BT SHOW


“Quite often, the women who make it to the top of the career ladder have an abundance of self-confidence”


I knew that my work ethic and confidence in my skills would get me through,” she said. Strachan commented that confidence is


key, especially for women, as they find it harder to ask for promotions or pay rises. “Quite often, the women who make it to the top of the career ladder have an abundance of self-confidence,” she said.


However, Pisanello added that the intro-


duction of more NDC-based channels would create an “increase in complexity” and make “comparison more difficult”.


TMC TRANSPARENCY There was an appeal for more “transpar- ency” by TMCs from travel buyers during a session on how TMCs get paid. Buyers particularly wanted TMCs to offer clarity on how they earn money from suppliers and how this might affect access to certain travel products and inventory. Sandra Dvorak, category manager, travel


and MICE, at the British Council, said: “It concerns me about transparency. Both buyers and suppliers need to work together. There’s an understanding that TMCs have to generate a profit but it’s about under- standing where the profit is coming from.” Merel van der Pijl, category procurement specialist at Dutch diary firm Friesland Campina, agreed: “I don’t mind that we have to pay a fee to the TMC. We want to make sure there is transparency. So at least we know that the travel programme we have in place is built and steered in the correct way.” John Melchior, managing director of


Travel Group Consulting, said there was currently too much focus on reducing TMC fees (typically around 3-5 per cent of total travel budgets) and not enough on cutting the other “95 to 97 per cent paid to suppliers”.


92 BBT March/April 2018 BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM


GENDER BALANCE Buyers – especially women – were urged by industry experts to set clear goals to achieve career progression. During a panel discussion on gender


balance and the pay gap in business travel, Festive Road managing partner Caroline Strachan cited research that shows women experience career decisions and ideas about goals differently to men due to biological and cultural differences. Michelle ‘Mick’ Lee, founder and CEO of


Winit (Women in Travel) and Arrow 212, said she believed her work ethic helped advance her career. “I always went for jobs that I wasn’t necessarily qualified for because


NEW PRODUCTS/REBRANDS The show saw a raft of product launches as suppliers tried to impress buyers with their latest technology and other developments. Evolvi Rail Systems unveiled a range of enhancements to its Evolving online rail booking and fulfilment platform, including offering access to its system to smaller, non- rail licence-holding TMCs. Corporate Travel Management (CTM)


launched a premium service package for SMEs, called Lightning Lite, designed to keep business travel simple, manageable and low-cost for companies who spend up to £750,000 per year on travel. Sandy Row Travel and World Club Travel


also revealed their new brand, Fello, follow- ing their merger. Fello will focus on ‘traveller first’ business travel, and will be led by CEO Simone Buckley, formerly of the Institute of Travel Management (ITM).


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