Membership: From its inception, CBTG recognized that in order to maximize the benefits of open sharing and discussion, the group needed to remain relatively small. For this reason, membership is by invitation only and is limited to just 35 select and geographically diverse agencies.

Our guidelines for agency membership include an annual gross volume of at least 10 million per year, an emphasis on corporate travel, representation at the quarterly meetings by the agency owner or principal, and a willingness to openly share information and participate in meetings and discussions. Almost all of our member agencies are privately owned. Total aggregate sales volume of all CBTG members is estimated to be over $3.5 billion.

Dues: Annual dues for CBTG membership are $1,600 per agency. New member entry fees are $1,000 (one-time charge).

Meetings: Our quarterly meetings generally take place in early February, late April, early August and early November of each year. Meetings begin on Thursday mornings and end on Friday afternoons. Our annual meeting sites usually revolve around one east coast meeting, one west coast meeting, one central meeting, and one “kick-back” resort meeting each year.

Regular attendance at our quarterly meetings is essential. Each agency may bring up to two members to each meeting at no charge. Our meeting rooms are always set up in a hollow-square configuration for maximum discussion and interchange opportunities. Attendees are expected to come prepared and to participate.

Our agendas usually focus around one or two industry speakers, a few brief vendor presentations, and lots of open discussion between the membership on the latest industry trends and best business practices. (Our four most recent agendas are attached separately.) Regular benchmarking exercises on such subjects as agent compensation, fee structures, etc. also play a very valuable role. So do our frequent brainstorming sessions. Between meetings, our private CBTG website message board provides an excellent forum in which to seek advise and share information.

Who We Are Not: CBTG is not about massive membership numbers. Our small size is by design. CBTG is not about big overhead and expensive dues. Our minimal annual fees are in place simply to cover general meeting costs and basic administration costs. CBTG is not about preferred suppliers. Although we do have a few extremely lucrative preferred supplier deals in place and we often receive preferred pricing on many products such as third party technologies, this is not our focus. In fact, most of our members belong to at least one other national consortium (i.e. AMEX, BCD, Carlson, Virtuoso, Uniglobe, to name a few).

As our own members consistently point out, however, CBTG provides something that no other association has ever come close to delivering: a small, quality group of smart business entrepreneurs who share information, ideas and advice at levels unheard of in other industry groups.

What Some of Our Members Have To Say:

Cathy Caddy, Executive Director
Commonwealth Business Travel Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 8791
2510 Longview Avenue, SW
Roanoke, Virginia 24014
Phone: 540-342-1288
Fax: 540-342-1252
Email: cbtg@infionline.net