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News AIRLINES IN BRIEF Willie Walsh
Willie Walsh: ‘Let weak airlines fail’
STRUGGLING AIRLINES SHOULD be allowed to go under rather than receive state aid, according to IAG boss Willie Walsh. He said there was no justification for European carriers to receive hand-outs from their governments because lost capacity would soon be replaced by other airlines if “demand was there”. “State aid has gone to carriers in the past which has allowed them to continue for a while before eventually failing,” said Walsh during a session at the CAPA Airlines in Transition 2013 conference in Ireland (see Conferences, p16). Walsh used the examples of the
failures last year of Hungarian carrier Malev and Spain’s Spanair to make his case against state aid. “The weak do not have the right to stay,” he said. “They should be allowed to disappear – that’s what regulators should allow to happen. If you look at the capacity from Spanair, that was replaced overnight by other carriers. With Malev, around 60 per cent of capacity was replaced.”
TMCs
HRG win Canadian government deal
HRG HAS WON a seven-year deal for the government of Canada contract. The agreement includes all civilian travel for employees for the Canadian government, as well as supplying an online booking tool, a payment card through BMO Financial Group, and online expense management via HRG’s in-house company, Spendvision. HRG chief executive David Radcliffe said: “This is one of the most
prestigious accounts in North America. In awarding us their business, the government of Canada has provided us with an opportunity to demonstrate our talent, experience and knowledge.” n See Interview, p30
n Serviced apartments operators Frasers Hospitality and Ascott have both decided to introduce free internet access across all of their properties. Frasers currently has 77, either open or in the pipeline, in 41 cities. UK properties include Fraser Place Canary Wharf, Fraser Suites Kensington, Fraser Suites Edinburgh, and the recently refurbished Fraser Suites Glasgow. Ascott has more than 100 properties under the Ascott, Citadines and Somerset brands.
n BMI Regional starts flying between
Birmingham and Billund on June 3. The carrier will offer a six-times- a-week service. Ryanair currently flies from Stansted to Billund, while BA Cityflyer operates from London City.
IN CONVERSATION… Yann Caillère
BBT catches up with Accor chief operating officer Yann Caillère during a launch party for the new Pullman Dubai Deira City Centre hotel.
Yann Caillère You have big expansion plans for
Pullman, your main upscale business travel brand, yet at BBT we’re seeing a lot of travel programmes looking for more budget hotels... Our economy brands are expanding as well – in Saudi we’re
opening our first Ibis in Riyadh, and the Ibis World Trade Centre Dubai is doing more than 90 per cent occupancy all-year round. Europe is struggling, and we have seen some business travellers downgrading, but they still want to stay with the Accor family – stepping down from a Sofitel to a Pullman, or from a Pullman to a Novotel. However, this is not the case in Asia or Latin America – these are key growth markets for the Pullman brand. And in China we created a local upscale brand, Mei Jue – the China- specific version of Grand Mercure – because of demand for it.
Are you keen on driving more direct
sales via your website? We currently average around 50 per cent direct sales, though it
varies from country to country. Distribution is key in the hotel business today – in the US our competitors joined together to create the Room Key concept [the online booking portal run by major hotel brands]. The
What about
corporate business? We do have big direct corporate agreements, and key account
management is an important element of our business. Global corporate agreements work very well because they can cover the whole world – Accor is the biggest operator in all markets apart from North America – but also we have the full range of properties from luxury to economy, so all the different rankings within a corporation can be accommodated in a global agreement.
What difference does the booking channel
make to the traveller? Our Le Club Accorhotels loyalty programme is key to
this. We were late starters but we now have more than ten million members four years after creating the programme. Good customer relationship management equals knowing the guest and anticipating their needs. And we’re doing tests with RFID [radio-frequency identification] so that soon you’ll already be checked in and your room key is on your mobile phone. It changes the business model but doesn’t mean there are no receptionists. It means they are freed up to focus on welcoming people. n See Reviews, p110
online travel agencies [OTAs] take very high commissions, sometimes up to 20-25 per cent. This is why we need to better master our distribution channels, and why we’re investing in direct online booking – we recently launched our best-in-class mobile app. But we still need OTAs as a complement to our direct business, and also in markets where we are not strong enough.
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