Op Ed: Alisa De Gaspe Beaubien On Why Meetings Management Still Lags Travel

Groupize co-founder and CEO Alisa de Gaspe Beaubien weighs in on what it will take to advance meetings management, and the benefits of doing so.

In many organizations, business travel has matured into a well-governed, tech-enabled discipline. Policies are codified. Integrations with booking tools, expense systems and duty of care platforms are robust. Spend is visible and largely controlled. Yet in the very same organizations, meetings and events — often representing similar or even greater budget allocations — remain remarkably fragmented.

This inconsistency between travel and meetings management is one of the most persistent blind spots in enterprise spend oversight. Despite the growing urgency to address the issue, meetings are still too often reactive, decentralized and undocumented.

Unmanaged meetings pose significant risks — not just to budgets, but to brand reputation, duty of care obligations and regulatory compliance. Often, the warning signs only surface when something goes wrong: an out-of-policy venue selection, a compliance misstep or missed savings due to poor visibility.

Unfortunately, these scenarios are not outliers; they’re symptoms of a structural deficiency in how companies approach meetings.

The pressure is mounting. According to a 2024 American Express Global Business Travel survey, more than half of 519 meeting professionals expected per-attendee costs for incentive and special events to increase this year. Nearly as many expected the same for other types of internal and external meetings. Nearly half of these are projected to take place in hotels, with many occurring in multiple cities — a scenario that adds both complexity and cost.

Despite these rising stakes, roughly 50 percent of meeting-related spend still goes unmanaged, according to the GBT survey. That means no central oversight, no consistent policy enforcement and limited data to drive decision-making. It’s a paradox: Companies are doubling down on face-to-face engagement at a time when the cost and risk of doing so without structure is higher than ever.

A large part of the challenge lies in ownership. Meetings often span departments including marketing, HR, sales, procurement and travel. Without a single accountable party, processes tend to devolve into silos and spreadsheets.

Technology has also been a limiting factor — until recently. While travel management has benefited from purpose-built booking and expense platforms, the meetings space lags behind. Many rely on ad hoc workflows, manual approvals and disparate tools.

There are signs that this is beginning to change. Purpose-built meetings management tools are gaining traction, offering end-to-end functionality that spans venue sourcing, policy enforcement, budgeting, attendee communications and post-event reporting.

This isn’t about replacing the human element of planning. It’s about automating repetitive tasks, embedding controls into workflows and giving stakeholders the visibility they need to make smarter decisions.

Organizations taking this more disciplined approach report benefits like:

• Consolidated visibility into meetings activity and spend, including smaller and internal gatherings
• Streamlined approvals that reduce rogue bookings
• Integrated duty of care, extending travel protections to meeting attendees
• Tighter supplier alignment, leading to better rates and terms
• Actionable reporting, supporting both compliance and strategic planning

Artificial intelligence is accelerating this shift. AI-powered tools are already helping teams auto-generate agendas, personalize attendee communications and flag potential compliance risks. This isn’t just automation; it’s augmentation, giving planners more capacity to focus on strategy.

For those just beginning the journey toward managed meetings, transformation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In fact, the most effective programs often begin with small, intentional changes.

• Start by logging all meetings, regardless of size, into a centralized system.
• Create simple workflows for approvals, sourcing and budgeting.
• Align meetings data with existing travel and expense systems.
• Establish baseline reporting that can evolve over time.

Organizations that unify meetings and travel under a shared framework often see improved supplier negotiations, stronger policy compliance and a more seamless attendee experience. Importantly, managers add credibility at the executive level, demonstrating that meetings are not a chaotic cost center, but a strategic lever.

When managed well, meetings represent more than just a line item. They influence downstream air, hotel and ground transportation bookings. They impact customer relationships, employee morale and organizational culture.

When unmanaged, they are one of the largest untapped areas for cost containment, risk mitigation and experience optimization.

As companies continue navigating hybrid work, global growth and tighter regulatory frameworks, meetings cannot remain an afterthought. The tools, data and frameworks now exist to bring discipline to this space, without stifling flexibility or creativity.

The organizations that embrace this shift won’t just manage meetings; they’ll design them with intent, govern them with precision and measure their impact with clarity.

That’s not just good program management. It’s smart business.

This Op Ed was created in collaboration with The Company Dime’s Editorial Board of travel managers.