*GUEST BLOG* Please Sir, I Want To Take A Business Trip

How the tedium of approval stresses travellers out – and inflates costs

People often have a romantic view of business travel – flying business class, five-star hotels, lobster dinners, piling up the points, cutting epic deals. And sure, it has its perks! But ask anyone who travels more than three or four times a year, and they’ll tell you it can be stressful too.

For many travellers, the stress begins long before they board the plane. Getting approvals, for example, can be a soul-cleaving experience.

Most companies demand employees seek approval before booking. And in theory, this makes sense. Companies don’t want employees booking trips willy-nilly, racking up costs.

But pre-trip approval processes have become so onerous that the booking experience is about as streamlined as a Lego bulldozer.

This applies across Asia. In India and China, travellers can require four or five levels of approval before booking. Even in Singapore, that beacon of efficiency, travellers may require two or three. So, they typically wait around three days – sometimes even a week – before booking.

As mortals wait, airfares rise.

In Asia, business trips are usually booked two to four weeks in advance. Waiting three days bumps airfares up four per cent on average. A week? Seven per cent.

Worse, if the fare goes up in the interim, it can be back to square one – the company’s travel policy might require the traveller to restart the entire approval process all over again.

You might ask: “Isn’t the ability to hold a booking one of the benefits of using a travel management company?”

And the answer is yes – but only for certain fares. It doesn’t apply to cheaper fares, which are ticketed instantly. Consider China, where approximately half of all airline seats are ticketed instantly, and these are around 30 per cent cheaper than the flexible seats.

It seems absurd to waste your travellers’ time – while costing the company money. Particularly since a whopping 98 per cent of trips are approved in the end. For domestic travel, approval rates are even higher.

What to do?

Start by identifying which trips require approval. Then set thresholds. For example, you can modify your policy to auto-approve any flights under US$500. And for flights over US$500, if fares increase only 10-12 per cent while you’re waiting for approval, you’re good to go.

Next, consider post-trip instead of pre-trip travel approval. Since almost all trips get approved anyway, just trust your employees to do the right thing. Deal with issues when they file their expenses after the trip.

And of course, use technology. Some apps send push notifications when a trip needs approval. This can cuts approval times massively. Technology can also auto-approve trips if the approver doesn’t approve them in time.

We’ve worked with our clients to find savings of up to five per cent. That might seem piffling, but when you’re spending US$5 million a year on flights – not uncommon for mid-to-large sized companies in Asia – that’s a quarter of a million dollars. Plus you have happier and more productive travellers. Result!

Blog Author: Akshay Kapoor, Senior Director, Multinational Sales, Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel. CWT are exhibiting at Business Travel Show, register for FREE now and visit the team on stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* ​Hotel Sourcing in 2020: What’s Really Changing?

Sourcing was a hot topic at this year’s GBTA convention with education sessions like, “Ditch the Annual RFP (request for proposal) Process for Dynamic Programme Management” and “Point Counterpoint – Who Wins the Dynamic Pricing Battle?” Some companies have made headlines recently by declaring traditional sourcing models dead, and news articles consistently boast about sourcing enhancements that may or may not be arriving in the near future. 

The reality is there are exciting new advances in technology that can make the RFP - or bidding - season more efficient and create better results. But there are still some practices that will remain the same.

What will change?

Spend Analysis

Travellers booking outside of policy remains high (around 40% for most companies), which means agency data alone isn’t enough to fully understand your travel spend. Yet, reconciling and analysing data – an important first step in supplier negotiations – is challenging for 73% of travel buyers.

Thanks to advances in technology, algorithms can now clean and reconcile multiple data sources and present them visually, making it easier to uncover insights into the total cost of a trip. This data can also be used to negotiate everything from room rates to F&B discounts.

Intuitive sourcing tools

Wouldn’t it be nice if a tool could analyse your data and market trends in order to indicate how likely you are to secure a discount before you spend hours negotiating for it?

