Upcoming Events

FEB 09

2010 Business Travel & Meetings Show (London) (2 days)

FEB 16

2010 The Masters Program (DC) (3 days)

MAR 01

2010 ProcureCon Indirect 2010 (Charlotte) (3 days)

MAR 15

2010 NBTA Strategic Travel Symposium (NYC) (2 days)

MAR 22

2010 NBTA Mexico (Mexico City) (3 days)

MAR 30

2010 NBTA Europe Virtual Forum w/Jay (1 day)

APR 13

2010 NBTA Canada (Toronto) (2 days)

MAY 12

2010 ITM Annual Conference (London) (2 days)

News Feeds

	TheBeat.travel blog

	TheBeat.travel news
Gathering Strength 'Emboldens' Starwood On Rate Concur Plans New Fraud Detection Tools, Geographic Expansion JetBlue, Sabre Enhancing Corp. Portal After Res Switch Delta's NWA Res Switch 'Going Incredibly Well' With A Few 'Hiccups' Amadeus, Concur Announce Deal

	TheTransnational.travel
Travelport extended its agreement to provide electronic ticketing capabilities to Chinese global distribution system TravelSky... Surveys Detail Focus On Travel Cost Savings Concur Eyes The Globe With Amex, Amadeus Deals Amadeus In Europe, Sabre In Latin America Secure Airline Participation 5Q With GTMC's Anne Godfrey

	Management.travel
HRG Consulting will announce an "ROI offering." Separately, HRG added taxi and limo bookings and hotel billing options to its booking tool.... Sabre's GetThere added Japanese and Chinese language options, and improved overall system speed and development... Amadeus signed Austrian Airlines to a "full content" agreement good through 2014.... TRX's upgraded Resx booking tool offers "more seamless booking and reporting capabilities" for direct Air Canada and Southwest channels... According to FlightStats, American Airlines in January had the highest cancellation rate among major U.S. carriers at 2.49 percent...

	Procurement.travel
U.S. air volume booked through corporate travel agents in January grew 11 percent year over year, according to UBS analysts.... Starwood Hotels & Resorts posted a fourth quarter 2009 net loss of $107 million compared with a $79 million profit the year before... Moscow for the fifth consecutive year had the world's highest average daily hotel rate among major business markets, according to HRG.... Average daily hotel rate growth in Africa last year outpaced growth in other regions at 11 percent year over year, according to HRG... "Hotels are opening up availability on corporate rates once more," according to HRG global hotel relations director Margaret Bowler....

Posted Nov 5, 2009

Advocating For Travel Program Management To NOT Fall Under Procurement

There has been an ongoing trend for travel managers to report to procurement because, after all, travel services are a commodity that requires price negotiation and service level agreement just like all other commodities, right? The answer is yes and no, and not "It depends."

First of all, anyone can manage the sourcing relationship of any supplier by requiring in the service level agreement for the periodic customer survey to xxx% satisfaction, demonstrated xx% cost reduction, etc. One of the most crucial elements of travel program management is customer service. How can your organization provide the best customer service to your traveling employees (and their arrangers) by continuous enhancement of service delivery while also managing cost reduction?

1. Consolidate travel spend by consolidating travel management companies and T&E card worldwide, providing a standardized service delivery (while incorporating cultural nuances)
2. Consolidate reporting/business intelligence; create an interactive dashboard to broadcast spend
3. Evaluate a combination of VIP service, self-booking tool/mechanism, reservation center
4. Educate end-users and broadcast cost reduction opportunities worldwide and automate the information flow via intranet
5. Meet with your arrangers and road warriors periodically and ask them their vision of the best travel program
6. Be actively involved in continuous education of all service staff, direct reports and outsourced staff

Now do you start to see procuring travel services as only a small portion of a truly managed travel program?

Posted by:

TravelGuru

Comments:

(2)

Last Comment:

TravelGuru

More by

TravelGuru

Comments on this post

What an odd article.

Posted Nov 12, 2009 by

Syd_Travel_Buyer

What an odd article. Procurement is a strategic function aimed not merely at cost reduction, cost avoidance, or risk mitigation, but responsible long term management of any given category. This involves an easily adopted framework within which procurement manages its suppliers and realises the benefits of the contracts it has implemented.

The points highlighted in this article that contribute to a successful travel program, are all the responsibilities of a true category manager with responsibility for the end-to-end procurement cycle. Quite a one-sided, ill-informed article I'm afraid.

Re: What an odd article.

Posted Nov 15, 2009 by

TravelGuru

"Ill-informed"- very interesting. If you look at some of the "Best Places to Work" companies in the US, many travel managers report to operations, facilities or even HR. Procurement is then a good business partner for the travel manager. In many business models, someone without deep background in the travel industry ends up wrecking the travel program because the travel category is treated like all other procurement categories. I've seen travel managers laid off, with the management believing that other procurement managers can handle it only to find disruption/decline in service levels and loss of supplier contracts without someone devoted to the education of the traveling population, etc.

Yasuo Sonoda, CCTE, GLP