GUEST BLOG: Failure rebranded as innovation?

You may have seen Amon Cohen’s recent interview with Dean Forbes in which Dean discussed Managed Travel 2.0 and went on to describe this concept as “failure dressed up as innovation”.

When the idea of Managed Travel 2.0 burst onto the scene it was a fresh approach to a long standing problem: how can we stop maverick travellers booking outside of process and prevent leakage from T&E programmes? Scott Gillespie led the charge promoting the travel innovations he'd like to see and in early 2013 KDS launched Flex T&E as a point of sale solution to this problem. At that time I said it would probably be an 80:20 solution with 20 per cent of corporates going down that route, however, the results have actually been more 95:5 and I believe this is because many people have taken their eyes off the real problem.

Initially we had thought that the emergence of ‘millennials’ onto the scene had driven the urgency to find a new type of solution, as these digital natives are far less forgiving of bad technology. However, the last year has shown us that this is not a generational thing - it's a ‘bad user experience’ thing!

People of all ages leave the corporate process when they can't find what they want. This may be because of poor content (the right content poorly displayed or the right content at the wrong price) or if they have to spend an unreasonable amount of time/effort using the tool (performance and usability).

Put another way - the whole leakage/maverick/millennial problem stems from a failure of tools and processes. When tools, policy and process are at odds with traveller experience, the result will inevitably be leakage and maverick behaviour. Tools and policy driven too aggressively by cost savings sometimes contradicted themselves (we've all flown a cheap flight but ended up spending more on ground transport or seen a cheaper flight than the one listed in our corporate tool) which further 'justifies' the maverick's stance.

Some providers jumped on this as an opportunity to 'not' address their core issue, which was a terrible user experience and lousy content. However, not even millions in marketing budgets can convince the industry that ‘open booking’ is anything more than a rebranding exercise (failure = innovation). Sceptics might even say it's an opportunistic way of bypassing both the TMC and GDS. At KDS we recognise the importance of the ecosystem and believe we all have a role to play both now and in the future.

Allowing people to effectively bypass process and tools using only an 'open booking' solution simply pushes the problem back to the user. They have to spend more time on many different sites for the search and book process. They then have to spend even longer manually entering this into expense systems - two steps backwards!

The simple answer to the problem is a great user experience with complete content. Sound familiar? It should do - because that's what we've attempted to solve with KDS Neo. We have found that Neo is delivering the right results by addressing the core issue and solving the root cause of the problem - fast and simple door-to-door bookings with the best choice of content. Users of all ages are responding to this in the way we hoped – by booking online with the right tool and embedded policy and process. Indeed both hotel attachment and user adoption are up in the customers who have deployed Neo so far.

There is still a place for 'open booking', specifically where there is no TMC in place or if the customer is not using truly innovative solutions like KDS Neo - but it remains on the peripheries rather than on centre stage.

This post was written by Oliver Quayle, KDS Senior VP Products and Partners. For further information on KDS please visit www.kds.com.

WHERE NEXT FOR THE SERVICED APARTMENT SECTOR?

There’s no doubt the industry has seen a significant increase in awareness  – and understanding – of the serviced apartment model in recent years, but what more could operators be doing to make themselves appealing to business travellers and to capture its share of the accommodation budget?

Marlin Apartments

 According to this year’s Global Serviced Apartments Industry Report from The Apartment Service, demand for serviced apartments is outstripping supply in many territories. This is due, in part, to the greater adoption of serviced apartments in travel policies, but also to more apartment operators taking short-stay (less than one week) business away from hotels.

But the report also claims that the serviced apartment sector still has a very long way to go and that its shortfalls are, in fact, self-inflicted. How?

• Varying terminology between territories (serviced apartment in the UK, corporate housing in the US, etc)
• Varying consistency of the product 
• Lack of synergy between the product and the GDS distribution channels used by TMCs
• Lack of recognised ratings system

Dolphin Square

So what’s the answer? According to TAS, the key to driving an even greater understanding of serviced apartments is through greater standardisation and the introduction and adoption of an industry-wide code of conduct for operators.

Let’s hope it’s not too long before these steps are taken and the serviced apartment sector can take another well-deserved leap forward in being accepted by corporate travellers and managers.

This post was written by David Chapple, who is event director of the Business Travel Show, which takes place 4-5 February 2013. Buyers can visit the ASAP (Association of Serviced Apartment Providers) Pavilion at the show, which celebrates its 20^th anniversary in 2014. 

GUEST BLOG: The shortest business class trip ever

I distinctly remember the first time I visited the Business Travel Show – it opened up a whole world I never knew about as a starter in the industry and I still have friends today that I met on that first visit at the exhibition’s old home in Angel, Islington. 

But it is the first time I decided to invest in exhibiting which I recall the most. As Sales & Marketing Director at Statesman Travel it was a difficult job to persuade the MD to invest in a space, stand, time and resources to get the most out of the show. But it was worth every penny as we showcased our services for the first time publicly to the market.  

I recall one client who was considering our services visited our booth and, to this day, I think the sight of us at the event added weight to our bid as a credible company. We won the account, of course. But it was when all the hard work was over that I experienced my most memorable BT Show experience. 

We had neglected to book any transportation for our booth post event, so I bribed a team from another airline booth to throw our stuff in the back and give us a lift across London.  We sat buckled up in the back of a truck in a set of brand new transatlantic business class seats for the five mile trip across the capital. Mission complete, at a competitive price too, and surely I must hold the record for the shortest business class trip ever?

