CONSULTANCIES BY BOB PAPWORTH
IMPARTIAL ADVICE?
TODAY’S BUYER MUST CHOOSE FROM AN INCREASINGLY COMPLEX RAFT OF CONSULTANCY OPTIONS
THE CONCISE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY defines a consultant as “a person pro- viding professional advice etc, esp. for a fee”.
Urbandictionary.com is typically less charitable, describing a consultant as “a self-proclaimed expert that extorts inflated fees from a host company in return for vague and predominantly incorrect business advice”. The definitions may be wildly different,
but they have two concepts in common – ‘advice’ and ‘fee’. The larger travel management compa- nies (TMCs) – American Express, HRG, Carlson Wagonlit et al – have been at it for years. Along with BCD Travel’s (rela- tively) new kid on the block, Advito, they are all widely respected and use their global scope to offer impressive insights. HRG’s global hotel relations director Margaret Bowler produces a mind- blowingly detailed annual assessment of worldwide hotel price fluctuations. Advito’s global view of the impact on corporate travel of the economic fortunes
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
of anywhere from Argentina to Zambia is a negotiator’s bible. Julie Oliver, managing director of Busi-
ness Travel Direct (BTD), chose this year’s Business Travel Show to launch BTD’s consultancy division, built on the back of a partnership with expense management giant Concur. “TMCs have competed on price for too long and they have cannibal- ised their own market," she says. "We need to find new revenue streams. We don’t want to be in a bookings space, we want to be in a consultancy space.” Capita Travel and Events also launched its consulting services at the show. “The consulting services improve cost savings for businesses across all travel categories, and enhance traveller satisfaction and wellbe- ing, whilst helping businesses achieve their strategic goals,” we were informed. Capita now ranks among the UK travel management big boys, but BTD is a rela- tively small player (ranked 23rd in BBT’s Top 50, with UK sales of £67 million, against sixth-placed Capita’s £563 million), but that
BBT MAY/JUNE 2015 101
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