Meon Travel at The PA Show London: Why Travel Management is at a Crossroads
On the 25th and 26th of February, Meon Travel will be attending The PA Show at ExCeL London — one of the most important events in the calendar for Personal and Executive Assistants. And this year, the conversation around business travel feels more important than ever.
Because the travel management industry is at a genuine crossroads. Across the market, new technology entrants are pushing a very clear narrative: move PAs and EAs onto self-booking platforms, automate everything, remove the “middle layer” and let software do the work. On paper, it sounds efficient. It sounds modern. It sounds cost-effective. But for those who manage complex travel every day, the reality is very different.
The Shift That’s Being Forced — and What’s Being Forgotten
Many organisations are being encouraged to adopt self-booking tools in the name of control and savings. Yet the practical effect is often the opposite; more time spent by PAs and EAs navigating systems, more responsibility placed on them to solve issues and less access to expert, proactive support when things become complicated - which they frequently do.
What is being forgotten is that travel management is not simply about booking a flight or a hotel. It is about:
Complex, multi-sector itineraries across time zones
Last-minute changes and disruptions
VIP and senior executive requirements
Visa, routing and logistical considerations
Out-of-hours support when things go wrong at 2am in another country
Ensuring compliance with company travel policy without adding admin burden
Understanding the true hidden costs within a company’s travel programme
No self-booking platform can replace the value of an experienced travel consultant who anticipates problems before they happen and provides proactive options rather than reactive fixes.
At Meon Travel, we see our role as removing pressure from PAs and EAs, not adding to it. We are their strategic partner. Our clients rely on us because we:
Offer proactive routing options for complicated journeys
Provide real human support out of hours when travel plans unravel
Manage supplier relationships to secure value that technology platforms cannot access
Analyse travel spend to uncover inefficiencies and hidden costs
Help shape travel policy that works in the real world, not just on paper
When travel is running smoothly, we’re invisible. When it goes wrong, we’re critical. That’s when the difference between a platform and a partner becomes very clear.
Why This Matters to PAs and EAs
PAs and EAs are increasingly being asked to do more with less time. Introducing self-booking systems often means adding another task to an already stretched role - and one that comes with responsibility when things don’t go to plan.
The question many organisations aren’t asking is: Should this be the best use of a PA’s time? Or should that time be freed up by experts who specialise in travel, so assistants can focus on what they do best, supporting their executives and running their departments efficiently?
A Conversation Worth Having at The PA Show
At The PA Show, Meon Travel is looking forward to speaking with PAs and EAs who are experiencing this shift first-hand. Those who have been asked to “just use the platform” but know from experience that business travel is rarely that simple.
We want to have honest conversations about:
The practical realities of corporate travel today
Where technology helps — and where it doesn’t
Why customer service and human expertise still matter
How strategic travel management can actually save money without increasing workload
Because the future of travel management should not be about replacing people with platforms. It should be about using technology intelligently while keeping expert support at the centre.
The Crossroads Moment
The industry is at a point where companies must decide: Is travel a transaction to be automated, or a service to be managed? At Meon Travel, we firmly believe it is the latter.
And that’s the message we’re bringing to ExCeL on the 25th and 26th of February.
If you’re attending The PA Show and would like to talk about how travel management can work with you rather than add to your workload, we’d love to meet you.
