True Personalisation in Business Travel: How AI and Orchestration Can Help TMCs

What does true personalisation really look like in business travel — and what role should AI play in delivering it?

In this Ask Alister feature, originally published by The Business Travel Magazine, Lokulus CEO Alister Harris explores why better traveller experiences aren't about adding more technology. They're about connecting the right data, context, systems and people at the right moment.

From proactive disruption support to surfacing traveller preferences, policy and VIP status, Alister explains how AI and business orchestration can help TMCs deliver more personal, responsive service at scale — without losing the human expertise that makes great travel management valuable.

What does ‘true personalisation’ mean in managed travel?

It is not about Amazon-style prediction or treating travellers as a statistical likelihood. It is about acting like a trusted one-to-one advisor – understanding this traveller, this trip, this corporate policy and this situation in real time. Done well, it feels like advocacy, not surveillance.

That is especially important during times of disruption. The experience becomes personal when the TMC can see the traveller profile, live trip context, policy position and urgency quickly enough to act before the traveller has to chase.

Businesses expect strategic service partners that can deliver responsiveness, consistency and traveller understanding at scale. Travellers still want high-touch service, but they increasingly expect low-friction interactions – proactive updates, fast answers and support across the channels they already use.

The challenge is that many travel teams are trying to deliver this while managing fragmented systems, disconnected workflows and growing pressure behind the scenes.

Technology alone does not create better customer experiences. Connecting the right traveller, booking and policy context to the point of service does.

So where does AI fit into this?

In practice, the most valuable AI is often the least glamorous. It is the AI that reads long email threads, identifies urgency, filters FYI messages, supports quality checks and routes enquiries to the right consultant, so people have more time for judgement, empathy and problem-solving.

For example, AI can automatically surface traveller preferences, policies, VIP status or urgency at the point of enquiry. It can help prioritise disruption-related cases faster, reduce manual triage and provide teams with a single view across channels.
AI should supercharge human capability by handling transactions and heavy administration, while consultants focus on advocacy, creativity and exception handling.

What are the biggest barriers preventing TMCs from delivering personalised experiences today?

It’s orchestration. Valuable traveller context is often split across booking tools, profiles, supplier systems and live trip data, forcing consultants to manually piece together information while handling growing enquiry volumes.

The goal is not necessarily Big Data. It is Right Data: booking data, profile data, policy context, VIP status, accessibility needs and live trip context.

The starting point is simple: map the data you already hold, where it sits and how quickly it reaches the people serving the traveller. Personalisation at scale does not begin with more technology. It begins with connecting the right data to the right decision at the right time.

Is personalisation becoming a competitive advantage for TMCs?

Absolutely. The winners will be the TMCs that orchestrate their existing technology stack more effectively, not those that simply add another tool. Whether the first touch is an AI agent or a human consultant, the experience needs to feel connected, policy-aware and personal. Business travel is still a people-driven industry. Technology should enhance those relationships, not replace them.

Ready to turn traveller data into better service?

Lokulus helps TMCs connect the systems, data, people and AI already across their operation — bringing the right context to the right person at the right time.

Discover Business Orchestration for TMCs →

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Frequently Asked Questions

How can AI improve personalisation in business travel?

AI can help TMCs deliver more personalised service by bringing together the context surrounding each traveller and trip. This can include booking information, traveller preferences, corporate policy, VIP status, urgency and live trip data.

Rather than asking consultants to manually find and interpret this information across multiple systems, AI can surface the most relevant context at the point it is needed — helping teams respond faster, prioritise effectively and deliver a service that feels genuinely personal.

What is business orchestration for TMCs?

Business orchestration connects the systems, data, workflows, people and AI already operating across a TMC and coordinates them as one joined-up operation.

Instead of replacing existing booking platforms, traveller profiles, GDSs, CRM or other technology, an orchestration layer works across them. It ensures the right information reaches the right person or process at the right time, reducing manual work and helping TMCs deliver a more consistent traveller experience.

How can TMCs use traveller data more effectively?

Effective personalisation isn't necessarily about collecting more data. It's about making better use of the right data already available.

For TMCs, that could mean combining booking and profile data with corporate policy, traveller preferences, VIP status, accessibility requirements and live trip context. Connecting this information and making it available at the point of service gives consultants and AI the context they need to make better, faster decisions.

Will AI replace travel consultants?

AI is most valuable when it enhances human expertise rather than trying to replace it.

Tasks such as reading and summarising long email threads, identifying urgency, categorising enquiries, filtering routine messages, carrying out quality checks and routing work can all be supported by AI. This frees consultants to spend more time on the areas where human expertise matters most — judgement, empathy, complex problem-solving, exception handling and traveller advocacy.

The opportunity for TMCs is therefore not simply to automate more, but to use AI and orchestration to give their people better context and more time to deliver great service.

Does a TMC need to replace its existing technology to introduce business orchestration?

No. Business orchestration is designed to work across the technology a TMC already uses rather than requiring another large-scale platform replacement.

An orchestration layer can connect existing systems, data sources, communication channels and workflows — helping information and work move more effectively between them. This allows TMCs to get more value from their existing technology investments while introducing AI and automation in targeted areas where they can make the biggest operational difference.