#TAS26 Preview: Business Platforms and the Guest Experience
A ticket is more than permission to enter. It is the beginning of the guest experience.
A ticket begins a relationship and sets expectations for the experience to come. This becomes even more important across premium and hospitality products, where allocation, invitation, purchase, access and arrival all shape how a guest feels before taking their seat.
With TheTicketingBusiness ASIA 2026 (#TAS26) and TheStadiumBusiness ASIA 2026 (#SAS26) taking place together in Hong Kong, Kazuto Sawai of ABeam Consulting will bring a perspective that connects ticketing, hospitality and the wider guest experience.
Session preview
Beyond Premium: Why Business Platforms in Stadiums and Arenas Require Japanese Kizukai
Under the presentation theme Kizukai and the New Guest Experience, Sawai will introduce delegates to the Japanese concept of Kizukai, meaning the thoughtful anticipation of another person’s needs.
For ticketing teams, the idea provides a useful way to look beyond the transaction. A smooth purchase and entry journey remains essential, but efficiency alone does not necessarily create an experience that a guest will remember.
“While many venues continue to invest in premium products and technology, I believe the next competitive advantage lies in creating emotional connections and memorable stories for guests.”
Kazuto Sawai, ABeam Consulting
Business Use and Private Use
The session will structure hospitality examples around two buyer types: Business Use and Private Use. For ticketing and venue teams, this offers a practical way to understand that different guests arrive with different objectives and expectations.
Business Use refers to corporate buyers using hospitality to build trust and relationships. The wider experience around the invitation, purchase, access and event can therefore become part of the value being created for the buyer and their guests.
Private Use focuses on individual, high-net-worth guests buying time and psychological freedom. Their experience may depend on practical concerns being anticipated, friction being reduced and the event feeling more effortless from beginning to end.
Drawing on examples from Formula 1 hospitality, sports venues and entertainment destinations, Sawai will examine why ticketing, access, hospitality and venue functions need to work together around these different buyer needs. Hospitality can then become a strategic platform for business relationships, revenue growth and fan engagement, rather than simply an upgraded product attached to a premium seat.
What Delegates Will Take Away
How Business Use and Private Use shape different hospitality needs
How hospitality supports business relationships, revenue growth and fan engagement
How leading venues create value through corporate, premium and experiential offerings
Key insights from global best practices in sports and entertainment
Future opportunities for stadiums, arenas and live entertainment organisations across Asia
Speaker spotlight
Kazuto Sawai
Senior Manager, Customer Value Strategy Unit, ABeam Consulting
Kazuto specialises in sports and entertainment, with experience spanning organisation management, complex project delivery, stadium and arena strategy, sponsorship sales, sponsor activation and hospitality programmes for senior executive guests. He has also worked in motorsport regulation and race operations, including as Paddock Director and Deputy Director.
About ABeam Consulting
ABeam Consulting’s Customer Value Strategy Unit works with stadiums, arenas and entertainment venues across Asia to translate hospitality concepts, including Japanese Kizukai, into scalable business platforms, from strategy design through to operational rollout.
Join ticketing, eCommerce and live entertainment leaders from across the region at TheTicketingBusiness ASIA 2026 in Hong Kong, 13-15 October 2026. Delegates can access sessions across the co-located meetings.
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