This post was written by Paul Tilstone, SVP Global Operations, Global Business Travel Association.

NDC: THE CARROT AND THE STICK

It’s been a while since we blogged about NDC – five months in fact – and, in that time, this most controversial of business travel issues has continued to dominate headlines. It also came up again and again at the GBTA Europe Conference last week. And it was there that I had an idea.

There has been a lot of negative comment about NDC, but I think it’s safe to say the industry agrees that the price transparency NDC provides is a positive thing for everyone: the airlines, the buyer and the traveller. By displaying everything from the basic fare, to the extras such as baggage fees, extra legroom costs and taxes, buyers and consumers can compare like for like for the first time when booking flights and airlines can compete fairly. 

And this made me wonder. Does NDC have the potential to help travel managers drive and increase compliance while also keeping their travellers happy? Can it be both a carrot and a stick?

For example, if all airlines displayed a de-ancillaried price on NDC, TMCs could then negotiate any ancillary costs directly, and the choice of those ancillaries – up to the value of, say, five per cent of the air fare – could be left up to the traveller. So the traveller could decide if they prefer extra leg room, priority boarding or lounge access, for example, and this element of choice would help to make them feel like they were valued and had some element of control, while, in fact, they were being gently coerced into complying with policy. And a compliant traveller is every travel manager’s Holy Grail, right?.

By David Chapple

David Chapple is event director of the Business Travel Show, which takes place 4-5 February 2014 in London. Find out more at www.businesstravelshow.com. Comment on this blog below, or contact David on Twitter @btshowlondon

WHAT IS THE 'REAL' COST OF BUSINESS TRAVEL?

Much has been written recently about the business of travel management and, specifically, how managing suppliers may not be the best way to manage costs. When it comes to managing a mature travel programme, for example, the likelihood is that savings from squeezing suppliers have already been maximised. Instead, managers are being urged to manage travellers, and this point was also highlighted in Egencia’s report on ‘The Real Cost of Business Travel’.

Egencia’s report nudges managers to look at the intangible and hidden costs of business travel as well as the more classic expenses such as air travel and accommodation. By managing travellers and providing them with the right tools to plan, book and track their travel, productivity and other hidden costs can be reduced and thereby saving companies ‘the real costs of business travel’. How do you manage travellers? Well, by getting them to comply, obviously, albeit ‘gently’ suggests Egencia. In fact, they give us a very useful four-pronged approach to increase compliance:

1              Communicate – explain to travellers what the company stands to gain by adopting a new policy

2              Educate – educate travellers of the benefits to them of adhering to your travel programme and give them recognition when they do

3              Compete – encourage inter-departmental competition

4              Offer (or reward) – offer travellers incentives for the winning department in addition to bragging rights

In summary, you may have maxed out your supplier savings but there are still significant savings to be had by managing and reducing your hidden costs – your productivity costs, for example – and intangible costs, such as traveller/employee satisfaction. Do this, and you can still see a big impact on the company bottom line.

This post was written by David Chapple, event director of the Business Travel Show. Egencia is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show, which takes place 4-5 February 2014 in London.

 

CURB THE TAXIS, CUT THE COSTS

Freelance journalist and editor of Public Sector Travel Betty Low wrote a great feature for Buying Business Travel recently called ‘The Art of Persuasion’.  She argued that it’s time for travel managers to start managing travellers rather than suppliers.

Why? Because it’s travellers who are responsible for racking up a multitude of hidden expenses and, by controlling those, you may end up making bigger cost savings than constantly trying to squeeze already-squeezed suppliers.

Hidden, or unmanaged, spend is also the subject of a recent report by BCD Travel, which revealed that it accounts for a massive 26% of all travel budgets, supporting Betty Low’s opinion that it is this that holds the key to cost savings.

The BCD report claims hidden spend can be broken down into three areas:

•           Dining and entertaining – accounting for 16%
•           Ground transportation – accounting for 6%
•           Mobile – accounting for 4%

If we look at ground transportation first, it quickly becomes obvious how managing the traveller can make a massive difference. This area of hidden spend may account for just 6% now, but if taxi fares continue to rise as they have been over the last five years, it’s about to hijack an even larger share of the pot and become an even bigger problem.

Thanks to rising fuel prices, the cost of London black cabs, for example, have risen on average 18% in the last five years and by 42% over a four-mile journey. The fixed rate fare from Heathrow to London is now £65, up £10 from 2008. Buying Business Travel recently highlighted the world’s most expensive airport transfers. Travelling into Tokyo from Narita is close to £200. 

And faced with indisputable facts like this it’s hard to question the importance of traveller management and the only question to remain is how do we manage the traveller once they have left the office and are out of the travel manager’s reach?

According to the BCD Travel report, this can be partially tackled psychologically as many travellers choose options based on ‘the bandwagon effect’.

“Social norms are massively powerful because we ultimately seek the approval of others. In fact, travellers, like everyone else, are often quick to abandon their own best judgment if they feel out of step with others. Use this lever to steer travellers toward public transportation, by, for example, sending out an email: From: Travel Manager Subject: Get on the Bandwagon 80% of your co-workers have switched to using public transportation in New York City. When are you going to join them?”

And of course, increasingly the answer to traveller management is through mobile technology and the introduction of apps that are designed to encourage travellers to make cost-efficient and compliant choices once they arrive at a destination and not just during the booking process and before they leave.

Whichever method travel managers opt for, it’s clear that, if cost savings are ever to be maximised, then the end of rogue travellers must be nigh.

David Chapple is event director for the Business Travel Show. www.businesstravelshow.com  

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