Overview and Course Topics

The Certificate in Corporate Travel Execution, in collaboration with Cornell University’s Executive Education Division, is a tailored education program designed for both corporate buyers overseeing managed travel programs and travel product and service suppliers. This program offers a virtual classroom experience focused on key business travel topics such as accounting, finance, human resources, sales strategy, risk and legal issues, and travel procurement. The course will be instructed by expert Cornell University professors specializing in business, travel, and hospitality.

This program is ideal for travel professionals seeking to advance their knowledge in travel and business best practices. While holding a Global Travel Professional® (GTP) certification is recommended, it is not required. Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a Certificate from Cornell University Executive Education and GBTA Academy, as well as 16 GTP® Recertification credits.

This virtual classroom course will be completely online, and participants will be required to commit to two 2-hour sessions per month from September through December. In the event that a participant is unable to attend a “live” class, recordings will be available upon request/approval. At the end of the course, each professor will present a single essay question to enable participants to demonstrate their knowledge gained.

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REGISTRATION Closed

THE NEXT SESSION WILL BE FALL 2024 – REGISTRATION WILL OPEN IN THE SUMMER

Please note that the course dates are subject to change.

Date: September 14, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Elizabeth McClean

This session will provide you with an understanding of what critical thinking is and how to apply critical thinking concepts to the process of strategic problem solving so that your recommendations are well-reasoned, likely to be well-received by the decision-maker/other key stakeholders, and, most importantly, help further the overarching objectives of the organization you are serving.

Date: September 21, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Dave Sherwyn

This session will cover three core areas: (1) Covid 19 religious and disability accommodations; (2) negligence and other tort liabilities; and (3) contracts: formation, regular damages and liquidated damages. These three areas of the law affect the day-to-day operations of your organizations, and leaders must have tools to understand the framework, so that they can recognize the risk, analyze if it is applicable, and then either make changes to avoid liability or consult with counsel. In addition, because Covid accommodations is just developing, leaders must be comfortable applying the framework so that they can understand and operationalize the regulations as they are proffered.  While negligence and contracts are not new concepts, the law continues to develop and change, and leaders need to understand how to apply and comply with the inevitable changes. Before concluding the sessions, we will provide fact patterns where participants will have to spot the legal risk, state the law, and apply the fact provided to that law and determine whether or not the employer is in compliance.         

Date: October 5, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Mary MacAusland

Accounting is not just the recording of business transactions and the preparation of financial reports, but rather it is best defined as the language of business. It is critical to understand this language, together with the internal and external financial reports, are what drive organizational decision making. This session will allow you to gain confidence in understanding financial reporting and interpreting financing statements. Demonstrating this knowledge allows for productive and effective communication with decision makers at all levels of the organization and the ability to significantly contribute to your company’s overall success.  

Date: October 19, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Mary MacAusland

This session will provide you with an understanding of the managerial accounting tools used in decision making.  Specifically, we will focus on cost behavior and evaluate operating performance to understand the differences between variable and fixed costs, and how these costs, and changes in them, affect the bottom line.  Additionally, we will examine operating and capital budgets to understand these reports from a broader perspective.

Date: November 2, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Michelle Duguid

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is on everyone’s mind, and it is important that leaders have tools and resources to improve their ability to create, sustain, and institutionalize DEI behavior in their organizations. To realize the benefits from DEI activities, initiatives and programs, leaders must be prepared to address the challenges we face in the broadly diverse global hospitality, tourism and travel industry.

This session is designed to help participants learn how to manage the ever-evolving needs for DEI programs in our industry. Theoretical and experiential approaches to understanding, building, and managing DEI initiatives will be explored through a set of selected readings. Participants will learn about leadership strategies for the modern organization and how to better understand, build and manage DEI practices, policies, communication, and strategies.

Date: November 16, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Alex Susskind

In this competitive strategy session, you will examine the total enterprise, the industry, and the competitive environment in which it operates. The goal is to develop your mastery of the analytical thinking and tools necessary to perform analyses of the firm, the industry and competitors. Specific focus will be placed on understanding a firm’s operating environment, how to generate value for customers, and competitive positioning in a global industry. Overall, the session puts you in the role of senior managers who must balance the opportunities and risks associated with making changes to a firm within the hospitality industry.

Strategic management is a process in which organizations analyze and learn from their internal and external environments, establish strategic direction, and then make choices, all in an effort to satisfy key stakeholders and produce above average rates of return. How firms formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies is the focus we will take in this session. Strategists are required to specify an organization’s objectives, develop plans to achieve the objectives and allocate the resources to implement the plans.

Date: November 30, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Tony Simons

Negotiation is not just for buying and selling: we all negotiate every day as we navigate and address our needs and desires alongside those of others. Effective negotiators balance collaborative and competitive tactics and factor in the interpersonal relationships to secure profitable deals for themselves while also building relationships and giving the other a good deal. In this workshop, participants will look at assumptions and habits of negotiation and learn new ways to think about it.

We will focus on shifting from thinking about the negotiation as a competition for a fixed pool of resources, to thinking of it as a problem-solving collaboration aimed at maximizing gain for both parties. A role-play negotiation exercise will provide you with an embodied feeling for this shift. Note: While accurate valuation of the negotiable elements is critical, the session will focus instead on tactics. Also, we will present a scenario related to travel but not one that is specific to your current roles, as the latter would distract from the desired learning.

Date: December 14, 2023, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM Eastern Time
Instructor: Chris Gaulke

This session is intended to help you identify savings opportunities, manage risks, and optimize your buying power by better understanding what you spend, where you spend it, and what you spend it on.  We’ll explore how to collect, cleanse, classify, and analyze your organization’s spend data, and discuss how doing so can enable you to decrease costs, increase efficiency, and/or improve supplier relationships through category strategy development.  We’ll then discuss the considerations and process for determining an appropriate category strategy as well as introduce a number of common supply management strategies.  

How it Works

Course Length
4 Months

Class Size
Under 35 Students

Format
100% Online

Model
Instructor-led

Key Course Takeaways

  • Coming Soon!

What You’ll Earn

  • Certificate in Corporate Travel Execution from GBTA and Cornell University
  • Use of the CCTE Designation (ex: John Smith, CCTE)
  • 16 GTP Recertification Credits

Pricing

$2,495
Member Price


$2,995
Non-Member Price

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Justification letter

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Questions

Interested in a specific course? Fill out the form and let us know how we can help. Email [email protected] for further assistance.