WHERE BBT READERS SHARE VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES
HAVE YOUR SAY
MYSTERY BUYER: POLICY FOR FEMALE BUSINESS TRAVELLERS?
AS A FEMALE AND A TRAVELLER, I don’t expect to be treated differently to men and, for me, that means not feeling like I need to stay in my room in order to avoid unwelcome attention (Mystery Buyer, p44). Nine times out of 10, I will take myself off to the hotel bar or restaurant. My experience is that hotels are sensitive to female travellers and will always try to accommodate you at an appropriate table, usually within their view. If they don’t, then just ask. I usually take a magazine or book. This serves to prevent you looking like you are waiting for someone to talk to you. If you do experience uninvited attention, then deal with it, politely. And if that doesn’t work, call for assistance. For the small minority out there who believe lone women are there to be leered at or chatted up, then it’s their problem and not mine. It will not drive me to my room. On the subject of travellers being culturally aware, this is a very important point. While I would welcome advice, I would also take responsibility for gaining a better understanding of my destination. I do it when I go to a new place on holiday, so why wouldn’t I when travelling on business? That isn’t to say that employers shouldn’t take responsibility, but honestly, I trust myself and my judgment best of all. All said, if you do prefer to take meals in your hotel room – then check in advance that the hotel has room service. Your TMC should be able assist.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM BBTWEETS
Travel tweeters: follow us on @BBT_online and @TravelbizPaul
@pawait
Utter rubbish by Andy McDonald Shadow Transport Minister talking on Newsnight about re- nationalising the railways. Coal Mines to reopen next
@jeremycorbyn Labour will end the #RailRipOff of taxpayers and passengers by bringing railways into public ownership
@TomOtley
Manchester passengers drink the most gin and tonics on @easyjet flights
@vanessaaves It’s that time of year again – lots of @BBTAwards to write this month. #HelloAugust
@SamanthaQuek WE ARE HOME!! Huge thank you @British_ Airways for an amazing flight. Such an honour to be a part of this moment with @TeamGB #greattobeBAck
@ACTEtweets Staff have arrived in #Beijing for our Global Conference and spent the day hiking the #GreatWall
AND SHARE YOUR VIEWS AT
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
SMALL FIRMS FEEL THEY PAY MORE FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL I’M NOT SURPRISED given the way large TMCs promise one thing knowing full well they are unable to deliver that service because they are focusing on the larger, more important clients, with the ethos being to hire as low-paid staff as possible, experience not really relevant (SMEs: Safety in Numbers, July/August 2016). Purely focusing on cost rather than service, it’s not surprising then that smaller TMCs which can offer a better service are cashing in – why not?
ACCORDING TO AMON: TMC TRANSPARENCY IF, AS THE ARTICLE SAYS, the fee was €0.01 for each transaction (According to Amon, July/ August 2016), then I have to wonder what planet the buyer was on if they thought that was the effective cost of providing the service! Pure madness on the part of the Ministry I would suggest. It is absolutely imperative to construct a buyer-centric contract that is clear, unambiguous and fair. A good way to construct contracts is on the basis of: 1. Clear fees for the work to be done (reasonable and fair to both parties)
2. All commissions returned to the client (with a guarantee of 95% of anticipated hotel commissions)
3. Net fares are just that (i.e. no mark-up to the client)
4. Ability for the client’s internal audit team to interrogate the books
Robert Daykin, corporate travel
category specialist
BBT LINKEDIN GROUP: EXPENSE MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES HERE ARE SIX COMMON ELEMENTS implemented by leading global organisations: 1. Require pre-approval: incorporate ‘pre-approvals’ before the expenses are incurred.
2. Initiate a corporate card programme: today, these are highly competitive – they offer many financial and operational benefits such as rebates, elimination of cash advances and reduction of falsified receipts.
3. Automate policy enforcement: be preventative instead of protective. Compliance rules can be built into expense management tools and are validated in real-time.
4. Clearly document the approval process: make the process well defined for the expense owner and the approver for limits, allocations, approval delegation and other process standards.
5. Help employees make good decisions: use automation to assist with accurate data entry, direct from credit card charges. Implement powerful business rules to capture unique approval situations.
6. Centralise the travel expense process. By implementing an automated expense management platform, a consistent, programmatic approach replaces a substantial amount of human intervention, reduces costs and increases operational efficiency. Chrome River
BBT September/October 2016 125
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
