THE LOWDOWN IN BRIEF
• CAPITA Business Travel has launched Interactive Campaign Manager (ICM) to inform travellers about bookings that include soft benefits such as free car parking and wifi. Capita says ICM generated over 2,000 ancillary savings opportunities amounting to over £60,000 in its few weeks. Travellers receive a single automated email detailing the offers with all related vouchers attached, with subsequent savings reported via Capita Business Travel Management Information, alongside actual ticket savings. ICM is currently available for rail related savings with selected airlines also providing lounge access as part of the scheme.
• ALMOST half of employers do not require staff to log their whereabouts when travelling for business, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by Track24. Nearly a third of the 2,000 survey respondents said they travel for work at least once every three months but only 15 per cent were ‘very confident’ that their company would have an effective process in place to deal with an emergency. Forty-five per cent thought that they alone were responsible for their own safety, revealing a significant degree of ignorance concerning duty of care and corporate manslaughter law. Tim Grant, CEO of Track24, says, “While some of the companies we encounter have basic employee location recording processes set up, normally consisting of a spreadsheet and emergency phone number, many have nothing in place at all. As companies expand, the need to locate employees and identify who needs help in an emergency becomes more important.”
• CARLSON Wagonlit customers worldwide can now download the CWT To Go app from the Apple Store, Android Market and Black- Berry App World. The smartphone app allows travellers within CWT client companies to access a wide range of services, including itinerary, changes in travel schedule and location-based information. Users also receive alerts regarding delays or cancellations to their travel bookings. Pauline Quéré, VP CWT customer product marketing, says, “The potential to be gained by integrating mobile devices to a managed travel programme is vast. With CWT To Go, we are providing our clients with a secure and free offer which will help their travellers be more effective on the go, while at the same time ensuring that they remain within their corporations’ travel programme.”
smaller spenders ➔
Portman Club for
GUEST COLUMN
ROBERT ALLEY MEETINGS & EVENTS SALES DIRECTOR, HOLIDAY INN
PORTMAN Travel has followed in the footsteps of several other TMCs by creating a special division to handle the needs of companies with small business travel spends. Called Portman Club, it is based
in East Kilbride alongside the company's other specialist units, Portman24, Portman Medical, Executive Events, Executive Leisure. The TMC says Portman Club is designed to offer a more personalised service to companies with a less substantial travel budget, with an emphasis on a cost effective travel management programme and a dedicated personal contact. Clients deal with no more than two of the Portman Club team who
will monitor their travel spend and flag areas for improvement and improved cost efficiencies. The full range of the TMCs products is available to Portman Club members, including conference and event facilities. Portman Travel’s senior vice president operations, John Dick, says, “Portman Club has been created specifically to address the needs of clients that have a smaller travel spend, but are no less important to us. “Providing a complete one-stop-
shop solution, Portman Club clients will receive the renowned inno- vation and attention of Portman Travel combined with a more personalised, tailored service.”
ACTE INTRODUCES NEW INITIATIVES
ONE speaker at ACTE’s London Executive Forum presented an established technique to drive different thinking and approaches to travel purchasing issues. The PESTLE model (which stands for political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental) was presented by Corin McGrath, best practice director, group procurement at Royal Mail Group, who said: “It assists current situation analysis and stakeholder engagement by helping suppliers understand the category strategy so they can help clients achieve the board directives,” he explained. Find out more about PESTLE in the ACTE column on page 47. Speaker Carel Aucamp, global
sourcing manager of Agrega, urged buyers and suppliers alike to present information on mobiles in a more user friendly way, and he questioned whether they added “more into the supply chain or do more apps just drive up costs without adding value?” His overiding message was to add quality, not quantity. Claudia Unger, director of research and intelligence at BCD Travel, in a speech on the consumerisation of business travel, highlighted that mobile apps offered an opportunity to interact with travellers, generated high compliance and, in the long-term, cost-savings too as travellers switched from smart phones to apps.
IT'S NO secret that businesses across the UK have been suffering since the economic downturn, and the hotel industry has not been exempt. Companies are investing in technology to save on travel costs and maximise time in the office, but this isn't necessarily the answer when trying to build and sustain meaningful relationships. In tough economic times, businesses need to find an edge against the competition. Organi- sations that support, respect and value their individuals for the authenticity and diversity will get the best from their staff to give them that advantage. Personality is an integral part of building business relationships, and using technology rather than face-to- face contact can mean it takes longer to develop the close bond needed to maintain good business relation- ships – or that we aren't able to develop them at all. At Holiday Inn, we understand
there is a need for technology. More and more meetings require the use of technology to overcome the need for large scale staff travel. Although businesses have been introducing new technologies like videoconferencing for smaller scale meetings, we are seeing that this is something that our clients need in their meeting facilities too, and we are pleased to be able to offer it to support their external meetings and conferences. There are, however, some unmissable benefits to meeting face-to-face and doing business in person – and our clients still understand that. It's a theory we apply to our own business and so we've launched an initiative to encourage businesses to put their personality back into their meetings. It includes a training initiative where all our meetings and events staff are encouraged to bring their personality to work, and a refresh of systems and processes to make them quicker and easier so we can free up time to develop strong relationships with our guests. Today's meetings provider must be
able to get everything right first time. They need to be flexible and have the best facilities, the right food choices, the latest technology, and a guaranteed 'can do' service promise.
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