BBT FORUM
SENIOR TRAVEL BUYERS HEADED TO LONDON’S GRANGE CITY HOTEL TO DEBATE THE VARIED GLOBAL CHALLENGES OF RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL CORPORATE TRAVEL PROGRAMME. TOM NEWCOMBE REPORTS
is causing increased risk to travellers and their companies. This included reputational risk, safety, security and data risk. Ted Jones, CEO of Northcott Global Solutions, said the “naivety” of some travellers often enhances the risk to their safety, and companies should look at disciplinary procedures for these employees.
B “Complacency and lack of
awareness means corporate travellers don’t always appreciate the risk factor when travelling,” he said. “While education is very important, another solution could be to make regular breaching of travel risk a disciplinary issue within your organisation.”
uyers at the BBT Forum discussed how the growth in travel to emerging markets
Delegates heard that while many companies place great importance on financial and strategic risk, the wellbeing of the traveller is not always seen as a ‘high-level’ issue. BCD Travel sales and marketing director Tony McGetrick said there is “a bit of a paradox” in terms of risk and business travel. “Business travel is inherently risky, but we find this is often underestimated,” he said. “At the high level, there’s more prominence on financial and strategic risk, because travel-related risks are often seen as low level and unlikely to put a company out of business.”
COMPLIANCE Delegates heard how
employees must have a sound understanding of the company culture in order to increase policy compliance. The forum heard
from a panel of senior travel buyers, who agreed that to get more employees compliant with policy, there must be “buy-in from the top down”. The first session of the day tackled ‘the three C’s’ – compliance, communication and culture. The panel said it was important for senior management to ensure travellers understand the company culture, as it will help ‘plug’ leakage from the programme.
The panel also discussed the importance of communication regarding the travel policy. “We have a global policy, and any amendments made will be communicated globally through many channels, such as the intranet, emails and company forums,” said one panel member. “We will use any platform to get the message across.” Another buyer said it was important always to be open to your travellers. “You must be close to your employees. Listen to them and tackle the communication problem at every angle. “There can also be
collaborations with other buyers – find out about the challenges they face and help share the knowledge, as collaboration has its place externally, too, and not just inside the company walls.”
POLICY LEAKAGE Buyers were urged not to force travellers into preferred hotels
with negotiated rates, as it could increase leakage from the travel policy. In the opening keynote address from Jason Long, vice- president of corporate solutions at hotel booking specialist HRS, he said that if your travellers use a self-booking tool for hotels, then ensure other hotels as well as your preferred properties can still be seen. “Travellers might have priorities that don’t fall in line with company policy, so my recommendation would be to keep your negotiated rates in there, but also make other hotels accessible,” he said. “That way at least you can track the traveller, increase visibility, display duty-of-care, and then also guide the traveller to the negotiated rates.”
He added: “Accessibility and quality of content can really increase compliance.”
The next BBT Forums for 2014 take place on Thursday, July 3, in Dublin (half-day event), and Friday, October 3, in London (full-day event). The BBT Forums offer travel buyers an excellent opportunity for insightful, open dialogue and debate with peers and industry experts. Invitations are free to BBT travel buyer readers, but places are limited. ■ For more information, visit
buyingbusinesstravel.com/bbtforum
Supported by
The BBT Forum is supported by ACTE and our sponsors: thank you to Airplus International, BCD Travel, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Get There, HRS, Lufthansa and event location sponsor Grange Hotels.
18 BBT MAY/JUNE 2014
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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