...WHERE READERS RESPOND TO BBT’S ONLINE REPORTS
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MYSTERY BUYER COLD CALLING ISN’T EASY, and although it sounds like you’re dealing with inexperienced sales people, it’s not often you’d get someone on the phone prepared to answer the type of questions you detail in this piece. Most sales people are happy just to reel off the same spiel in the hope that one in 10 will bite. Trying to converse about the potential client’s future needs is great if you think you’ve got the chance of a long-term relationship, but, all too often if they don’t make the sale, they’ll be moved on anyway. It’s a high-pressure world.
LATEROOMS TO ‘CHALLENGE’ TRAVEL MANAGEMENT THIS MAYBE OKAY FOR THE DECLINING NUMBER OF businesses that only have UK operations and don’t use TMCs. However with only 55,000 properties, Laterooms can’t really be serious about challenging the TMCs’ core business. Especially as multi-content platforms are now being utilised by most, providing access to more than five times as many properties.
OPINION: UBER AND BUSINESS TRAVEL EXCELLENT ARTICLE, BUT YOU LEFT OUT AN IMPORTANT concept. The future of the “for hire” industry is being threatened like never before. Our very future hinges on the industry finding a way to work together to compete effectively with the
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BBTWEETS
Travel tweeters: follow us on @BBT_online and @TravelbizPaul
@thomasnewcombe #GBTA2015 Session from Scott Gillespie on airline sourcing – ‘Make credible promises and threats to the airline to get the best prices’.
@WingsTravelMgmt Apple’s next versions of iOS and OS X will track your flights
http://engt.co/1ILhPJd via @Engadget #businesstravel
@POTUS
Iran Deal is the strongest nuclear deal ever negotiated. There’s no such thing as a ‘better deal’. Walking away risks war.
@travel_hack Is there a difference between an OBT and an SBT? Can we agree on one? #businesstravel #technology
@richardbranson Well done @UPS for banning shark fin shipments. Great result, proving the power of advocacy to drive positive change
TNCs [transport network companies]. There is only one Uber app and one Lyft app. That concept must apply for licensed professionals as well. If each ground transport company operates its own app, the TNCs have won the war. Corporate travellers will not tolerate having to navigate through five or 10 apps to get somewhere. There is no reason to wait
for regulators to try to get Uber to comply. Let’s use the same technology to beat them at their own game!
OPEN SKIES DEBATE I WOULD CHOOSE THE GULF CARRIERS ANY DAY as their service and product offering is simply far superior to most European and virtually all US carriers. The US Congress may feel that it needs to act on the perceived “unfair” fuel advantage of the Gulf carriers, simply because on paper, the US feels they have numbers that would support their case. But, even at price parity or even slightly higher prices, the Gulf carriers are still the carriers of choice – specifically on service.
HEATHROW: SOARING TRAFFIC TO EMERGING MARKETS
I’M SADDENED THAT NOTHING IS EVER MENTIONED by our MPs and business leaders about the residents of the CPO [compulsory purchase order] area. Despite much coverage, those 750 households whose homes will be bulldozed are rarely mentioned. Sir Howard Davies’ report recommends
that LHR should be prepared to go further to demonstrate commitment to a ‘world-class compensation package’. Clearly, he sees the 25 per cent [above market value] offer as insufficient. The British Chamber of Commerce has recommended that compensation be increased to 50 per cent above the open market value. This will better distribute the benefits of the development to those directly impacted, and match international best practice.
INTERVIEW: UNITED CEO JEFF SMISEK IF THE REPORT BY THE PARTNERSHIP for Open and Fair Skies, a partisan lobbying outfit funded by United and its US legacy peers Delta and American, had been an assignment submitted by an undergraduate student, it would definitely have got an ‘F’ (for fail) because of its extreme one-sidedness that exclusively relies on sources that uncritically support its backers’ view. The real reason US legacy carriers like United are unable to compete outside the US is the poor quality of their onboard products and inflight service. These are inferior in all classes, not only compared with the three big Gulf carriers, but with other leading airlines based in Asia-Pacific.
WHAT A BIZARRE PUFF PIECE masquerading as an interview. Several important areas reduced to PR including... (subs, delete this bozo – Ed.)
BBT SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015 125
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