Companies begin to include the use of public transport in their travel policies

The need to rationalize spending is leading companies to include in their travel policy the conditions for using public transport instead of solutions such as cabs. Travel managers have long been making their employees aware of the need to optimize travel. This was confirmed by the travel managers gathered in Barcelona by Forum Business Travel (FBT), which analyzed the main trends

 

Thesavings 

Remain a priority for corporate travel managers this year. To this end, in addition to focusing on negotiations with suppliers, they are also focusing their attention on extra expenses that end up inflating the travel bill. Among them, the rationalization of travel in cities with the use of public transport is being imposed in many cases to alternatives such as cabs.

“When you analyze numbers and share them with the staff, you realize that in many cases public transport is an option that must be promoted, applying a strategy that is based on the use of public transport;n that must be promoted, always applying criteria of rationality”, commentó Montse Díaz, travel manager of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. In the same vein, Esperanza Martínez, travel manager at T-Systems Iberia, said: “We only use cabs when it is economically more efficient; travelers are becoming more and more aware”.

Another element they are reviewing in their policy is the added services of airlines. According to Montse Díaz, “the unbundling of tariffs makes it increasingly difficult to control the total cost”.For this reason, the inclusion of extras such as priority boarding, choice of seat, method of payment or baggage check-in conditions is also being considered in the negotiations. The travel managers gathered yesterday by Forum Business Travel (FBT) at the Meliá Barcelona Sarrià hotel insisted on the need to include these variables in the global reservation systems and that suppliers offer services with more transparency.

The companies are also inviting technology developers to better integrate rail transport offerings into these systems in order to more efficiently compare train usage. In the short term, greater use of this transport is expected because, as commented by Óscar García, founding partner of FBT, “competition will speed up the market and lower prices”.

ACCOMMODATION

During the session, the travel managers also discussed accommodation trends for 2014. In the Spanish market, they perceive a tendency towards a price increase, although they point out that hoteliers' expectations are being lowered in negotiations due to the fact that they are not in a position to increase their prices;n lowering in the negotiations due, among other things, to the fact that “the economic situation, in general, has not just taken off”, asñalóaló Esperanza Martínez.

In any case, Samuel Ruete, head of Business for Cataluña and Levante at Meliá Hotels International, notedó that “a in Spainña companies are still excessively demanding with savings, without considering another series of added services offered by hotels”.Travel managers, meanwhile, are calling for greater transparency with rates and more consistency between the prices offered on the Internet and those negotiated with companies.

MEANS OF PAYMENT

In addition to the convenience and administrative control provided by credit and debit cards, companies also value the associated insurance. Travel managers believe that coverage will improve because companies are traveling to more remote and complicated countries. In general, they agree that “the response of insurers is fast and the guarantees they provide are essential for companies”, as Montse Díaz indicated.

TRAVEL AGENCIES

With respect to travel agency relations, travel managers valued the different compensation models, while recognizing the importance of the intermediary function. Among the trends that are coming up are the fidelity formulas, customized according to the needs of each company. According to Olga Alemany, head of sales in Catalonia for American Express Barceló Viajes, American Express Barceló Viajes,“ at the moment the agencies are trying to put everything on the negotiating table.

The agency remuneration model in 2014 will continue to be based, as a general rule, on the transaction fee, i.e. on a per-transaction fee, which travel managers consider more transparent. In any case, they insist on a precise definition of this concept, to avoid surprises.