Upcoming trends in business travel management
Forum Business Travel has presented in Madrid and Barcelona the trends that will mark during 2015 the relationship between corporate travel managers and suppliers in the sector. Mobility technology, security guarantees for travelers, self-booking tools, rising hotel rates, prevention policies and the services added to credit cards.
Forum Business Travel has presented in Madrid and Barcelona the trends that will mark the relationship between corporate travel managers and suppliers in 2015.
Forum Business Travel has culminated the sessions of presentation of the trends that will mark the current year in terms of relations between industry suppliers and their client companies.
With a participatory approach, in which Forum Business Travel has asked its more than 600 members for an index with their main concerns in the management of corporate travel, some reference operators such as Amadeus, American Express Global Business Travel, Halcón Empresas, NH Hotel Group, Meliá Hotels International, Diners Club Spain, Intermundial, Enterprise Rent-A-Car or mytaxi have unraveled the keys in two days held in Madrid and Barcelona.
The presentations have also counted with the intervention of travel managers with a very close knowledge of the evolution of the corporate travel market. Among others, Forum Business Travel has counted for its analysis with Santiago Cuesta, Purchasing Manager of Scania Hispania; Richard Wolf, sourcing leader T&L EMEA of General Electric;Antonio P. Blázquez, travel manager at FIIAPP; Silvia Magdaleno, director of Squeeze Travel; Josep Mª Guasch, director of Cost Auditía at Nortia Corporation; and Esperanza Martínez, Finance Travel Manager at T-Systems Iberia.
TECNOLOGÍA
“Addressing the needs of travelers, implementing the mobility strategy and paying more attention to social networks represent three of the three main areas of focus;n a social networks represent the three major fronts on which companies will focus their priorities this year, according to Jesús Ángel Cervantes, Corporations Account Manager at Amadeus Spain.
In addition to this, compliance with travel policy remains a critical factor, so companies will be especially vigilant with the 20% of traveling employees who make, on average, 80% of trips.
While savings will be pursued, they will be more oriented toward efficient purchasing, not cutbacks, as in the toughest years of the crisis. This will mean a redesign of travel policies with less restrictive criteria, with door-to-door strategies and a clear tendency to reconcile Business Travel with MICE activity.
INTERMEDIATION
“While in 2014, the developments of agencies specializing in corporate travel focused their attention on solutions to prepare travel, in 2015 the focus is on tools úuseful tools during the trip, especially those that promote traveler safety, two-way communication between traveler and company, as well as mobile applications that enhance the travel experience and offer maximum agility.
Travel managers will not only want to locate their travelers, they will also be looking for the most efficient tools to communicate with them at all times. For this, SMS technology remains efficient, as it does not require roaming data connections or wi-fi networks.
According to Javier Yebra, director of consulting at Halcón Empresas, the self-booking management model, whose growth has been spectacular in recent years, will continue to grow this year. So will mobility solutions and technology for risk management and traveler security.”
ACCOMMODATION
“Hotel demand is linked to the general recovery of the economy and per capita income. From this point of view, hotel prices are starting to recover little by little, first those aimed at the end customer, then those for groups and, finally, the rates negotiated with companies,
Javier Pardo, commercial director of NH Hoteles.
The key aspects of the negotiation that will outweigh the others this year will be the level of service and the optimal locations for each client company; the size, duration and stability of the agreements; and the volume of overnight stays. Hoteliers are interested in long-term contracts.
In this regard, the most forward-looking relationship model is the application of the best available rate (Best Available Rate, BAR) at a discount. As noted by Beatriz González Navarrete, head of Key Accounts at Meliá Hotels International, “this option arises to avoid the disparity of rates and for the customer to be sure that they are paying the cheapest price they can find in any channel; it is the best way to protect the user and the travel agency”.
MEANS OF PAYMENT / INSURANCE
“After the progressive reduction of commissions forced by retailers and the law limiting interchange fees that came into force in Spain in September of last year;a in September last year, credit card margins are tending to fall even further. As a result, issuing companies will be forced to charge for services rendered, Pablo Montoya, commercial director of Diners Club Spain, explains.
Electronic means of payment have established themselves not only as financing instruments, but also as tools for monitoring and controlling expenses, thanks to the reports they generate and their reconciliation mechanisms with accounting, which is essential for companies. Users also highly value the insurance associated with the card. The debate on the possible charging of extra services is being served.
With regard to insurance, demand requires greater efforts in the companies' prevention policies and, on the part of the insurers, a strategy to anticipate possible incidents. Risk monitoring and analysis tools are going to be key," says Carlos Perell, commercial director of Intermundial.
TRANSPORT
“In the face of the proliferation of low-cost rent-a-cars and cases of malpractice, large multinational operators are adjusting their prices and customizing their proposals. The trend for this year is to improve service quality, customer guarantees and transparency,
Enrique Martínez Sierra, key account manager at Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Against the highly atomized nature of the Spanish market, with more than 1,800 small and local companies accounting for 58% (in contrast to the U.S., where the three largest companies account for 95%), corporate clients value operators with a multinational presence more highly. They will also opt for offers that do not involve misleading cost overruns.
Another of the year's major trends in ground transportation is the democratization of cab services, as underlined by Manuel Gil, Promotion Manager of mytaxi. Given the price regulation in most countries, the real value will be in the management: time saving, advance booking, service with invoicing, VAT recovery, ease of use via APP, etc. In short, there will be greater control over an expense that in some companies is very high and over which there is no exhaustive control.