One Global Unity Forum 2025 – Montenegro

Our memorable Unity Forum in South Africa last year was always going to be a tough one to follow…

But it’s safe to say Montenegro delivered everything we hoped, and more!

With more than 70 delegates joining us for our Unity Forum, made of up TMC partners and suppliers from all over the world, we descended on southeastern Europe, the Balkan peninsula to be precise.

Having unanimously agreed upon The Chedi in Luštica Bay as our sustainable base for the three-night meet-up, we all got checked in over the course of Monday afternoon before we had our official welcome drinks followed by a beach barbecue at The Rok.

Friendships were renewed and new partnerships forged as we all looked forward to hearing about how far One Global has come in less than three years.

The first full day of the event had a packed agenda with the opening business sessions delivered by Ewan Kassir, Director of Sales at Clarity, and Barb Barnard, Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing at World Travel Inc.

They took a deep dive into the numbers to show how One Global has grown since its inception and detailed a number of our success stories.

Andrew Perolls and Mark Bevan from Greengage were next on the stage to talk about setting new global standards in sustainable travel and meetings.

Supporting Clarity as a leader in sustainable business travel and meetings, they talked about how Greengage’s ECOsmart accreditation for hotels and detailed how much of an important role it could play in the future.

The following session explained how transforming payment solutions in business travel will play an important part in the future.

Donna Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Business Travel at Clarity was joined by Principal Sales Executive Ali Downes who both discussed today’s payment landscape, backed up with some fascinating data.

Next up our Head of Global Implementations & Technology at One Global, Cally Davenport, introduced representatives from the Unity Forum’s headline sponsor TripStax.

She discussed, with our headline sponsor TripStax’s Chief Technology Officer Scott Wylie, the new partnership with One Global.

Delegates learned about the TripStax core and how it can work with OneTRACKER and OneMOBILE.

An interactive quiz followed before TripStax’s Chief Executive Officer Jack Ramsey and Chief Commercial Officer also took to the stage to look to talk all-things TripStax and look to the future and how we can all work together before we broke off for a networking lunch.

The afternoon saw some quality networking time afforded to our TMC partners and suppliers, while a number of panel interviews to camera took place.

Our Head of Global Partnerships Laura Welsh conducted four ‘fireside chats’, one on ‘Airlines’ which included Adam Lucido and Mary Klovekorn from United Airlines, JJ Singh of Weco and Jose Martinez of Amplitudes.

‘A ground transportation’ chat involved Jay Pope of Enterprise, JJ Singh of Weco and Graeme Haining from TBR while a LATAM hotel fragmentation interview involved Erika Moore from World Travel Inc, Jamie Haberckon from Posadas, Marc da Rocha from Brickell Brazil, Chema

And ‘A partnerships with a network’ chat involved Marvin Barnes of XL Turners, Christopher Gregg from Travelpath and Joanne Yong from Citystate.

You’ll see content from these interviews, recorded by our videographer Joel Penn, over the coming months.

Closing the first day, all the One Global Community headed away from The Chedi to enjoy a cable car ride to the top of Mount Lovćen.

The group enjoyed a display of traditional Montenegrin dancing once at the top, before dining together at the Forza Kuk restaurant where the networking continued while watching the sunset.

Then it was back to the hotel – down the famous Serpentine Road – in a convoy of 4x4s ready for a busy second day ahead.

Delegates were up and about early once again for a variety of activities.

Over the two days people had the chance to choose from bike riding, kayaking, paddleboarding, yoga or spa time which set everyone up nicely for the business of the day which commenced after breakfast.

The second day saw some really informative business sessions in the morning.

Erika Moore of World Travel Inc, Adam Lucido of United Airlines and David Rifkin of eGlobalfares discussed the global evolution of airfares and that was followed up One Global’s Laura Welsh, Paul Casement – Executive Director of Groups, Meetings and Events at Clarity and Brighter – and Carl Law, of Clarity who were discussing the redefining of strategic meetings management and venue finding.

The business sessions were rounded off by an insightful ‘From barriers to benefits – GDS vs OTA’ led by One Global’s Julie Janzen who welcomed to the stage Peter Maltby from Hilton, Scott Morgan of IHG and Laura Choules from Global Hotel Alliance (GHA).

With some more valuable networking sessions between our TMC partners and suppliers before lunch, everyone’s thoughts turned to this year’s CSR activity where we give something back to the locality we are visiting.

The team chose to visit the Island of St George off the coast of Perast, the home of a 12th Century Saint George Benedictine Monastery.

Having fallen into disrepair over recent years, the monastery in now undergoing a renaissance where it hopes to open its doors once again to schoolchildren from Africa and the rest of the world which it did after the Second World War.

You’ll hear more about this unforgettable day soon – safe to say all those at the monastery were overwhelmed at the amount of work we all got through… from planting olive trees, painting and varnishing shutters to raking up grass, weeding the garden and working in the kitchen.

The farewell dinner is always a special occasion and this was to be no different.

Having watched the sun set onboard the catamaran, Tahiti, the One Global contingent sailed into the village of Perast for a memorable night at the waterside restaurant, Conte.

That involved sailing past the 15th-century Church of Our Lady of the Rocks, locally also known as Gospa od Skrpelja.

While drifting by all delegates heard about its history and traditions and made a wish by writing on a pebble and throwing them into the water from the boat.

Once back on dry land, there were thank you speeches from One Global, Clarity and World Travel Inc before a band floated alongside the eatery where diners enjoyed some traditional Montenegrin music, while they also played some requests.

The final night’s auction did not disappoint.

With Brighter’s Kate Wolstenholme and Claire Conboy taking care of proceedings, delegates were bidding on various local crafts and wine, while suppliers also pledged auction items on the night including airline tickets, hotel stays and tech support.

With everyone in stitches and some delegates a lot lighter in their purse/wallet, the auction ended up amassing just shy of £16,000 which will go towards the work at Saint George Benedictine Monastery.

Jodie Gentles, Managing Director of One Global, said: “Thank you so much for coming and joining us in Montenegro. It has been a phenomenal experience spending so much time with all of the new partners and existing partners from around the world.

“We really hope you have had the best time ever. My heart is glowing seeing the smiling faces and hearing the fantastic feedback we had at this truly fantastic event which we couldn’t have done without our supplier sponsors so a special thank to you all, including TripStax, our headline sponsors.”

While Erika Moore, of World Travel Inc, said: “I was just talking about how phenomenal and how unique it is to have you all here and the special type of bonding that has been built over the different types of activities that we engage in together.

“I really hope you appreciate how much we value not only the knowledge but the personal connections too. We know that many of you, all of you, sacrificed a lot to be here whether that is money, time, effort but most importantly time as that is the one thing that you never get back. So thank you so much for being here.”

And Pat McDonagh said: “I’m genuinely thrilled at the Community we have developed here.

“When you can play together, with the morning activities, have such a great time together, but then get your hands dirty. Not a single one of you shirked the work this afternoon and it is so good digging ditches with you, cleaning kitchens, painting shutters, doing whatever else what we did!

“There is a genuine Community here it means so much to us. I am delighted at the time we have had together and excited by the future we have got together and I am thrilled Jodie was here this year.

“I am so proud of the people who delivered this event – I’ve got to give a huge shout out to the wonderful Kate, Claire and Paul (of Brighter).

“I can’t wait to see what we are going to do next year. It has been great seeing everybody. I can’t wait until the next time and onwards and upwards for One Global.”