TRAVEL MANAGERS LOOKING AFTER MEETINGS RISES AGAIN

Much has been written about the convergence of travel and meetings in recent years, with many professionals now having travel and meetings in their job titles. As time goes on, there seem to be no sign of this trend abating as, according to a survey by the Business Travel Show, the number of business travel managers with responsibility for meetings management is on the rise again - last year it increased from 52 to 57 per cent. The number of organisations with a strategic meetings management programme in place also increased, from 27 per cent to 34 per cent.

179 travel buyers took part in the survey, 73 per cent from the UK and the remainder from continental Europe. We have been asking these questions of our buyers since 2010 and below you can see the yearly comparisons:

(1) Does your remit include meetings management?

	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
Yes	57	52	55	40	51
No	43	48	45	60	49

(2) Do you have a strategic meetings management programme in place?

	2014	2013	2012	2011
Yes	34	27	39	30
No	41	45	37	41
Planning to	24	28	27	22

One of the buyers on the Business Travel Show advisory board - Jef Robinson, global category manager (meetings and events), Citrix Systems - pointed out that, while more and more travel managers may be taking on responsibility for meetings management it doesn’t mean the transition is without its challenges. He said: "It’s tricky to develop a meetings and events process that reduces risk and reduces company expenditure but without planners losing ownership. Selling the concept of SMMP technology within an organisation is also a difficult task but, done well, it’s a transition that will not only help companies to leverage better deals with suppliers but also improve their duty of care.”

So, it's a tricky job but one that more and more managers are being faced with. Perhaps now is an opportune time to point out that there are a number of meetings related conference sessions at the Business Travel Show next month which are designed to help you make that transition smoothly.

Tues 24 February, 1630-1730        

Integrating travel and meetings

More and more companies are combining their management of travel and meetings, not only to leverage better deals with suppliers but to improve their duty of care and achieve many other efficiencies. Does integration make sense for your business too?

Thurs 26 February, 1600-1700

First steps in strategic meetings management

Many companies would like to manage their meetings with a co-ordinated strategy but there are many challenges, from internal resistance to lack of reliable data. How do you overcome these hurdles to get yourself on the road to true meetings management?

About the Business Travel Show:

The Business Travel Show, held annually in London for 20 years, is Europe’s largest specialised exhibition and conference bringing together 6,500 European travel professionals. This long established and reputable event provides business travel buyers and managers with the suppliers, knowledge and contacts to help create and develop successful travel programmes.

Please don't miss out - they are free to attend so register now at www.businesstravelshow.com - and let us help you master the art of meetings. 

This post was written by David Chapple, event director, Business Travel Show. You can contact him at david@businesstravelshow.com or chat to him on Twitter @David_Chapple. 

GUEST BLOG: Driving strategy through data

‘Big data’ has become the buzzword of the 21st century for almost every industry sector, but especially the business travel industry. There are now estimated to be more pieces of digital content – emails, tweets, Instagram updates, et al – than there are grains of sand on every beach on earth. Add to this an overwhelming volume of data that companies have access to regarding how, where and when their people travelled on business, and the cost involved, means that data collaboration and analysis have changed the face of travel management in recent years.

Back in the day, big data was called ‘statistics’, and in one respect, the same principle still applies. In other words it’s all very well having an abundance of statistics, or data, but the challenge for business travel buyers is making sure they have the right data, which will not only give them visibility of their total spend, but will guide them to making the right commercial decisions about their travel programme. It’s about being able to translate that myriad facts and figures into tangible insight and business results.

While many travel management companies (TMCs) will promise to provide comprehensive data, the key to making informed decisions about that data, so that you can drive behavioural changes, refine booking processes and ensure your travel programme is operating at peak performance, lies in the way that data is presented.

Your TMC should work in partnership with you to extract and breakdown the data that is most important, timely and relevant to your company. That is why last year FCm Travel Solutions’ account management team undertook a detailed analysis of how they present data to clients. The result was a new highly-visual personalised Data Review Pack which has transformed the way in which FCm presents travel intelligence to clients.

Each Data Pack is aligned from a finance perspective and contains a new set of tailored exception reports, highlighting not only areas for controlling travel spend - savings, missed savings, policy and booker behaviour, days in advance, cabin class, online adoption - but also a ‘toolkit’ enabling the travel manager to tackle these areas and affect change in their business.

