IS FREE HOTEL WI-FI A DIVINE RIGHT FOR BUSINESS TRAVELLERS?

Many business travellers believe that free hotel Wi-Fi is a divine right - traveller Dean Barrett blogs about it here. And many corporate travel managers would agree with them, investing valuable resources in negotiating free Wi-Fi during the RFP season, of which we are still in the midst.

But according to a Databank league table in Buying Business Travel magazine, it would be an understatement to say that all hotels are on their side. And what’s even more interesting is the huge discrepancies between countries throughout Europe when it comes to giving away the Holy Grail of business travel as part of the rack rate.

The following table shows the percentages of hotels offering free Wi-Fi in the best-served 20 countries in Europe. You’ll see that the UK comes in at a disappointing 14^th place. Turkey, however, excels in its complimentary internet provision. The Mediterranean countries fare worst.

  

Why such discrepancies exist it’s hard to say. It could be telecoms costs, hotel rates or just the cultural norm. But what is useful about this league is the power it gives corporate travel managers when it comes to negotiating those add-ons during the RFP process. Such vital information about travel patterns can help them direct their resources more effectively when planning a global programme. This league shows, for example, that there is very little point demanding free Wi-Fi for travellers to Turkey, when nearly 85 per cent of hotels include it for free anyway. It may be wiser to ask, instead, for free parking, late checkout and early check in, free breakfast, gym passes or airport transfers? 

So is free hotel Wi-Fi the divine right of all business travellers? Well Turkey seems to think so. And with a little strategic strong-arming from travel managers across Europe, hopefully it won’t be too long before the rest of the continent follows suit.

David Chapple is event director for the Business Travel Show, which is the leading conference and exhibition in Europe for the corporate travel market. www.businesstravelshow.com 

TRAVELLERS PREFER TO TRAVEL OUT OF POLICY. NO SURPRISE THERE, THEN.

I’ve just finished reading a news story in the LA Times based on a survey by Concur Technologies. The survey found that business travellers believe the success of their trips is inversely proportional to the number of travel restrictions laid down by their employers.

Business travellers on trips with strict travel policies score them as 73 per cent successful in achieving all of their goals; when travellers are given only guidelines and recommendations, the score rises to 76 per cent; and when an employee travels with no policy at all, that score jumps another three per cent.

Surveys like this are undoubtedly useful and interesting, particularly for HR and senior management, even though I’m not 100 per cent sure you could call the results surprising. I mean, wouldn’t we all prefer to choose our own flights and hotels when travelling on business? I know I would.

But they must also be downright frustrating for travel departments, managers and bookers who put so much effort into creating travel policy, securing management buy in and support, and enforcing that policy to ensure they are getting the best for their business. 

Posted by David Chapple - david@businesstravelshow.com 

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 

HOW TO CREATE A MANAGED TRAVEL PROGRAMME

In this month's Executive Secretary (the essential training resource for senior and aspiring administrative professionals) we contributed a feature on how to create a managed travel programme. 

Below is a taster. To subscribe to the magazine and read the full article, please visit the website www.executivesecretary.com. 

"Many buyers of business travel fall into it by accident and, recently, this has included an increasing number of executive secretaries who have found themselves suddenly responsible for this complex purchasing function. If you are one of many new to buying business travel and don’t quite know where to start, this guide will explain what a business travel programme should look like and how to shape one from scratch, highlighting the essentials of travel buying as well as common pitfalls.

A managed travel programme is when a business takes a strategic approach to managing travel, as it would with any other controllable expense, and this benefits you with cost savings, transparency, compliance, process improvements and traveller safety and security.

The five phases

Buying and managing travel can be broken down into five key phases:

1.      Discovery

2.      Engagement

3.      Purchasing

4.      Implementation

5.      Monitoring

PHASE 1: DISCOVERY

The discovery phase involves a full review of your current solution to identify what is in place, what works well, and where improvements can be made. It should focus on identifying spend/volume, incumbent suppliers, contractual commitments and stakeholders. A key output should be a benefits analysis, which should be used to obtain executive buy-in.There are seven steps to work through.

PHASE 2: ENGAGEMENT

It’s time to engage with the necessary functions and people within your business that are involved/interested in, or have responsibility for, travel. Doing this early on makes it easier to achieve their buy in. Including stakeholders in a working party, which has a hand in making decisions, will help cross functional implementation in Phase 4.

PHASE 3: PURCHASING – THE RFP PROCESS

This is when you identify potential suppliers, share your requirements and determine the costs you will pay and the service you will receive.

PHASE 3: PURCHASING - COMMODITIES

It is important to maximise savings opportunities and this can be achieved by purchasing commodity type elements, e.g., negotiated discounts on core routes within your air programme, or a group/chain discount within your hotel programme. Also consider loyalty programmes, which can add value for your travellers, such as room and flight upgrades, free Wi-Fi and lounge access.

PHASE 4: IMPLEMENTATION

Once you have identified the best suppliers to book and manage your travel, or the best commodity providers, you need to launch this to the business. Your implementation plan must be formed using the skills and resources of the supplier’s implementation manager, you and your stakeholders. Realistic timelines for implementation need to be set with your suppliers and agreed with your internal stakeholders.

Supplier visibility is also very important. This can be readily achieved by holding on site supplier road shows or by taking key bookers to the supplier’s offices. The insight gained and relationship building this achieves is invaluable.

PHASE 5: MONITORING

And, finally, one your programme is in place, you need to monitor it."

This guide was written by the Institute of Travel & Meetings and edited by David Chapple for Executive Secretary. David is event director of the Business Travel Show and a director of the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM). The Business Travel Show runs 7-8 February 2012 at Earls Court in London. More than 5,000 visitors (10% of which attend from outside the UK) can meet 200+ business travel suppliers and travel management companies, and enjoy a high quality, free to attend conference track designed specifically for PAs and executive secretaries.

The ITM is a not for profit organisation that supports the travel industry. It offers valuable support to buyers of travel and meetings and is currently offering free membership.

www.businesstravelshow.com

www.itm.org.uk