Global Business Travel Group (NYSE:GBTG) executives struck an upbeat tone on the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call, citing strong growth, progress integrating the CWT acquisition, and what management described as an “inflection point” where artificial intelligence is delivering measurable revenue and cost benefits.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Abbott said the company expects “even stronger momentum in 2026,” pointing to share gains, a 96% customer retention rate, and accelerating product innovation. CFO Karen Williams added that corporate travel demand accelerated in the fourth quarter despite a short-term headwind from a U.S. government shutdown, while the company reiterated its full-year 2026 guidance.
2025 performance and fourth-quarter results
Williams said the fourth quarter reflected “strong underlying growth and the addition of CWT,” which was acquired in September 2025. For the quarter, she reported:
- TTV: up 45% to $10 billion
- Transactions: up 37%, driven by CWT’s contribution and growth in the core business
- Revenue: up 34% to $792 million
- Adjusted EBITDA: up 17% to $130 million
Within revenue, Williams said travel revenue increased 36% “in line with the transaction growth,” while products and professional services revenue rose 27%, driven primarily by CWT and growth in dedicated client revenues, meetings, and events. Excluding CWT, revenue grew 8% in the quarter.
On margins, Williams said adjusted gross profit margin was 60% for the full year. She also noted that excluding CWT, full-year adjusted EBITDA margin was 21%, up 144 basis points year over year, reflecting the company’s cost transformation efforts. However, reported full-year adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% and fourth-quarter margins were “down modestly,” which she attributed to consolidating CWT, which “pre-synergies operates at lower margins.”
AI strategy: customer experience, agentic travel, and cost reduction
Management repeatedly emphasized AI as a tailwind, tying it to both improved customer experience and operating leverage. Abbott said the company has already demonstrated that automation benefits the business, noting that over the last five years the mix of digital transactions has risen from about 60% to over 80%, with more than 60% of digital transactions running on the company’s own technology platforms. Over the same period, he said, adjusted EBITDA margin rose from 17% to 20% “driven directly by increased automation.”
Chief Product and Strategy Officer Evan Konwiser outlined three priorities: “revolutionizing the customer experience,” using the platform to “power the agentic transformation of B2B travel,” and reducing operating expenses. He said the company expects to launch “Egencia AI” next month, enabling travelers to search, book, and change travel using natural language interactions, while adhering to company policy and preferences and sourcing from the company’s inventory. Konwiser said average booking time on Egencia is currently under three minutes and is expected to decline further as AI handles more workload.
In response to a question about disclosed data points, Konwiser said 57% of chats were resolved without human involvement, largely based on non-transactional inquiries over the last year or two. With the “full agentic launch of full transactions on hotel and air, and later, rail and ground,” he said he expects that figure to increase significantly, though he also expects the overall volume of interactions to rise as more travelers use the channel.
Konwiser also described work with partners, including integrating with a “major technology company customer” to support managed travel through that customer’s agentic platform, collaboration with SAP Concur on Complete (including combining SAP’s Joule with the company’s travel capabilities), and partnerships with “AI native players” to create new agentic channels.
On cost, Konwiser said AI offers two primary levers: reducing the need for human intervention through greater digital self-service, and improving travel counselor productivity through an AI agent-assistance tool. He reiterated the company’s “high tech and high touch” service approach, saying live agents remain core even as more transactions shift to AI-driven channels.
Konwiser also provided a long-term margin framework, stating the company expects adjusted gross profit margin to increase by 150 to 200 basis points per year over the next five years, reaching the “high 60s” by 2030.
CWT integration and synergy progress
Williams said integration work is progressing and reiterated the synergy plan tied to CWT. She reminded investors the company has identified a $155 million bottom-line synergy opportunity that is “entirely driven by what we can control, which is cost.”
She said the company expects to deliver $55 million of in-year synergies in 2026 and has “actioned $45 million of these” so far. Actions cited included workforce reductions, real estate consolidation, and vendor savings.
Williams said free cash flow for 2025 was $104 million, and noted that when normalized for CWT and M&A expenses, free cash flow conversion was 40% of adjusted EBITDA. Fourth-quarter free cash flow declined year over year due to seasonal working capital outflows and cash restructuring costs related to CWT synergies.
2026 guidance, seasonality, and regional factors
The company reiterated its 2026 guidance, calling for revenue of $3.235 billion to $3.295 billion (19% to 21% year-over-year growth) and adjusted EBITDA of $615 million to $645 million (16% to 21% growth). Williams said that on a pro forma basis including the full projected CWT synergies of $155 million, adjusted EBITDA would be expected to be $715 million to $745 million.
For free cash flow, the company expects $125 million to $155 million, or $235 million to $265 million excluding the cash impact of restructuring and CWT integration—about 40% conversion at the midpoint. Williams also outlined expected seasonality for 2026 following the acquisition, with approximately 51% of revenue and 53% of adjusted EBITDA anticipated in the first half of the year, and first-quarter free cash flow expected to be “largely breakeven” before accelerating in the second quarter.
On regional and macro considerations, Abbott said the U.S. government shutdown weighed on U.S. volumes in the fourth quarter but that volumes improved into the first quarter as the shutdown was mostly resolved. He also addressed the Middle East conflict, saying demand in January and February tracked in line with plan, but that the company saw an impact to volumes in the region in the last week. Williams said 2026 guidance does not include a prolonged impact from the conflict because it is “too early to establish any facts,” adding that the region represents around 5% of revenue.
Balance sheet and capital allocation
Management also highlighted capital deployment and shareholder returns. Abbott said the company doubled its share repurchase authorization to $600 million, which Williams said reflects confidence in the business. Williams reported that the company has returned $103 million to shareholders under the buyback program to date, including $73 million in 2025 and an additional $30 million year-to-date through March 5, 2026.
Williams said the company’s leverage ratio was 1.9x net debt to last 12 months adjusted EBITDA, below the midpoint of its target range even after funding the cash portion of the CWT acquisition. She added that in January the company refinanced its debt and achieved a 50-basis-point reduction in borrowing rate.
Looking ahead, Abbott said the company plans to provide additional updates at an investor day later in the year.
About Global Business Travel Group (NYSE:GBTG)
Global Business Travel Group (NYSE: GBTG), formerly known as American Express Global Business Travel, is a provider of end-to-end corporate travel management solutions. The company helps organizations plan, book and manage business travel, meetings and events through an integrated suite of services. Its offerings include traveller support, expense management, virtual and in-person meeting services, data analytics and duty-of-care solutions tailored to enterprise customers.
Operating under a global network of offices and digital platforms, Global Business Travel Group serves clients across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
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