BT SHOW


“Our tone of voice has changed and we have far more empathy with travellers today”


themselves – insisting that it was “business as usual”. Adrian Parkes, CEO of the GTMC, which represents travel management companies, told BBT the industry could expect to see more such M&A. “Consolidation has been happening for a number of years, and new players are coming into the market,” he commented. “We’ve seen domestic consol- idation with Gray Dawes acquiring several smaller TMCs, for example, but now there’s more global consolidation.” Parkes added that the GTMC plans to


focus on capacity and infrastructure across the UK’s regions, particularly on airports and rail services. The GTMC has also announced a new meetings and events strategy group, as TMCs boost their presence in this sector.


“When people are booking off-channel,


we will go to them,” he said. “Historically we would have gone to them with a stick, but now we ask why. Nine times out of ten they will say they just didn’t know. Our tone of voice has changed and we have far more empathy with travellers today.”


CONSUMERISATION & COMPLIANCE The increasing consumerisation of business travel was a hot topic, coming up at a session on connected supplier technology. Andrew Dyer, Egencia’s vice-president of


global supply, said the TMC had the ability to leverage its position as part of Expedia to adapt consumer technology trends for the corporate market. Dyer added that traveller safety still has to


be at the heart of all innovation within the industry. “The ultimate goal of any corporate


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


travel programme is to keep travellers safe, so suppliers have to keep that in mind when developing new technology. There’s value for travel managers in utilising technology to understand what your travellers are doing and when.” Neal Sunners, senior vice-president of innovation at Avis Budget Group, added: “The more seamless suppliers can make a journey using technology, the more travel- lers will want to comply with their corporate policy. Suppliers have a real opportunity to innovate within this space by listening to what travellers want.”


CONSOLIDATION There was much talk at the show about American Express Global Business Trav- el’s proposed purchase of fellow travel management company HRG. Although both companies were staying tight-lipped


NEW DISTRIBUTION CAPABILITY During a session on New Distribution Capability (NDC), panellists were agreed that 2018 should be the year when travel buyers start to see significant changes in airline distribution. Encouragingly for buyers, British Airways’ head of distribution, Ian Luck, insisted that the airline was not planning to bypass travel buyers when marketing to business travellers through new NDC-based channels. “We recognise that a corporate traveller is from a particular corporation,” he said. “It’s not about talking to your travellers without talking to you.” Luck insisted that NDC was “good


news for corporate customers” because it will allow more innovation when selling through B2B channels. He admitted it was “still relatively early in the journey”. Gianni Pisanello, vice-president of Ama-


deus’s NDC-X programme, said NDC was now “at a stage where it can be industri- alised. The 2018 version is one you can use on a grand scale,” he said. “We are moving from GDS to a travel platform aggregating all content wherever it comes from. We see this as an opportunity.”


BBT March/April 2018 91


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