CWT Solutions Group is capable of analysing supply and demand at a market level in order to understand city occupancy rates and room inventory. They combine these findings with client travel patterns, supplier usage (hotel volume, market share, etc.) and change capacity.

The resulting Negotiation Power Index© helps you pinpoint where you should invest sourcing resources and where you should rely on other rate sources. 

Reliance on additional rates

Dynamic pricing is not completely overtaking your fixed negotiated rates but they should account for 10-20% of your hotel programme.

Additionally, you should rely on rates from your TMC (travel management company) for any property that receives roughly 150 room nights or less, as the discount secured will not be enough to justify the effort spent negotiating. RoomIt Rates offer up to 20% off and a minimum of six amenities.

More companies will be utilizing third-party hotel rates, like those from Booking.com and Expedia Partner Solutions, in their booking tools. These rates act as a gap filler, ensuring you have coverage all over the world, in case of compression, or for those one-off trips your programme doesn’t account for. They can also be priced below your client negotiated rate (CNR) depending on fluctuations in BAR.

To meet this growing need, more TMCs are offering third-party rates alongside GDS rates, making it easy for travellers to book a wide variety of content sources via corporate booking channels.

Greater mix of rates

Beyond providing optimal availability, a well-diversified rate mix also ensures optimal savings opportunities as well. A mix of negotiated rates, TMC unique rates, consortia rates, third-party rates and public rates is the best way to ensure the lowest rate is available to travellers. 

Even in a company’s top ten destinations, RoomIt has discovered that the lowest rate can be spread between negotiated rates, RoomIt Rates (our unique business rate), CWT Hotel Programme rates (our consortia rate) and third-party rates.

Additional negotiating tactics

For global programmes, there may be more emphasis on some additional tactics that help increase efficiency and decrease costs. For example, more hotels are open to two-year deals. Pursuing a two- year deal with core hotels can significantly reduce sourcing time and cost in consecutive RFP seasons. 

In regions where discounts are limited, you may also want to start utilising other forms of hotel spend, such as F&B. These discounts can come about in two different ways. You may be able to justify the expense as reason to receive deeper room rate discounts, or hotels may provide discounts directly to F&B.

Predictive analytics

One of the newest and most exciting developments is the ability to make forward-looking predictions, rather than only looking at historical data. Data scientists can now build predictive models that look at a large list of factors to help predict future rates for preferred suppliers. If your preferred supplier rates are expected to increase more than similar suppliers in their market, you

can add challengers to your RFP solicitation list.

What Will Stay the Same?

RFP Process

Negotiating with major properties via the RFP process is not going away. All the hours spent negotiating via RFPs can make us daydream about a new, innovative process, but the reality is this tried and true method still delivers the deepest discounts for clients with significant hotel volume. 

However, one thing you can do to ease the burden is offload some of the work on a trusted consultant. These experts negotiate rates for the world’s leading travel programmes and have all the data necessary to make well-substantiated decisions.

Dynamic rate share

As mentioned before, another exciting concept is that of dynamic pricing. The reality is companies are still capable of receiving 20%-49% off BAR with fixed negotiated rates. No other rate, including dynamic rates, can provide the same upper limit. 

It’s best to save dynamic pricing for areas where you have less buying power, or for when you need a quick win – like when adding a new market partway through the year.

Rate errors

Rate loading errors are still going to be an issue, because the rate loading process is still very manual. Luckily, however, automatic rate auditing tools are more common now. Your travel agency or consultants have technology capable of ensuring rates are loaded accurately, will verify availability, and can see if breakfast, internet, parking, and cancellation policies are correct. Be sure any technology used can detect squatter rates too.

There are exciting changes coming to the sourcing world in 2020 including new rates worth exploring, tools that will make data collection and analysis easier, and methods that will improve negotiations. Despite all this innovation, traditional sourcing methods won’t suddenly disappear with the changing of your calendars.

