MIKE BUTCHER, REGIONAL TRAVEL MANAGER FOR WESTERN EUROPE AND AFRICA AT GLOBAL TELECOMS FIRM ALCATEL-LUCENT, TALKS TO CATHERINE CHETWYND
Tell us about the type of travel programme you operate at Alcatel-Lucent? We have a global, regional and country policy. We’ve got more than 60,000 employees worldwide and, in the main countries, probably around 70 per cent of people travel at any one time.
How many TMCs do you have? We have a single TMC [travel manage- ment company], and it pretty much manages the programme in all countries.
Does being in the telecoms sector influence your attitude to technology? Definitely. Our technology guys understand it and what’s needed for our customers, and they expect the same from business tools. Sadly, the business tools do not keep pace with the leisure tools. We try to educate people that business
travel is more complex, and we explain that a company has a duty-of-care – and that’s one reason they have to book through the TMC.
Have any industry events had a marked effect on your travellers? The ash cloud [in 2010] was a turning point for us and illustrated the benefits of having a TMC. We had travellers stuck in another country, but they had hotel accommodation booked for them and were booked on the next available flight back. They really saw the benefits of that. If they’d booked through Expedia or someone else, they’d be on their own. We saw compliance go up as a result, particularly in hotels.
32 BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
Have you made changes to your travel programme? We have improved the hotel programme. I’ve put a block into the gateway so that if anyone tries to book a non-preferred hotel, we ask why. If it’s because it is not in the right location, that is good information for me. If I can see that we have a customer based in a certain area of a city, then we have to have a hotel there. We haven’t done this before, and it
was partly inspired by a change in the business model, when we moved from a local to a global programme: before, anyone visiting a customer in Italy would have gone home at night; now, it could be someone coming in from France, the US, the UK... It’s more complicated, but that is what makes the job fun – under- standing why people choose a hotel.
Is your travel policy mandated? Yes, it is. We have got city and country caps for hotels, and if travellers book above the cap, out of policy, there is a good chance they may not get the rate refunded.
Compliance is getting on for 100
per cent in air, but it is a bit lower in hotels. With the programme booked through the TMC it’s about 90 per cent, but overall, I guess we’re about 70 per cent compliant because I don’t see what is booked out of policy and not through the TMC.
Are you a member of any industry associations? I have just joined ACTE [Association of Corporate Travel Executives] – I’m one of their buyer members. I was a member of
CIPS [Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply] for more years than I care to remember, and I decided that ACTE would be a better body to join.
What one piece of advice would you give to suppliers? If someone is trying to work with you in an open and transparent partnership arrangement, be honest and open. I’ve been dealing with most of our suppliers for a number of years and we do have that sort of relationship, but that doesn’t mean everybody in that organisation is lined up behind it.
One national carrier offers people the chance to upgrade using loyalty points, but they cannot do that if the booking is made through the TMC – the airline has to take it over. There has got to be a smarter way of doing it.
What is the greatest challenge you face and how are you dealing with it? My biggest challenge is trying to make cost savings in a market that is rising. In London and other major cities, oc- cupancy levels are exceptionally high and getting hotel rates within our cost constraints is becoming increasingly difficult. It’s a case of developing the relationship with the sales guys – and we are trying to reduce the number of hotels in the programme to increase the volumes – but it is a tough call.
How long have you been a travel buyer and how has the role changed during that period? I have been a buyer for 17 years and it is a lot less transactional and a lot more relationship-based now; previously, it
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