Last night saw more than 700 industry colleagues gather at the Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane for the 26th annual Business Travel Awards Europe, where the winners across 22 categories were announced.
The black tie event, organised by the BTN Group, got underway with a Champagne reception and entertainment from Frobacks before a three-course gala dinner and awards ceremony hosted by comedian Rob Beckett.
While all categories reflected the outstanding efforts of finalists in a year like no other, several were specifically designed to recognise organisations and people acting for the greater good of the industry, with Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association (BTA), receiving the Outstanding Contribution to Business Travel award and Festive Road landing the Covid-19 Crisis Response award.
Meanwhile, Calum Hawley of Endeavour Mining was named Travel Buyer of the Year and the Ministry of Defence - Defence Travel Team and American Express Global Business Travel was named Travel Team of the Year.
Hilton collected the award for Achievement in Environmental Sustainability and American Express Global Business Travel the award for Achievement in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Also among the TMC winners were Gray Dawes which landed the Travel Partner of the Year - European TMC award; Wings Travel Management, which was named Travel Partner of the Year - Global TMC; and CTM, which took home the Technology Innovation - Corporate Booking Platform accolade.
In the airline categories, British Airways received the Travel Partner
of the Year - European Airline award and Delta Air Lines the Travel
Partner of the Year - Global Airline award.
Other winners on the night included Melia Hotels International, UATP, Frasers Hospitality, Synergy, Cvent, Enterprise, FreeNow, LNER, Reed & Mackay, and IHG Hotels and Resorts.
This year’s event was supported by headline sponsor American Express Global Business Travel, as well as Agiito, CWT, CTM, easyJet, edyn, Egencia, Enterprise, FreeNow, Gett, TripActions and United Airlines.
Winners were selected by a nearly 30-strong judging panel of independent business travel buyers and consultants.
• For the full list of all 22 category winners, visit the Business Travel Awards Europe website. For further coverage of the awards, look out for the Sep/Oct issue of BTN Europe.