Click here to read the 2020 sourcing eBook. Blog author: Eric Jongeling, Director, Solutions Group, CWT. Register for Business Travel Show for FREE and visit CWT at stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* People First: Can you get more value from your travel spend by putting employees first?

The Japan office of a global technology company recently tested a four-day working week and found it led to happier workers and a big jump in productivity of 40 percent. They’re not the first company to trial new ways to retain a largely-Millennial workforce, who identify flexibility and well-being as top priorities when job hunting.

A move away from seeing return-on-investment from a savings and compliance perspective, to understanding the value that employees bring, is emerging more often. Savvy companies are putting their employees well-being at the core of their travel program.

“Maintaining healthy habits while travelling is nearing the top of the priority list for travellers around the world,” says Niklas Andreen, CWT’s Chief Traveller Experience Officer. “Being in tune with what matters to your employees is indispensable for retaining and attracting the best talent.”

So how do you make your travel program work for your staff and therefore your business?

1. Different folks, different strokes – Your workforce will have differing needs from their business travel. Some want their pick of hotel rooms worthy of featuring on their Instagram grid. Others have small children at home and are attracted to family-friendly options like same-day trips. It isn’t about offering luxuries but truly understanding what individuals value and giving them personally-relevant choices.

2. Always Connected - “There is a generation of people that are always connected” says Niklas Andreen, “It raises people’s stress levels not being able to connect. It has become a comfort factor. The tempo of business has sped up so much that people will send an email and expect a response within 30 minutes.” It’s critical to consider whether transport options, lounges and hotel rooms are equipped with strong connectivity. 

3. Tool up - Providing your employees with modern tools like a mobile app makes it easy and even enjoyable during the booking process. If you want your employees to stick to your policy,  the tools and services you provide must be on par to what they use in their everyday lives.  

It’s natural to want business travellers to stay within policy but some of the limitations compromise the success of their trip. Looking at ways to build your travel program around their needs will benefit your company. After all, what's better for your people is what's best for your business. Find more ways to build a travel program equipped for the future in the 2020 Global Travel Forecast.

This blog was written by Emma Woodhouse, Global Corporate Communications, CWT. Register for FREE and visit them at stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com  

*GUEST BLOG* Ifs and Bots: Demystifying artificial intelligence and its applications in travel

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most talked about trends in corporate travel. But while travel managers are showing increased interest and curiosity in AI, there is still much confusion about what the term actually means and how it can be applied to business travel.

In a survey of travel buyers conducted by Business Travel News (BTN) in 2018, only 16% of respondents said they had “good” or “excellent” knowledge about AI. The majority admitted to having limited awareness about the subject. The same survey also found minimal adoption of AI solutions in corporate travel programs thus far.

What is AI?

“Artificial Intelligence” is a marketing term rather than a single technology suite, according to Dr. Eric Tyree, Chief Data Scientist at CWT. “Broadly speaking, AI is computers doing things that people thought only humans could do, and so that definition evolves over time as computing capabilities become more advanced.”

When English computer pioneer Alan Turing developed his test for AI, he was looking for a machine that behaved in a way that was indistinguishable from a human. The infamous Turing test, which is 

seen as a hallmark of AI, investigates the ability of a machine to execute tasks such that a person cannot tell if the task is being completed by a human or a machine.

There are various technologies that are talked about as “AI”, with differing methodologies and levels of sophistication used to execute tasks.

Towards the less sophisticated end of the spectrum there is “robotic process automation” (RPA), which uses technology to automate simple tasks. Because processes repeated by a machine are faster and more accurate, RPA can be used to automate tedious and repetitive tasks, allowing people to be more productive. Whether this constitutes ‘true’ artificial intelligence on the part of a machine is a philosophical question, but RPA is undoubtedly a powerful task automation technology.

