THE LOWDOWN IN BRIEF


• TRAVEL management company Egencia has released two new product features, a traveller tracking facility in partnership with red24, and an air fare benchmarking tool. The latter monitors fare trends on requested routes and benchmarks them against the same route over the last three months to help indicate the competitiveness of the fare at the time of booking. The average ticket price for the same route, same class of travel and same point of sale are all displayed, along with a graph displaying ATP over the last year. Travel managers also have access to Egencia's air fare benchmarking reports, enabling them to compare tickets booked by their own travellers against tickets booked by all Egencia customers.


• researcH by technology provider HP has revealed that UK businesses spent an average of nearly £11,900 per senior executive on long-haul travel in the first quarter of the year. The survey sought the feedback of 300 assistants to senior executives in large companies across the UK, Germany and France, with the findings also showing that the UK was slightly ahead of its neighbours when it comes to the use of videoconferencing and telepresence solutions. “In the current climate, where cost efficiencies and environmental concerns run high, switching planes, trains and automobiles for high-end videoconferencing makes good business sense,” says Paul Bradley, EMEA international director of HP Halo Visual Collaboration Solutions.


• HULL-BASED Good Travel Management has seen turnover soar by 50 per cent in 12 months, an increase it attributes in part to demand for long-haul flights, but also to cautious expansion at a time when others are cutting back. Says the TMC’s general manager, Kevin Harrison, “It was a slog but now that the economy is picking up we’re surging ahead. Corporate rail and air travel are up in the first half of the year and our performance is well ahead of the market.” Harrison adds, “Long haul travel has gone up exponentially on last year, and it’s not just from the sectors you would expect such as engineering and manufacturing firms. IT firms, market researchers, business intelligence companies and a host of other sectors are eager to do business in these countries.” He cites India, China and countries across South America as particular growth markets.


ground connections ➔


Virgin pushes


GUEST COLUMN


CHRIS POUNEY OWNER,


SEVERNSIDE CONSULTING


VIRGIN TRAINS and Virgin Atlantic are renewing efforts to integrate their ground and air product by highlighting the potential of rail- chauffeur-flight connections from across the country. The airline offers complimentary chauffeur drive pick-ups for Upper Class passengers (J and D class) arriving at London Euston station on Virgin Trains services, and claims total journey time will rival a domestic flight to London Heathrow airport – particularly on its popular Liverpool and Manchester to London rail services. Virgin also highlights the environmental and productivity gains associated with rail travel compared to air. Virgin says that by beginning


with a city centre train departure, time and expense is saved on travel to and at a regional airport, while the train’s onboard environment is more conducive to productivity, with laptop power, wifi internet access and mobile phone reception available throughout the journey. Transfers from London Euston station are pre-booked and operated by chauffeur-drive specialist Tristar, and take passengers directly to Virgin’s exclusive Upper Class Wing at Heathrow’s new-look Terminal 3. A private security channel enables Virgin to promote a ‘Limo to Lounge in ten minutes’ slogan.


“This proposal from Virgin presents a really interesting possibility for travellers from outside the South East of the country,” says Nigel Schofield of Cheshire-based travel management company Northenden Travel. “We need a fresh approach


to overcome the groundswell of objections to making flight connections at Heathrow airport,“ Schofield continues. “Only a very small fraction of


our travellers will even consider this option nowadays, but the combination of top class door-to door service from the two Virgin operations packaged together by our consultants offers real potential to address the market beyond the South East.” Although the train-chauffeur-


flight connections have been available and in operation for some time, Virgin Atlantic believes that awareness of the option among corporate buyers is not what it could be. Says Virgin Atlantic’s general manager of sales, Paul Wait: “This combination is a real option for those travellers that want a stress free journey while still having the choice of being highly productive or just using the time to relax. “Those that have tested the trip


have all given very favourable reports,“ adds Wait.


HOW CAN how travel buyers ensure world class account management within their travel programme? Spell out clearly to your TMC what you require from the role and while experience working in your industry sector can be beneficial, someone outside can bring in fresh ideas and challenge the status quo. There are several questions you should ask yourself when considering the type of management you require: • Do you have a dedicated travel manager in place already? If not, your account manager may need to take on roles which ordinarily would have been managed by a traditional travel manager, such as supplier reviews and policy benchmarking. • Do you manage travel across multiple countries? Wider experience, particularly influencing virtual teams and language skills maybe needed. • What are your strengths? A good account manager will complement, not replicate your skills. • Dedicated or shared? Consider


the size of your company and upcoming projects. Consider also part time account management supported by an analyst – there's no need for your account manager to number crunch when an analyst can be doing this better and cheaper. Ensure that your requirements,


goals and expectations have been agreed up front. Agree on general logistics such as availability if part- time; frequency and location of account reviews; the escalation procedure; how operational issues will be managed etc. Good account managers will not


only provide data, but interpret it, make recommendations based on hunches as well as facts, and benchmark with other clients and previous experiences. Discuss early when you will change


the account manager: some change every two years to ensure the relationship doesn’t go stale, others work with the same account manager for years. An account manager is being seen more as an extension of a company’s own travel department. As such, they should not be afraid to challenge you, your company and their own company on your behalf. After all you are paying for those skills and experiences.


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