...WHERE READERS RESPOND TO BBT’S ONLINE REPORTS
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TALKIN BOUT A (R)EVOLUTION... MOBILE WILL BE THE DEATH of travel management as we know it! However, mobile here means more than just having a smartphone – but rather a part of a much larger trend in a global open online environment. Over the past decades, travel has undergone many (r)evolutionary changes, and an open global environment is the next game-changer. It will start to cloud, and ultimately erase, the clear lines of online versus offline, corporate or supplier, employees or leisure. In such an open environment we will have a huge increase in travel-related data, spread over countless different systems. The inability to track these will be the undoing of today’s TMC. Also, reliance on TMC and card data will reduce the work required, hence the category may be managed by less experienced (and cheaper) staff. This should be both a warning and incentive for everybody associated with travel to want to get ahead of the curve, re-imagine their jobs and position themselves for the next (r)evolution. Andreas Wellauer CEO, Galiant Consulting
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BUYERS URGED TO REVIEW PROGRAMMES AS HOTEL PRICES SOAR THIS IS ANOTHER important reason to ensure, where possible, VAT refunds are secured on hotel rates etc. Remember that VAT at 20 per
122 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2015
BBTWEETS
Travel tweeters: follow us on @BBT_online and @TravelbizPaul
@LetBritainFly Let’s back Heathrow and Gatwick for expansion, South Wales Chamber tells businesses and politicians
bit.ly/1aphlfl
@richardbranson
Love this idea: dwindling bee populations being stimulated by using free space at airports
nyti.ms/1wrQkSt #readbyrichard
@TomOtley
At the topping out ceremony @InterConHotels O2, with the largest pillar-free ballroom in Europe
@travel_hack
A major global investment bank told me it spent $5 million on @Uber last year even though the service is not part of its travel policy
@paultilstone Congratulations @British_Airways: 9 rows of Club Europe from Geneva to London. Most I have ever seen #economicgrowth #success
cent is loaded on to UK rates but for most European and US companies is generally fully refundable when incurred on business trips. This is a sizeable saving opportunity.
THERESA MAY ANNOUNCES VISA CHANGES CONGRATULATIONS to the Home Office in simplifying the current visa system. One does have to ask, though, how did the people in Whitehall manage to create 15 visa types in the first place?
TRAVELDOO BOSS: SUPER PROFILES THE IDEA of a super-profile is one we should embrace. It would help companies to retain control of the parameters of traveller purchasing, regardless of channel, if modern technology standards are used. I thought of the idea of a super PIN a few years ago too: a number which the traveller could use as an identifier to link spend to corporation, no matter where the booking. Then it struck me that we already have a super PIN – it’s called a passport number!
HEATHROW CHIEF CLAIMS ‘OVERWHELMING’ SUPPORT FOR EXPANSION SPEAKING AT THE BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE annual conference, John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow CEO, was correct calling for MPs to stop “dithering on airport expansion”. But what is the right choice for UK plc? Evidence shows that, throughout the world, one single airport with multi- runway and infrastructure is
the only way forward for a world-leading, thriving hub. If Heathrow is chosen, then it requires massive multi-party support, as expansion will be on a scale never seen before in the UK. To be a top global hub, Heathrow will require a minimum of four runways to secure longevity – research has also shown five would be better. The land acquisition would be enormous and the displacement of thousands of homes and businesses will be immense. As the discussions go around in circles, other countries have already expanded their hubs. By the time decisions are actually made, the headlines will be: Brandenberg, Berlin, becomes Europe’s leading hub...
APD DEVOLVED TO SCOTLAND
THE UK HAS CHOSEN to charge Air Passenger Duty (APD), which is damaging our airline, transport infrastructure and tourism industries. By Scotland choosing to drop it – and raising taxes from a different source – the rest of the UK will suffer some competitive disadvantage, to a large extent determined by geography and the proximity to the nearest Scottish airport. Hopefully, the consequence of this will be the rest of the UK seeing the error of its ways and dropping APD as well – which will not only give a more level playing field with Scottish airports and tourism, but also with European airlines and hub airports that are slowly-but-surely drawing UK passengers away from using major UK airports as hubs.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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