JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
Drivers of change TRIP BAM
The online hotel booking service has won recognition from the Global Business Travel Association through its Spotlight on Transformation award for helping buyers to reduce their accommodation spending, even as hotels put up rates and travellers are tempted to bypass the travel management team, and book direct with properties.
The system allows travellers to pick from a cluster of hotels in the city they are travelling to. Trip Bam then checks the prices for all of these hotels up to the time of travel so, if a lower rate is found, the traveller can cancel the original hotel booking and take the cheaper option. Unlike many of these web- based services, Trip Bam is working closely with travel managers by supporting
MANAGING TRAVEL
MIKE TANGNEY GLOBAL TRAVEL MANAGER, GOOGLE It’s hard to underestimate Google’s impact on the world of technology in recent years – and now it has moved into travel distribution, with its flight searches.
The search engine has also been leading the field in the way it manages its own travel, first
BENSON TANG REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ASIA, ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE TRAVEL EXECUTIVES Hong Kong-based Tang has been given the considerable task of bringing the concept of managed corporate travel to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, including China, India and central Asian energy nations such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. While major multinational companies based in these
EGENCIA 62
The power of Egencia’s parent company, Expedia, should never be under-estimated, and the TMC has been growing impressively in the last few years – up by 30 per cent in travel sales to US$3.43 billion for the first nine months of 2013.
Expedia has had its eyes on the business travel market for some years, and Egencia is still seen as being one of the online
allowing its employees freedom to choose with who, and how, they booked in 2008. Dublin-based Mike Tangney was the driver behind this free-wheeling travel policy, and he has been nominated for the Hotlist by GBTA Europe’s Paul Tilstone, who said: “The Google programme continues to be unique – because of its culture, in travel distribution and
countries tend to have local travel managers, the vast majority of locally-owned firms do not have dedicated managers, and they are just starting to get to grips with the principles and potential benefits for their businesses.
“The concept is quite new – and we need to introduce that concept,” says Tang.
Covering such a vast part of the planet means that Tang is frequently on the move – he clocked up more than 20 events during 2013. His
travel behemoth’s ‘earlier-stage businesses’, which makes its growth intentions clear. Egencia expects to make further progress in 2014 with the roll-out of its new Trip Navigator itinerary app – which Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi describes as “dynamite” – as well as continued global expansion (the TMC added seven new markets in November 2013 alone).
technology focus, it is making us all think about where we are headed.” How many buyers will be willing to embrace this kind of laissez-faire approach to travel management over the next few years? As for Tangney, it will be interesting to watch how the mobile and social media revolution affects Google’s own travel programme.
mission is to explain to companies the “foundations of travel management and also how we can help them get property trained”. Tang is likely to be just as busy in 2014 and beyond, as relationship-building is crucial to gaining any traction in Asia. “We really have to go into it from different angles – you have to appreciate the cultural differences and establish relationships in parallel with education,” he says.
The current ‘big four’ global TMCs are probably already looking over their shoulders as Egencia continues its charge. Having Expedia’s technological expertise behind the brand, and the fact it is still more interested in grabbing market share than maximising profit, are both things buyers can surely leverage to their financial advantage.
corporate negotiated rates, thus reducing the chance of employees’ bookings leaking out of the programme. Robson Grieve, executive vice-president at Concur, said: “Innovative tools like Trip Bam are part of a significant and growing trend across the travel industry today, empowering travellers to make better decisions which, in turn, help companies improve the bottom line.”
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