BUYERS HEAD INTO THE NEW YEAR FACING CONTINUED PRESSURE TO CUT COSTS FOR THE THIRD YEAR RUNNING

As we head into another new year, corporate travel buyers are, once again, facing the pressure to cut costs and maintain quality. Oh yes, it's that time again, when the Business Travel Show buyer survey flags up the pain points for buyers in the next 12 months. 

Business Travel Show event director David Chapple 

The poll of 243 business travel buyers asked, “What is the biggest issue facing you over the next 12 months?” Cutting costs reigns top of the list for the third consecutive year, followed by an increased focus on duty of care for the second time in a row.

In third place (up five from last year) is rising hotel rates and, more specifically, availability. Rising airfares is at number six, a drop of three positions. Brexit – a new entry on the table in 2017 – features again in fourth place. Enforcing compliance continues to freefall down the table, from second place in 2016, to fifth last year and seventh for 2018. Unsurprisingly, GDPR – which comes into force next May – features on the list for the first time in tenth place.

It’s not surprising to see cost cutting and duty of care as the top two challenges facing buyers over the next 12 months, especially given the recent spate of terrorist attacks across Europe and further afield; it’s simply not an opportunity for buyers to ignore traveller risk anymore, it must be a priority for them, their organisations and their partners.

Buyers have been so vocal about the debate around hotel availability this year that it was also not unexpected to see the issue around hotel rates rate so highly. But I was a little surprised to see Brexit so high on the table, given that many people feel the initial instability it caused for corporate travel was short-lived and the after effects will remain somewhat of an unknown until March 2019 at the earliest.

Additionally, when asked the follow up question, “What will the biggest change in the way you buy/manage travel in the next 12 months be?” buyers responded as follows.

1.     No change   

2.     Increased use of technology                  

3.     Change TMC                 

4.     Increased online bookings

5.     Increased compliance

6.     Brexit

7.     Pressure to reduce costs        

8.     Engage a TMC

9.     Direct bookings

10.  Consolidate suppliers

11.  Value for money

12.  Find a new travel and expense tool

13.  Increased focus on safety

14.  Reduce travel

15.  Managing with a reduced budget

The Business Travel Show is the leading event in Europe for corporate travel professionals, taking place 21-22 February 2018 at Olympia London. Buyers can register for a free visitor pass at www.businesstravelshow.com/register. 

Buyers with a minimum annual spend of £1 million can also apply to attend as a hosted buyer at http://www.businesstravelshow.com/hosted-buyers.

THERE'S HOSTED, AND THEN THERE'S HOSTED

I was interested in the opinions recently expressed in the June edition of C&IT in the Big Debate article: Can trade shows deliver ROI in the current climate? The majority of views, albeit for different reasons, were in favour of trade shows, but the real argument centred on the difference between shows that offer a hosted programme and those that don’t.

It’s just a simple fact that a trade show that initiates and maintains a creative and ambitious hosted programme will always deliver more ROI for both visitors and exhibitors than those that don’t. The question I’d add to the debate however is what is a genuine hosted programme?

We've learnt at the Business Travel Show that you can only really drive ROI for visitors if the hosted programme is a year round commitment with a highly focused business networking and education programme. There also needs to be meaningful ways for both groups to interact and meet over the two days of the show. Having a deeper understanding of the market helps too, BTS 2013 will be our 19th year, enabling us to quickly identify the trends and unique requirements of this complex market.

So embrace successful events, they genuinely do offer a strong return,  but in these challenging times it’s not unreasonable to look harder at the criteria that you use to determine what is and isn't a successful event.

David Chapple is event director of the Business Travel Show - he’d love to hear what you think about this topic - contact him on Twitter @btshowlondon

HOSTED WITH THE MOSTED

Exhibition News ran a Food For Thought column in this month’s issue with three event organisers explaining why and how they run hosted programmes. As the Hosted Buyer Manager on the Business Travel Show it was particularly interesting for me to read and, I have to admit, hard to disagree with anything they said.

Hosted programmes are not the answer for every exhibition. But for the Business Travel Show, they work. Like the other commentators’ shows, we introduced our programme to guarantee the highest quality buyers in Europe attend our event each February and that they also attend a set number of appointments with our exhibitors over the two days. The result is exposure to more business opportunities for our exhibitors and a much, much higher ROI for them, which is increasingly important given the economic environment we are all operating in.

We believe so strongly that hosted buyer programmes are the way forward for the Business Travel Show that last year we invested heavily in bringing nearly 800 to our event from the likes of Nike, Sony, Jaguar Land Rover, Kellogg’s, Microsoft, 02, British Gas, Aviva and Bridgestone. For 2013, we are investing heavily again. In fact, work’s already started on refining the programme and working with our European partners to expand our database. I’m already looking forward to it.

Posted by Graham Angus - graham.angus@centaur.co.uk 

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LONG GAME

This is my fourth week as Hosted Buyer Manager for the Business Travel Show. The show’s new hosted buyer programme was only announced recently and already we’re getting our teeth stuck in and working hard behind the scenes to bring it all together.

Our target is to host 1,200 buyers from all over Europe to the show in February; a massive increase on the numbers we looked after in 2011. The programme will create an additional 6,000 pre-arranged meetings between buyers and exhibitors. The Business Travel Show is the biggest corporate travel event in Europe, which means our hosted buyer programme will introduce big budget buyers to the most comprehensive range of suppliers under one roof, and introduce our suppliers to a whole raft of buyers who are visiting the show for the first time.

It’s a massive investment in the show; not only for 2012 but more importantly for the long term and this long term view is what makes it so exciting to work on. With a project of this magnitude, no one’s saying it won’t be a challenge, but I’ll be bringing all my experience from working on the programme at EIBTM for Reed to the table, so I’m ready to take it head on.

Hosted buyers accepted on the programme will receive complimentary travel and accommodation during the show, networking opportunities, access to the best quality free-to-attend conference in the market place, with a choice of workshops, master classes and seminars and, importantly, the opportunity to use the hosted buyer diary to book pre-arranged meetings with exhibitors of their choice. These pre-arranged meetings increase the return on investment for the buyers but also for the exhibitors, who will know in advance of the show that they have a diary of meetings with great quality buyers.

The online diary facility will allow buyers to easily view their itineraries for the Business Travel Show, including their pre-booked meetings and also their travel arrangements, networking and social functions and all the education and conference sessions they’re planning to attend.

The Business Travel Show is on 7^th and 8^th February in Earls Court, London. If you’re exhibiting at the Business Travel Show then expect to hear from me any day now. If you’re reading this and you’d like to apply for the Hosted Buyer Programme, I’d be delighted to answer any questions or queries you might have. Simply drop me an email at graham.angus@centaur.co.uk. 

Posted by Graham Angus, Hosted Buyer Manager of the Business Travel Show