Then you have “machine learning”, which uses examples to learn the underlying patterns and drivers in data or a task. It improves processes by referencing previous or example interactions. When there is a decision that the technology needs to make, it makes it based on the patterns it has seen and its ability to extrapolate from the patterns to new ones it experiences. For example, the past ten times you called a travel consultant, you booked with airline X. On your eleventh call, even though you do not have this specific information in your profile, machine learning will infer you will most likely be booking airline X. However, if you travel to a new destination not served by airline X, if the training data is rich enough, the machine learning algorithm may correctly infer your preference for airline Z which is similar or is an alliance member with airline X.

More sophisticated machine learning techniques can be even be overlaid on RPA to ‘teach’ machines the more subtle or complex elements of a task, rather than explicitly programming it.

But while RPA and machine learning do enable computers to display some human-like characteristics, there is of course much more to AI.

Really well-implemented AI is the ability for a computer to apply human-like intelligence to a task – or series of tasks – to ensure the best outcome. This is often accomplished by combining process automation, machine learning, expert logic and other techniques to solve problems and complete tasks that previously required human intervention.

The aim here is to use a variety of technologies to give the system the ability to learn and adjust its processes to improve outcomes over time. This enables AI to redefine and re-align processes by developing an understanding of the business at hand. It is able to apply this understanding to a particular process to make decisions, even if it has not undertaken this specific process before. 

Consider facial recognition as an example. When beginning to recognize faces, an AI-enabled engine might have a low success rate at first. However, with larger, richer data, explicitly logical enhancements and other modifications (both human and computer implemented), it will become more and more accurate, quick and sophisticated in recognizing faces – like learning to ignore glasses, beards and makeup to more accurately recognize the true underlying facial characteristics of people.

How May I Help? There are myriad ways AI can be applied to business travel

How is it being used in travel?

In the travel context, a wide range of AI techniques and technologies are being leveraged to enhance or automate traditionally human-executed tasks, to the point that we are unaware whether it is a human or computer conducting it. Travel AI is starting to pass the Turing test.

“Most AI today is very observational in that it looks at patterns and either tries to see those patterns in data it hasn’t seen before or tries to extrapolate from what it has seen in data in the past,” Dr. Tyree explains. “However, this is changing rapidly with the growing sophistication of AI applications in travel, where ensembles of technologies are being used to create human-like automation of tasks. Coupled with the growing power, increasing speed and decreasing cost of computing, the amount of data available is also growing exponentially, leading to the wider application of AI.”

There are myriad ways that AI could potentially be applied to change the way business travel is viewed, managed and experienced. Here are some of the exciting applications we’re seeing today, and a few that are around the corner:

Facial recognition to speed up airport check-ins: Several airlines and airports around the world are testing and implementing facial recognition software that can verify travelers with a “quick photo capture”, allowing passengers to board using a biometric self-boarding gate. This is expected to improve safety and security, while creating a faster and more efficient check-in and boarding process.

Robot hotel concierges creating a better guest experience: A number of hotels have been experimenting with AI-powered robots to manage guest services. A robot concierge named Connie, developed by IBM, has been deployed at the Hilton McLean in Virginia in the United States. It has been introduced in a pilot program designed to help guests figure out what to visit, where to dine, and how to find things they need. The idea is that it will reduce the need for guests to wait in line to ask a question, while freeing up employees’ time to focus on other tasks.

More relevant booking search results: Just as Amazon and Netflix suggest new products and movies based on your preferences and past selections, AI is being used to show business travellers more relevant search results – while ensuring they remain within their organization’s travel policy, of course. This helps reduce the time they spend searching and booking, allowing them to focus on their work and be more productive.

Quicker support with chatbots and messaging: If you’ve ever opened a chat box when contacting your bank or talking to a retailer online, you’ve likely experienced AI-enabled messaging. This is being applied to business travel too. 

CWT is rolling out a hybrid messaging model, which has an AI-powered chatbot supported by an experienced human agent. Travelers can ask for assistance by sending text messages via the mobile app, where CWT’s hybrid travel counsellor, Reece, responds immediately. Reece answers queries quickly because she already knows an employee’s name and travel information from the app. More complicated questions are seamlessly transitioned to a live travel counselor.

