John Van den Heuvel likes to joke that Bob Barker got him into the travel industry.
A Wisconsin native, Van den Heuvel started his career in food production, and his travel experience was limited to road trips in Wisconsin and a family vacation to Florida.
That all changed when, more than 20 years ago, he won a trip to Brazil as a contestant on the game show "The Price Is Right," which was hosted by Barker.
"While I was down there, I realized life had to change," Van den Heuvel said, a change that led to his current position, president of Corporate Traveler USA, a division of Flight Centre Travel Group.
Named to that role in September, he is charting a course for the brand that includes regionalizing its U.S. business and more than doubling sales by 2030.
Van den Heuvel became a success story within Flight Centre (No. 6 on the Travel Weekly Power List), where he applied to be a travel agent after that Brazil trip. He has held a number of influential roles there, including opening Stage and Screen Travel Services USA and a previous stint at Corporate Traveler. Many travel advisors know him from Gogo Vacations, where he was the wholesaler's president for seven years.
In November 2022, he made his way back to Corporate Traveler as its vice president of operations. Van den Heuvel said he was particularly drawn back to Corporate Traveler because of the mix of its technology, specifically its proprietary travel management platform Melon, and its high caliber of travel consultants.
"Even when I made the maneuver over to Gogo, which is an incredible brand and offering and industry, I always knew that I wanted to get back into the corporate space," he said.
It was an interesting time to shift back into corporate travel, he said, with the industry rebounding and repositioning after the pandemic.
Business travel as a whole is expected to surpass pre-pandemic spending levels of $1.4 trillion in 2024, according to the Global Business Travel Association, and is on track to grow to nearly $1.8 trillion by 2027.
Van den Heuvel said that Corporate Traveler has recovered to pre-pandemic sales numbers. It is on track to complete $750 million to $800 million in total sales this year with a $2 billion goal for 2030, he added. Its top industries served are pharmaceutical, finance and nonprofit.
Corporate Traveler's ideal client is a company that spends anywhere from $250,000 to $600,000 annually on travel, Van den Heuvel said, but some clients spend up to $1.5 million annually. That ideal client likes to use a mix of technology and personal consultation.
Even when I made the maneuver over to Gogo, which is an incredible brand and offering and industry, I always knew that I wanted to get back into the corporate space.– John Van den Heuvel
One of Van den Heuvel's first projects as president was regionalizing territories and creating executive teams for the East, West and Central regions of the U.S.
Corporate Traveler is calling it a "hub strategy," he said. Within each region, the company will identify which industries are most prevalent and focus its efforts on acquiring clients in those areas.
The end goal, Van den Heuvel said, is "to help expedite growth but also give the customers and the sectors in those industries what they're looking for, as opposed to having an overall nationwide strategy."
It's about simultaneously increasing revenue and growth, while also giving customers a more unique offering, he said.
Prior to the pandemic, the Corporate Traveler had around 15 offices in the U.S. Today, it operates in seven main hub cities, Van den Heuvel said, including headquarters in New York. Once regional markets are built up, Corporate Traveler will look to expand its hub-city strategy into other markets.