More flexibility, technology and security in business travel this year

Companies are increasing the flexibility of their travel policies to facilitate employee travel, with technology playing an increasingly important role in all processes. In addition, security and risk management are becoming a top priority. Forum Business Travel reveals the business travel trends for 2018 after bringing together executives from the industry's leading suppliers and nearly 200 travel managers.

With the participation of nearly 200 travel managers, as well as senior executives from the main suppliers of the sector, Forum Business Travel has analyzed in two days held in Madrid and Barcelona the business travel trends for this year. The keys that are going to mark the orientation of the policies of the companies are flexibility, technology and security.

On the one hand, suppliers are finding that companies are moving away from rigidity in their guidelines for how their employees travel in order to improve their experience and, ultimately, increase productivity. This approach is facilitated by technology, with tools that intervene in the processes of booking, on-site assistance and expense settlement.

The technology is closely linked to the consolidation of new services focused on the frequent flyer, especially all those related to priority check-in, boarding, choice of flight, and the use of new services;

New services

focused on the frequent flyer, especially those related to priority check-in, boarding, seat selection, room reservation, check in and check out via mobile phone, quick access to the rental car, cab management and new payment methods.

AsJavier Pardo, commercial director of NH Hotel Group, says, the idea is to "make transactions less boring and concentrate resources on other values, such as personalized service. In this sense, the general manager for Spain at Mytaxi,Pablo Sánchez, also stresses that “human contact is essential, even in purely technological companies such as ours”.

Carole Poillerat, executive director of Corporate Travel at HRS, reminds us that “business travel is not a goal, but a means. The traveler doesn't want to worry about anything. He wants everything to be made easy for him, and technology has a lot to say in this regard."

With all the solutions and applications that exist on the market, the challenge for travel companies is to make their policies more flexible. Although there are many tools for the traveler, some companies put impediments, due to internal information security protocols. In addition, they are often slow to adopt them. There is a need for more dynamic app policies," says Cristina Suarez de Lezo, travel and events manager at Repsol.

With regard to risk managementin an increasingly convulsive world, all the travel suppliers and travel managers gathered at the Forum Business Travel conference agree that it is essential. The unstoppable growth of companies such as Cabify, the alternative transfer service to cabs, "is due precisely to the security problems in many large cities, especially in Latin America," says Javier Zurita, commercial director of the company.

Another trend detected for this year has to do with prices. In general, increases are expected in almost all segments. According to Manuel Martín, director of Corporate Sales at Enterprise Rent-a-Car, “this evolution is linked to the improvement of the economy”.

For Luis Dupuy, VP General Manager of American Express Global Business Travel, “the travel industry needs to recover more margins to continue investing, in line with the sustained growth after the exit of the crisis”. The último report of this agency foresees a 4.5% increase in air fares in Spain in 2018, compared to 2.5% of the European average, and 2.7% in hotelía. Other studies indicate that companies in our geographical environment will spend 4% more on corporate travel this year.