TRENDING IN TRAVEL FOR 2016

Trends. They come and go. Well, some do. And others linger to the point of outstaying their welcome. So which will be keeping travel managers on their toes in 2016? 

For the last six years, the Business Travel Show has surveyed travel bookers, buyers and managers from all over Europe to unravel the trends for the forthcoming 12 months; innovation that will make their jobs easier and more interesting and issues that will challenge them.

This time last year, the sharing economy took the award for ‘principal disruptor most likely to impact the world of business travel’ and it’s still causing delight and despair in equal measure.

Two years ago the words ‘Airbnb’ and ‘Uber’ were just creeping into the English lexicon. Now, business travellers are regularly booking hotel accommodation using sharing economy providers, attracted by their convenience and value. According to our survey, 17 per cent of them, in fact.

But the sharing economy continues to cause headaches for travel managers, who are unsure whether suppliers comply with duty of care legislation and their overall travel programmes. In fact, when asked whether suppliers from within the sharing economy were considered a threat or benefit to their travel programme, nearly half of buyers declared they were still undecided.

So the sharing economy will continue to be big news in 2016, as will technology-driven services generally, which are now being developed with the travel managers’ interests at heart. TripBam, for example, allows travel managers to drive compliance by controlling which hotels travellers can book and Cytere scrapes social media channels to gauge the riskiness of a location, allowing travel managers to analyse local sentiment and assess the safety of an area.

Duty of care and traveller risk are also still very high on the agenda, particularly after the terrorist attacks in Paris and the Russian airline explosion over the Sinai Peninsula in October, explaining why 92 per cent of buyers accept that the duty of care of their travellers is their responsibility.

Other trends that will impact travel managers in 2016? The continuing evolution in travel distribution, supplier consolidation, the increasing demand on buyers to provide travellers with tailored solutions, the changing demographic and needs of travellers and the ongoing pressure to communicate and enforce compliance.

All of these and more will be unpicked, discussed and debated in the 60 sessions at the Business Travel Show conference – all free for buyers to attend and designed to help them survive everything this industry will throw at them for the next 12 months.

This post was written by David Chapple, group director, Business Travel Show, for Travel Daily. The Business Travel Show takes place on 24-25 February, Olympia Grand, London, and is attended by 250 exhibitors and 7,500 business travel professionals. Register for a free visitor pass at www.businesstravelshow.com.  

ONE FIFTH OF BUYERS BOOK MORE SERVICED APARTMENT NIGHTS

The Business Travel Show's annual buyer survey is hot off the press and the first stats to be revealed tie into the serviced apartment sector, which has been growing consistently for a number of years now. 

Skyline Worldwide. A Business Travel Show exhibitor.

The survey revealed that nearly one fifth (19 per cent) of travel managers booked more serviced apartment accommodation this year, an increase of 4 per cent on 2014. The number of buyers whose programmes consist of more than 50% of serviced apartment rooms doubled from 1 to 2 per cent, though for 89 per cent of buyers they account for 10 per cent or less (84 per cent in 2014).

We revealed these stats to tie in with The Association of Serviced Apartment Providers’ (ASAP) annual convention, which took place in London on 3 December. The Business Travel Show exhibited for the first time.

182 European buyers took part in the survey, 72 per cent from the UK:

• 19 per cent booked more, or significantly more, serviced apartment rooms this year compared with 2014
• 73 per cent booked the same
• 8 per cent booked fewer
• Serviced apartments account for more than 50 per cent of room nights for 2 per cent of buyers (1 per cent in 2014)
• 89 per cent of buyers’ accommodation programmes include up to 10 per cent of serviced apartments (84 per cent in 2014)

Nearly half (48 per cent) of buyers insist travellers stay in serviced apartments when their trip exceeds a certain duration:

• Three nights or more – 16 per cent of buyers (11 per cent in 2014)
• One to two weeks - 12 per cent (22 per cent in 2014)
• Two to four weeks – 11 per cent (8 per cent in 2014)
• Over one month – 9 per cent (6 per cent in 2014)

Thirty-eight per cent of respondents had more money to spend on accommodation this year, compared to 30 per cent in 2014. One third will have more budget again in 2016. Over half (51 per cent) of buyers will book in excess of 5,000 room nights during 2015, an increase of 12 per cent on last year.  

Serviced apartments have been a familiar sight at the Business Travel Show since 2010 and we have some great exhibitors again this year, including: 

• Apple Apartments
• Berkshire Rooms
• BRG Hospitality – new exhibitor
• Bridge Street Accommodation
• Brussels Business Flats
• Cheval Group of Serviced Apartments
• Cotels Serviced Apartments
• City Apartments
• City Marque
• Dreamhouse Apartments
• Frasers Hospitality UK
• Go Native
• Knightly Apartments
• Marlin Apartments
• Oakwood Worldwide
• Premier Apartments
• Roomspace – new exhibitor
• stayCity Apartments
• The Apartment Service
• The Serviced Apartment Company.

