Quality of service and transparency mark business travel negotiations for 2017
Spanish companies are in the midst of negotiations with their travel suppliers for the coming year, and they are facing the process with the emphasis on quality and transparency of transport, accommodation and intermediation services, beyond savings. This is clear from the conclusions of the October Forum Business Travel conference.
Companies with medium to large travel budgets are increasingly turning to RFPs (Request for Proposal), a kind of tender document that they send to their suppliers to obtain their economic proposals. The último quarter of the exercise is usually the época for this process and the goal for 2017 focuses, in addition to savings, to ensure transparency and quality of service, according ún note travel managers Forum Business Travel.
“Regardless of the purchase volume, RFPs have become a very useful tool to learn more about what is happening in the market,&em>”, notes Javier Amigo, purchasing manager at Campofrío. According to his experience, companies are increasing the complexity of these requests and extending them to more suppliers, not just the usual ones, in order to have more elements of comparison.
Thanks to these tenders, negotiations with airlines, hotel chains, car rental and travel agencies are now faster and more efficient, as the collection of information and proposals has been automated. As Raquel Vaquero, travel manager at Gestamp Services,
While RFPs are very useful tools, they do not reach all suppliers in the Business Travel segment with the same effectiveness. Relationships with agencies, for example, are more complicated due to the diversity of services they provide.In the case of car rental companies, the problem lies in reaching agreements on extras in all the countries where they operate, Silvia Magdaleno, a consultant at Squeeze Travel. She also draws attention to the reluctance of aéa alliances to agree terms together.
The future of these negotiation tools involves integrating all elements associated with travel, from cab management to restaurants. For Miguel Dalmau, head of purchasing at the University of Barcelona, the key is, above all, to strike a balance between traveler satisfaction and the company's investment.
Charles de Bonnecorse, director of sales for Spain at American Express Global Business Travel, stresses the same idea: “the launch of travel RFPs is an excellent opportunity for companies to include process improvements, review travel policy and incorporate the company's current and upcoming needs. It should not be understood only as a matter of savings, but of achieving a balance between the service required and the investment earmarked.