ainty around the Brexit negotiations, but report ‘positive’ outlook. Ian Taylor reports
Concerns mount over ‘ambulance chasers’ in sector
The Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC) has joined delay repay company Railguard in lobbying the government and rail industry to prevent ‘ambulance chasing’ claims- compensation companies entering the sector.
ailguard won the TMC’s first
Entrepreneur in Business Travel Award in June. The technology start-up monitors the rail travel of travel management company (TMC) clients and automatically processes repayments and compensation claims for delays. The government has
progressively rolled out delay repay compensation on the rail network. But Railguard founder and chief executive Matt Freckelton warned that payment protection insurance (PPI) companies are poised to switch wholesale into the sector, risking a repeat of the boom in bogus holiday-sickness claims
“PPI companies are looking to pivot to different sectors. We know they are looking at delay repay”
in the leisure sector. Freckelton said: “PPI companies
are looking to pivot to different sectors. We know they are looking at delay repay and considering what their angle is.” He said corporate clients and TMCs “want to know they are interfacing with a legitimate company, authorised by the Rail Delivery Group and working with the train-operating companies (TOCs). “We are doing a lot with the
GTMC with regard to lobbying, seeking a review of third-party delay repay companies, arguing for the setting up of an approved list to help prevent ambulance chasers
FRECKELTON: Warned PPI firms are looking to the sector
entering the market. We know these PPI companies are looking to flip their business model. Freckelton added: “We have signed with six TMCs since we won the award. Our aim is to process 10,000 claims a day by the end of next year, mostly in the corporate space. We are not marketing to consumers, although we have a growing base of season ticket- holders. Our primary focus is B2B.” He said: “Without the help of
the GTMC we would not be where we are.” The government has set a 15-minute delay threshold for the rail industry by 2025, yet train companies currently operate different delay thresholds.
Industry happy as NDC becomes clearer
Corporate travel leaders are increasingly “relaxed” about the introduction of Iata’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) standard now they “can see where things are heading”. That is the view of Guild of Travel Management
Companies chief executive Adrian Parkes, who told Travel Weekly: “The GDSs will be in a position to consume NDC content next year once the commercials are agreed. This year has been about getting the [NDC] plumbing [in place]. Many TMCs have developed or are well advanced in using third-party technology. A lot of the building blocks are now in place – we can see where things are
heading. Next year will be transitional.” Parkes said the key to the next stage of
development “will be the ability to do things at scale. It is about being able to cope with multiple changes and requests. The application programme interfaces [APIs] the airlines eeo i nee to e ae to hane traffic at an industrial scale.” APIs facilitate the transfer of data between
software programmes and will be the means by which agents and TMCs access fare offers from airlines using NDC technology. Parkes insisted: “We are relaxed about where we are currently.”
13 December 2018
travelweekly.co.uk71
GTMC to stage awards final at June conference
he i stae the fina of its second Entrepreneur in Business Travel Award at its overseas conference next June. The process will launch in January. GTMC chief executive Adrian
Parkes said: “We’ll open a web portal for entries, with details of how to enter, the process and criteria, probably at the end of anar an e hae fie finaists itch at the conference “This is about recognising the
entrepreneurs out there and giving them the opportunity to promote their products in the business travel environment.” The GTMC will host its 2019
conference in Noordwijk in the Netherlands.
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