts to impress their attendees.**
Take a look at a new approach to a customer advisory board that gives junior meeting planners a seat at the table.
Give your audience a break from too many screens by finding ways to add creative art to your next experience.

** A sponsored message from Visit Atlantic City.

SKIFT PICK: TRANSLATING TRAVEL TRENDS FOR MEETINGS

Watermelon Sugar, High Hotel Rates.

New York City has already had a wild year for demand drivers including the World Cup and a Knicks championship. Now, it has another one: Harry Styles kicked off a 30-show Madison Square Garden residency on August 26, running well into the fall as part of his "Together, Together" tour. Unlike a one-off concert or even a short multi-night stand, this is two months of sustained, concentrated demand in one city. It may not quite be the Taylor Swift bump, writes Skift’s Bailey Schulz. But the former One Direction star is pushing rates in one direction: up.

If you're planning a fall meeting or conference in New York (or you’re planning to attend one, such as, you know, Skift Global Forum), this is worth checking against your calendar now, not two weeks out. A 30-show residency means elevated hotel demand isn't a single weekend spike you can route around. It’s a rolling, multi-week floor under rates for much of September and October, layered on top of a city that was already tight. Check the show schedule against your event dates, and lock your rooms in earlier than you normally would.

Skift Meetings Toolkit

Great events are built on strategy, innovation, and the right resources. The Skift Meetings Toolkit is your go-to hub for best practices in managing meetings and events.

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