An ‘opportunity calculator’ allows FCm’s account managers to tailor the exception report to suit the client’s individual objectives, for example if policy is seven days in advance, or 30 days in advance, the team can produce a report accordingly. Account managers guide their client through the data pack to understand what data is important to them and extract what they need to present back to their business.

Files are in Excel so that travel managers can make use of the information immediately, extracting what they need to present to their superiors, making the pack a true data resource for the client.

At the end of the day, anyone can gather data, but if you want to drive the right outcomes, then it’s all about how that data is presented.

This blogspot was written by Jo Greenfield, UK general manager, FCm Travel Solutions www.fcmtravel.co.uk  FCm will be showcasing its customised products and services on stand B120 at this year’s Business Travel Show, taking place 25-26 February at Olympia Grand, London. Register at www.businesstravelshow.com. 

GUEST BLOG: Are travel policies still important?

A number of businesses are taking a fresh look at their travel programmes and policies. This move has primarily resulted from the aftermath of the financial crisis and the ongoing economic challenges many companies face.

They are asking: what is the best fare and what is the best rate? They are no longer asking where they go to get them. Essentially, these questions and the shift in focus are driven by the need to get the most from a travel budget. There is a move to shift the focus from a mandate culture and place greater control at cost centre levels.

At the same time, the amount of choice available to business travellers has grown exponentially. There is an increasingly complex market full of different suppliers, products and services for them to navigate. This has led to much debate as to whether travellers should be 'turned loose' to find their own fares and rates.

So is this the end of the travel policy?

The short answer is no.

In reality, if you want to search hard enough and spend enough time doing it, you are occasionally going to find a lower fare searching on you own. However, there are millions of fares and rates that are available across all networks. Do you really want your travellers spending so much time on non-core activities?

The role of the Travel Management Company is to manage this enormous choice for the traveller, filter it and simplify it. What HRG has seen across our customer base is that they are looking for us to bring in the right content, when and where it is relevant.

This integration with traditional content provides one simple, easy, efficient booking solution that allows travellers to make their transactions quickly, while securing the lowest cost.

What will travel policies look like in the future?

There are a number of key features that travel policies of the future will include. These features will create the right conditions for travellers to make the best possible decisions.

-       Content: In the future content is likely to become more fragmented. The ability to aggregate and filter it all for travellers to see will add value in helping businesses to manage their travel expenditure.

-       Control: Despite the lessening of the mandate authority, travel managers will need to maintain an active point of control.

-       Forecasting: Businesses need travel data. Not only do they want to know how much they have spent, they want to know how much they are going to spend.

-       Duty of Care: Duty of care obligations are crucial and will continue to grow in importance. Businesses must ensure they can find people in times of crisis, provide repatriation services and emergency support for their own travellers.

To conclude, with less emphasis on a mandate and with more focus on control at the cost centre level, travel policies will need to be developed and designed accordingly. By accommodating the desire for a greater level of autonomy and accountability travel managers can create the right conditions to positively influence traveller behaviour while balancing the need to achieve more from their travel budgets.

This blog post was written by Karen Smithson, Director of Client Management - UK, HRG. For more information please visit www.hrgworldwide.com. HRG is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show in February. For a free visitor pass please register at www.businesstravelshow.com. 

GUEST BLOG: How the travel industry can benefit from advancements in taxi-booking technology

Online taxi-booking has been somewhat late to the party compared with other products and services, but is now well and truly established, with the market for online taxi-booking services currently booming. In fact, at no point in history has investment in the taxi industry been at levels even close to what it is now; the taxi economy is worth £10bn in the UK alone. This clearly presents a valuable opportunity for technology companies, as no one company has the lion’s share of the market.

With over 230 million people flying into and around the UK every year, the market for ground transportation may well be one of the biggest untapped revenue streams for the travel industry. The trouble is there has never before been an elegant solution; options are typically limited to high cost chauffeur services which are no cheaper than the hugely expensive black cab. Travellers are often left to find their own way from the airport to the hotel at considerable cost. A black cab from London Heathrow will typically be well over £100 for this type of 15 mile journey while a minicab may charge as little as £40.

By using online taxi-booking tools, travel agents are able to take advantage of the minicab options available to them, ensuring their customers have their travel pre-arranged from two points, such as from the airport to the hotel, while also adding an additional revenue stream with relatively minimal effort. We have developed new tools for travel agents and travel management companies as part of their online taxi-booking service, including API’s which allow integration into agents own travel booking websites and systems, and travel portals which provide easy online access to booking minicabs online. For travel agents, booking travel through an online system is nothing new, but ideas like this for ground transportation are set to revolutionise the industry.