Easier and more actionable data and reporting: There is a lot of data in corporate travel. The sheer volume and complexity makes it hard to use effectively, especially if you’re not a data scientist. AI can help travel managers, business unit leaders and other stakeholders who may not be data experts, make sense of all this information. For example, CWT has a platform that makes searching data questions easier. You type in what you’re looking for into the search bar – similar to if you were using a search engine like Google – and the tool quickly visualizes the data and builds the reports that you need. It also has an underlying AI engine that improves its search capabilities, getting smarter and more personalized through use.

Upwardly Mobile: AI enables hybrid messaging

Text message alerts for missing hotel bookings: Systems can be designed to automatically identify trips with no hotel booked and proactively offer travellers program-compliant hotel options, even with last-minute bookings. This helps ensure they book in-channel and their accommodation data gets captured, allowing for them to be easily located in the event of an incident or emergency.

Predicting trip disruptions: Various solutions which use predictive analytics to identify delay patterns across flights to forecast disruptions are being developed. They factor in things like the historical on-time performance of an airline, seasonality, flight timings, flight paths and air traffic, congestion at various airports, and weather forecasts. With this information they can predict the probability of a delay occurring, as well as the length of the delay.

Enabling traveller wellness: CWT is using machine learning to analyse travel patterns and other data to provide analysis and feedback on traveller wellness and productivity. The aim to help travellers plan better and be more effective when travelling, and to help travel managers ensure their programs have the appropriate processes and feedback loops to ensure travellers are healthy and productive.

Are we ready for a machine takeover?

While experts agree that AI will deliver cost savings, a streamlined booking process, an improved travel experience on the road, enhanced duty of care capabilities, and many other benefits, it’s not going to completely replace travel counsellors or travel managers any time soon.

“Business travel is riddled with exceptions and complexity and it is surprisingly hard to automate a lot of functions,” says Dr. Tyree.

Andrew Jordan, CWT’s Chief Technology Officer, believes people think AI can do a lot more than it really can. “At the moment, AI mostly consists of pattern matching,” he notes. “Computers can be very helpful in supporting humans in some tasks; but we can’t simply put a robot in a call centre to replace humans.”

On Repeat: At the moment AI mostly consists of pattern matching

To what extent and how quickly these technologies will make their way into corporate travel programs will depend on several factors. Amongst these are the appetite of travel programs to try something new, concerns around data security, as well as an organization’s culture, demographics and booking patterns. For instance, an organization whose travellers expect very high-touch service or book a lot of complex itineraries might see fewer opportunities to deploy AI-enabled solutions than a company with a self-servicing culture and predominantly point-to-point trips.

“What travellers are looking for is ease and comfort in the travel experience,” says Anikesh Patel, CWT’s Director of Customer Management for India. “There is an expectation of personalization and intuitiveness – and while organizations are happy to see technology used to reduce costs, they are not prepared to compromise on the travel experience, whether it is supported by travel counsellors or booking tools.”

Blog author: Siddharth Singh, Global Communications, CWT. Register to attend Business Travel Show for FREE and visit CWT at stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* NDC: Why Consumer-Driven Content is King

In this blog, we'll look at why consumer-driven content is the key to driving NDC adoption, and lay out the steps needed to ensure that the promise of a truly rich and differentiated NDC content that benefits business travellers is realised.

Let’s start with the obvious: Massive investments are currently being made by all industry players to make NDC a reality. It is therefore only prudent to ensure that this capital is put to its intended use, which begins and ends with delivering content that the customer not only needs and wants, but also benefits from seeing.

So what does this rich new content look like?

To date, the enhancements being considered revolve around providing a consumer-grade user experience, access to new bundling opportunities and ancillaries, such as early boarding, preferred seating, and special meals, and adding personalized content.

These are the types of services that can be enabled through NDC, and the benefits can only be realised through industry-wide collaboration that puts consumers’ interests at the centre.

