The Business Travel Conference 2012 EVENT REVIEW
“ Maverick spend soars
when the travel manager doesn't keep up with technology
”
INDUSTRY SUPPORT MAIN SPONSOR EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
leisure sites, tablet etc. Quoting that 54 per cent of travellers think they can do a better deal and 47 per cent choose convenience over policy. She added that Generation Y has less problems about data privacy. Her advice was to anticipate their needs, focus on user experience and said, “Don’t let your travellers become monsters." A straw poll revealed that 90 per cent of the audience disagreed that it was time to be less stringent on travel policy.
OTHER SPONSORS
CONFERENCE SESSION Who’s best for booking hotel accommodation? Before speakers took to the stage, a poll of delegates showed travel buyers' preferred booking method for hotels was evenly split between TMCs, HBAs and booking direct. Anthony Rissbrook of Hillgate Travel
A big thank you to all our sponsors for this year’s conference. They were: Virgin Atlantic, our main sponsor; Executive sponsors: HRS, SACO & American Express Global Corporate Payments; Conference programme sponsor, Citadines Apart Hotel, part of The Ascott Ltd; and Arik Air for the badges. The Monday night party sponsors were CWT, FCm and Business Travel Market; our transport partner, Heathrow Express; and thanks to BCD Travel for the chill-out zone. Egencia sponsored keynote speaker, Alastair Campbell
argued the case for TMCs, stating that, "It's a long-standing debate, but it's no longer a case of 'us and them'. HBAs are becoming a valuable asset and some are making their content available to TMCs but TMCs have their fi ngers in more pies and are nimbler." He continued, "Buyers used to tell us we didn't have signifi cant buying power and that GDS content wasn't good enough, but the GDS has made great progress." Rissbrook argued the case for TMCs as one-stop shops. "It's got to make sense for the buyer to have all their travel, contracts and MI in one place access with single sign-on technology." Jon West of hotel booking agency HRS responded, claiming that “TMCs used to have their heads in the sand and were hostile to the specialist,” but now have a more harmonious
relationship with hotel booking agencies. West pointed out that TMCs tend to rely on the GDS for their hotel content and hence their customers miss out on the independent hotels that HBAs have worldwide. He also advised that corporates should be able to negotiate fi ve to 30 per cent off internet available room rates. “At the end of the day, what you really need is a hotel expert,” he concluded. “The customer has to decide what’s best for them. You need to have asked all the questions and done all your research.” Taking a neutral stance, Clare Murphy of
travel consultancy Bouda, said that TMCs and HBAs both have a role and advised delegates to consider whether they need city centre and/or out of town locations, chains or independents, and whether they need a strict hotels programme and an approvals process.“If you’re taking bids from both TMCs and HBAs perhaps you don’t understand your programme,” she said.
CONFERENCE SESSION Keeping you in the picture This looked at how best to reduce travel and included a look at how technology can replace some meetings. Paul Broughton, from Chambers Travel Management, said: “We go by the 80/20 rule, spend 20 per cent of the time looking back but 80 per cent of it looking forward. Capture key information on overall travel profile, advance booking, leakage, trip purpose, and introduce pre-trip approval.” Buyer Gemma King, Travel Manager Europe at KPMG, explained how she is trying to ensure that the right alternative
16 THE BUSINESS TRAVEL MAGAZINE
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