While the public are using online taxi-booking tools to an increasing degree, private and retail sectors have been slow to make use of the opportunities available to them. Online taxi-booking offers a range of benefits over traditional travel options for businesses, and an increased uptake by travel agents would improve not only the services they are able to offer to the customer, but also the taxi industry as a whole, encouraging uptake and creating a fair and self-regulating market, which will, by nature, bring about better and more reasonable taxi pricing for all – this can only be a win/win for everyone involved, from the customer to the travel agent to the taxi companies themselves.

Taxicode, the UK’s only nationwide online taxi-booking service, will be unveiling two new API solutions for travel agents and travel management companies at the Business Travel Show in February – drop by stand B842 to find out more, and check out www.taxicode.com in the meantime.

This blog was written by Jonathan Kettle, Director and Co-Founder of Taxicode.

www.taxicode.com @taxicode

AIRLINE PRICING BIGGEST BUYER CONCERN FOR 2015

The Business Travel Show's annual buyer forecast, released today, has revealed that one third of European business travel buyers will have more money to spend in 2015. This is undoubtedly good news and, despite being a slight drop on previous years, is still a strong indication that the market is heading in the right direction. It is also  in line with predictions from the GBTA that Europe will enjoy a five per cent increase in business travel spend this year. 

The fact that 45 per cent of buyers also expect to manage more trips this year shows that, despite having more money to spend, they are still being pressured into getting more for their money and making budgets work harder.

Airline highlights from the survey: 

• 36 per cent of buyers enjoyed bigger airline budgets in 2014 and a further third predict airline budgets will increase again for 2015.

• Nine per cent of buyers don’t currently – or have plans to – use low cost carriers. 26 per cent plan to increase their usage in 2015.

• 38 per cent of buyers bought fewer business class seats in 2014 and 23 per cent will only provide business class travel for flights over eight hours

Accommodation highlights from the survey: 

• Almost one third (31 per cent) of buyers had more to spend on accommodation in 2014.

• All buyers use budget hotels, though for 82 per cent they account for less than 50 per cent of the room nights they book. 12 per cent of buyers used budget accommodation more or significantly more in 2014.

• Serviced apartments account for less than 10 per cent of room nights for 84 per cent of buyers though 12 per cent of buyers did increase their use of apartments in 2014.

• Top 20 issues facing buyers in 2015:

2014/2015	2013/2014
Airline pricing – increases, lack of transparency and negotiation concerns	NDC
Controlling costs and managing spend	Travel management 2.0
Compliance and enforcing policy adherence	Data
Increased hotel rates	Sustainability
Traveller safety	Meetings management
Cost savings	Mobile apps
Ancillary fees	Technological developments
The role of the TMC	Free Wi-Fi in hotels and on airlines
Online adoption	CSR
Cost increases	Terrorism
Balancing traveller needs while staying within budget	Gamification
Online vs TMC pricing	Relaxation of policy
Sustainability	Airline bankruptcy
GDS content	Integration of social and travel tools
Supplier consolidation	Ancillary fees
Mobile technology & solutions	Airline consolidation
Airline consolidation	Risk management
Availability and variety of low cost leisure tools	Virtual meetings
The move towards traveller management	Fuel increases
Stakeholder management	Less reliance on TMCs

179 travel buyers took part in the sixth Business Travel Show annual survey in October 2014. 73 per cent of respondents worked in the UK and the remaining 27 per cent in continental Europe.

Respondents’ travel budget:  %

Less than £150k/€185k  21%

£151k-£500k/€186k-€625k   8%

£501k-£1m/€626k-€1.3m   8%

£1m-£3m/€1.3m-€3.75m   16%

£3m-£10m/€3.75m-€12.5m  14%

£10m+/€12.5m+ 33%

Number of travellers responsible for:   %

Fewer than 50   20%

51-100    8%

101-500   15%

501-1000   10%

1000+   43%

N.A.  4%

179 travel buyers took part in the Business Travel Show survey - 73 per cent from the UK and 27 per cent from continental Europe. The full Corporate Travel Industry Trend Report featuring analysis going back to 2008 will be available to all buyers who pre-register for the show, which takes place 25-26 February 2015 at Olympia Grand in London.

This blog post was written by David Chapple, event director, Business Travel Show. You can chat to David on Twitter @david_chapple or email him - david@businesstravelshow.com