IN BRIEF
■ Egencia, the TMC arm of Expedia, has expanded its operations in Asia with the opening of an office in Singapore. The new base is Egencia’s fourth full-service local office in the Asia-Pacific region.
■ The NH Hotel Group’s upper-scale brand, NH Collection, has been launched in Holland. After a period of refurbishments, NH Collection Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, NH Collection Doelen and NH Collection Barbizon Palace have been opened as flagship properties for the brand.
■ Alaska Airlines has agreed a deal to acquire Virgin America for around £2.8 billion. The deal will make Alaska Airlines the fifth largest US airline and enables it to expand into hubs such as San Francisco and Los Angeles. If the deal gets approval from US government regulators and Virgin America shareholders, the companies expect to complete the transaction by January 1, 2017.
SECURITY
EU approves passenger data sharing
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HAS APPROVED the sharing of passenger name records (PNRs) on all flights to and from the European Union (EU). The new joint system for police and justice officials is being introduced to combat terrorism. The law was first approved in 2011 but has taken five years to be enacted due to privacy laws. EU countries will have two years
to turn it into national law. The European Commission welcomed the ruling. “The data in question is already collected by airlines but the new legislation sets out detailed rules for national authorities to access it when tackling serious crime,” it said in a statement. It continued: “The atrocious
terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13 last year and Brussels on March 22 showed once more that Europe needs to scale up its common response to terrorism and take concrete actions to fight it. “The EU PNR Directive will
improve the safety and security of our citizens, while also including robust privacy and data protection safeguards.” The data collected includes traveller contact details, itineraries, ticket information, seat number and means of payment.
Special report: Advantage
CONFERENCES
conference 2016
Tom Newcombe reports from the travel conference on board cruise ship MSC Fantasia
TMCs New boss takes over at CWT
CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL’S Douglas Anderson has left the TMC after eight years as its CEO. Anderson is replaced by Kurt Ekert, who was most
recently chief commercial officer at travel technology firm Travelport before leaving in January. Ekert will report directly to Carlson’s board of directors. CWT said: “Under Douglas Anderson’s leadership, CWT became the industry leader in business travel,” adding that he was leaving “to pursue other opportunities”. Ekert spent more than 14 years at Travelport and
six years at Continental Airlines. CWT is ranked number one in BBT’s 50 Leading TMCs (see from p61).
10 BBT MAY/JUNE 2016
THE THEME OF THE FOUR-DAY CONFERENCE was around understanding the “scale, pace and nature” of the changes faced in the travel sector. A panel session saw travel buyers warn TMCs they must adapt to the changing business environment. Hilti Corporation’s Jenni Joynt said: “I think a TMC can be a one-stop solution as they used to be, but they have to adapt. Whether it’s bringing sharing economy providers on board as an example or helping with end-to-end solutions, there is definitely a place but it’s going to change.” Kerrie Hudson, from Yorkshire Building Society, added: “The need for a travel booker is becoming defunct, but I don’t think the need for a TMC is.” As corporates have risk, security, data and savings requirements, she said, “I believe a TMC is still required going forward but in a different role”. Trends expert Daniel Levine, of the Avant-Guide Institute, outlined five trends changing the way people travel and work. He said one of the major trends was the “ratings culture we currently live in”, where every company is being rated, from “Airbnb owners to even prisons”. He urged businesses to understand the experience they offer because people will share the experience “whether positive or not”. Advantage Travel Partnership corporate director Ken McLeod told delegates: “I don’t think content is going to get easier in terms of being able to manage it. Every supplier is trying to personalise their business to the individual traveller – not the corporate or the TMC. Once we’ve got that in our head and understand that philosophy, we can move forward.”
Aria Management managing director Colin Goldney
added: “I think TMCs do a much better job in aiding compliance than they get credit for, but they need to sell themselves better. TMCs need to position themselves as ‘travel enablers’, not as gatekeepers or controllers.” ¢More conference reports at
buyingbusinesstravel.com
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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