RUDIGER BRUSS, global category manager for travel and mobility with the German automotive company Continental, is a keen student of British television comedy. Ask him about the much-vaunted concept of Managed Travel 2.0 (MT2.0), aka consumerisation, aka open booking (and many other aliases besides), and the show he instantly invokes is Yes, Prime Minister. “There is always a point,” Herr Bruss tells Buying Business Travel, “where Sir Humphrey says: ‘This is a very interesting idea.’ MT2.0 is an ‘interesting idea’, but it is just that. Frankly, I do not see any of it being applicable to a large corporation.” In case you have recently holidayed on Mars, or anywhere else inaccessible to the world’s business
travel media, MT2.0 is based on a belief that travel managers will soon have to bin much in their rule books for travellers. Pressure from iPad- and smartphone-wielding employees for greater freedom to make their own smart booking choices will force policies to become far more flexible about which suppliers travellers book, and the channels through which they book them. As a result, the theory goes, travel managers will have to find new ways to influence travellers to make the right decisions, and new ways to monitor spend and trip selections across a much more diverse range of booking channels.
THE GENERATION GAP The case for MT2.0 has been made very eloquently by Jennifer Steinke,
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Is the concept of MT2.0 the way forward, a lot of hot air – or simply a bad idea? Amon Cohen investigates
Arizona-based director of corporate travel, meetings and expense for US Foods. Quoted in a recent white paper from Airplus International and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), entitled The Future of Compliance – Should Travel Managers Loosen or Tighten Policy?, Steinke directly contradicts peers such as Bruss. “Very few travel managers are
ready for it, but they are wrong if they think the landscape won’t change in the next two years,” Steinke says. In her view, travellers are already acting independently, typically checking fares on several consumer websites before reluctantly switching to make their reservations through the official booking tool. She contrasts the queries she receives from older and younger employees about the