Using a test and learn approach, driven by corporate traveller feedback, ensures that the industry is building a product and capability that consumers want and can use – every step of the way.

After all, only the consumer can really certify the value of NDC-enabled content, based on its ability to address the cost, convenience, choice, and service objectives that are lacking in the current distribution model.

When the industry solves these objectives with the end traveller in mind, it will naturally result in the kind of demand that will lead to the mass adoption necessary to make NDC succeed - not only for the industry, but also (and most importantly), for the benefit of business travellers.

So, let’s assume that we now have the ability to distribute content that meets a clear and compelling need of the corporate travel community. There is still one final step to realise the potential of this industry-transforming technology standard – and that’s display.

We’ll cover modernising the way business travellers and agents consume this rich content to make an informed purchasing decision in the third and last blog in this three-part series.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on NDC overall, and, in the meantime – remember: content will always reign supreme.

Blog written by Erik Magnuson, Vice President, Air Distribution Capabilities, CWT.
CWT is exhibiting at Business Travel Show, register for free and visit the team on stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com

GUEST BLOG: Travel management of the future – three ways predictive analytics can transform your programme

“If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not speak then unto me.” If you're a fan of Shakespeare, you will recognise this quote from Macbeth.

Since the beginning of time, humankind has been obsessed with predictions. Fortunately, nowadays we don't need to rely on oracles or witches of any sort. We have powerful algorithms that allow us to predict the future and even change it.

How cool is that?

At CWT Solutions Group we have gone a step further when it comes to data management and created a powerful crystal ball to improve travel management and find new ways of saving.

How did we manage that? By integrating traditional travel data with public information on commodity prices, macroeconomic indicators, weather and even holidays. All of these are then analysed to identify patterns and correlations, generating robust predictions for a company’s future spend, specifically the number of trips and cost per trip.

Thanks to these insights, our clients can make small changes to travel policies and supplier programmes that can lead to great savings – up to 10% even.

If you also want to save that much, you can apply our tailored predictive modelling to your travel programme by focusing on three key stakeholders: your travellers; your internal stakeholders - like directors, management, and finance teams - and your suppliers and procurement team.

When it comes to your travellers, you want to control costs, ensure your caps are matching the market conditions and make sure they use the right suppliers. To achieve these, you can:

·       Communicate with defined traveller groups to let them know about price increases. Avoid non-compliance and encourage them to take actions to remain within the travel policy rules.

·       Recommend the use of an alternative supplier or suggest they postpone the trip to other dates if they have flexibility in their travel plans.

·       Blacklist suppliers expected to have fares increase, or with forecasted limited availabilities.

·       Pro-actively adjust caps, upwards or downwards in order to drive your travellers towards suppliers not subject to rate increase.

Internal stakeholders are also key actors in your travel program equation and you want to support business leaders with budget planning and intelligence on future costs. You can make vast improvements in these areas:

·       Better advice on the most relevant actions to take for their travel budget, especially if a destination where your company has business projects has been impacted.

·       Insights on travel trends.

·       Location for team meetings.

And, last but not least, you have your suppliers and the procurement team. Here you want to be proactive when negotiating rates, and understand what market trends are likely to occur. To achieve that, you can:

·       Use predictive analytics to adapt your negotiation strategy before, during and after agreements renewals.

·       Make your supplier program better by managing the number of suppliers. You can do this by adding more suppliers, fares, classes, rate types, or ancillary and amenities and focus on the areas expected to increase.

·       Adapt your negotiations targets and caps.

·       Review your contractual goals (volume, market shares) set by the suppliers and monitor that your negotiated classes or rate types are available.

·       Ensure your online booking tool matches your negotiation strategy and predictive analytics outcomes.

Follow these steps and become a true king of travel management – skipping all the drama of Shakespeare's masterpiece.

Blog author: Jim Lungu, Data Scientist, CWT Solutions Group, who will be exhibiting at Business Travel Show on 20-21 February at Olympia London. Secure your free ticket now at www.businesstravelshow.com.