This post was written by Sam Cande, group commercial director, Business Travel Show. 

The Business Travel Show takes place at Olympia Grand from 24-25 February in London. Register for free at http://goo.gl/F55mKX If you're a serviced apartment company and you'd like to exhibit, please contact Sam at sam.cande@centaurmedia.com. 

GUEST BLOG: Don't let airport parking for your business users leave you red faced.

Some official airport car parks have continued to raise their prices over several years causing an opportunity for non-official airport car parks to offer an attractive alternative. With airport parking there is more choice then ever to offer your clients. However, as is often the case when it comes to business travel, the price shouldn’t be the only thing you consider.

Look for the Park Mark security logo

The Park Mark® Safer Parking Scheme is an initiative of the Associations of Chief Police Officers (ACPO/S) and is aimed at reducing both crime and the fear of crime in parking facilities.

Look for the Park Mark® tick to ensure safer parking. Safer parking status, Park Mark®, is awarded to parking facilities that have met the requirements of a risk assessment conducted by the police.

Read independent reviews

Ratings and reviews are best managed by an independent, third-party service, signalled by a public Trustmark. It is the most open, transparent and trusted way to find out true customers’ experiences.

How do you compare prices, reviews, security and location of several airport car parks quickly?

If you are looking for a quick way to find secure airport parking that will also meet your client’s requirements for budget, location and service then our SkyParkSecure Business Account may be an ideal solution for you.

SkyParkSecure offers the ability to compare and book both the official and non-official airport car parks through our powerful booking engine whilst also carrying out the security checking for you. Our product approval system, in addition to price and security checks for each car park, adheres to strict requirements on independent customer reviews collected by Reevoo for every car park. If the car park falls below a certain level it is removed as an option.

This post was written by Brent Starkie at SkyParkSecure (www.skyparksecure.com). SkyParkSecure is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in Olympia, London on 24-25 February 2016. For more information, please visit the company's business website http://www.business.skyparksecure.com

IT’S TIME TO EMBRACE INNOVATION NOT BE SUSPICIOUS OF IT

I wrote this blog post for Travel Daily UK, a partner of the Business Travel Show's, and I thought I would share it with you on here, too. 

Two years ago, the Business Travel Show celebrated its 20^th anniversary. As part of our anniversary celebrations we surveyed buyers on how life had changed for them – and the industry – over the previous two decades. Unsurprisingly and almost unanimously, technology was cited as the biggest influence on the business travel industry during that period and nothing has changed since.

Think about it. 20 years ago, few people had mobile phones and fewer people still had access to the Internet. There was no such thing as broadband, WiFi or smart phones, which means there was no such thing as apps or websites or online booking. Blows your mind, really. How on earth did buyers book travel, research options, keep tabs on the location of their passengers, contact them instantly in times of emergency?

Thankfully technology has changed all that. Technology has facilitated innovation; innovation to propel the business travel industry – and the business of booking business travel – into the 21^st Century and beyond. Because of technology, we have mobile booking, more efficient traveller tracking, big data and the sharing economy. Because of technology, tradition is being disrupted and we are being made to think differently. Because of technology, buyers can do their jobs smarter, more efficiently and with increasing efficiency. 

Innovation is critical in any industry. Without innovation, creativity stagnates and the market halts. But innovation costs money and requires risk-taking and these barriers can prevent entrepreneurs with amazing ideas from ever entering the market.

This is why the Business Travel Show has introduced a new area for 2016: Launch Pad. Launch Pad supports start-ups by providing companies who are less than two years old to exhibit at the show at a subsided rate, giving them a valuable platform to reach 7,500 industry professionals and to network with 250 other exhibitors. 

The Launch Pad will also feature the Travel Technology Disrupt Awards, which will reward the most innovative travel technology start up with expert advice and mentoring and an £8,000 stand at the 2017 show.

I have to admit it’s not all one-sided, though, Launch Pad also means we can showcase the very latest business travel innovations to our visitors and the search for the next big thing is one of the principal reasons why they attend the event year after year.

Companies interested in taking part in Launch Pad and entering the Travel Technology Disrupt Awards should contact Sam.Cande@Centaurmedia.Com.

You can visit the Launchpad and see the innovation for yourself - just register for a free pass to the Business Travel Show at www.businesstravelshow.com

This post was written by David Chapple, event director of the Business Travel Show - contact him on Twitter @david_chapple