In short, today’s corporate travel manager needs to be a jack of all trades, able to analyze data at one moment while effectively communicating with a headstrong Millennial about the importance of policy compliance in the next moment, and understanding the ins and outs of a contract in the next. And that’s just in an ordinary morning.

To better understand the skills and challenges of today’s corporate travel manager, AirPlus surveyed 143 corporate travel managers in early January.

The results clearly show that most corporate travel managers do not enter the field already armed with the knowledge they need from coursework or previous positions. Instead, they have picked up their knowledge while on the job—close to three-quarters (71 percent) said anywhere between half and 100 percent of their job-related knowledge has come from learning on the job. Only 9 percent said on-the-job learning accounted for less than 25 percent of their job-related knowledge.

Download the full survey results here:

AirPlus_The Wire_January 2012

As corporate social responsibility (CSR) increasingly becomes part of mainstream business practice, companies are revising not only their own practices but looking to their preferred suppliers to reinforce important CSR goals. According to the 175 corporate travel managers AirPlus surveyed in November about the CSR initiatives at their own companies and throughout their supply chain, this is especially true in the area of environmental standards.

Unlike other CSR categories, the green initiatives of suppliers can have a direct impact on a company’s own goals for reducing the environmental impact of business travel. To that end, the percent of travel manager respondents who expect green initiatives of their preferred suppliers was 42 percent – significantly higher than any of the other categories in the survey. Implemented at 55 percent of the travel managers’ companies, those percentages also represent less of a gap between what corporations do themselves and what they expect from their preferred suppliers than in any other category in the survey.

Despite relatively high expectations of supplier CSR initiatives, few companies currently include CSR criteria in their travel supplier RFPs, ranging from a low of 10 percent who include it in payment RFPs to a high of 15 percent who include it in hotel RFPs.  Slightly more plan to include such initiatives in their RFPs in the coming year, with car taking the lead at 19 percent, then hotel at 16 percent, air at 14 percent and payment at 10 percent. However, the majority currently have no plans to include that kind of criteria: 63 percent of corporate travel managers say they have no plans to include CSR criteria in their payment RFPs, followed by 62 percent for air and 57 percent for both hotel and car.

The lackluster numbers are not surprising given that while the majority of respondents do say they consider CSR and green initiatives when making their final decisions, for most respondents, this is not a consideration that’s key to final decision-making process. Only 2 percent said such initiatives were of “critical” importance in the preferred supplier decision-making process. Another 15 percent said such information was “important” to the process, while the highest number – 43 percent – said it was “considered.” The remaining 40 percent said it was either “not very important” or “never considered.”

For a complimentary copy of full survey results, please click here:
AirPlus The Wire December 2011

Additional Resources:

New Business Travel Emissions Reporting Standards Expected Next Month

Despite Rising Emissions, Bloomberg LP Plans No Travel Cuts 

Corporations looking to cut back on travel moved to alternatives such as , webcasting and teleconferencing in the midst of the recession.  AirPlus asked corporate travel buyers this month about the current state of travel alternatives.

The responses show that the concept of virtual meetings has become firmly engrained in corporate culture. Only 1 percent of those surveyed said that virtual meetings have decreased as in-person meetings and travel increased in the past year. Nearly one-third (32 percent) said virtual meetings have increased in the past year, but they have not replaced in-person meetings, while another 32 percent said virtual meetings have increased as a replacement to in-person meetings and travel. For another third (33 percent), the volume has remained steady.

For the majority of respondents, the most compelling reason for travel alternatives is the increased cost of travel, ranked by 63 percent as the most “urgent” reason for turning to travel alternatives. “Decreased budgets” was the next most cited urgent reason, with significantly fewer respondents – 32 percent – ranking it the most urgent.

And while champions of travel alternatives tout the beneficial effects on employee quality of life and corporate social responsibility, these are not the most compelling reasons for most respondents.

Regardless of the reason for choosing travel alternatives, the travel professionals who responded to the survey were decidedly ambivalent about the effectiveness of such decisions. More than two-thirds (68 percent) would only commit to saying remote conferencing is “sometimes” as effective as meeting in person. Another significant group was even less convinced of the effectiveness of remote conferencing: Six percent said it was “never” as effective as in-person meetings while 15 percent said that was “rarely” the case. Only 12 percent was firmly in favor, saying remote conferencing was “almost always” as effective.

For a complimentary copy of full survey results, please click here:
AirPlus The Wire November (PDF)

Additional Resources:

Sabre Teams with Polycom on Remote Conferencing Booking Platform

Videoconferencing Set to Soar: Buyers, Planners Must Stake Claim

Former BCD Travel Exec Developing ‘Global Videoconferencing Network’

Wouldn’t it be a great idea to host a community forum where we could have general discussion around travel tips etc but also host specific communities for users of different travel, expense and finance tools where people could share tips, best practises and ideas.

Regards,

Simon

Through the end of last year and the beginning of this year, industry experts were bullish on business travel, with business travel predictions for volume and pricing nearing or exceeding pre-recession levels.

But a negative U.S. jobs report in early July, coupled with a Standard & Poor downgrading of the U.S. government in early August and ongoing economic problems throughout Europe, brought up the specter of a double-dip recession and put corporate travel departments on notice that growth might not continue at predicted rates.

To take an in-the-moment pulse on the potential effects of negative economic indices, AirPlus surveyed 152 corporate travel managers at the beginning of September about the state of their corporate travel budgets and plans.

The economic uncertainty was clearly reflected in the world of managed corporate travel. Survey respondents were nearly split when asked if they expected their company’s travel program to feel immediate pressure to control volume/costs in light of some economic indices and public sentiment about recovery turning from flat to negative. Nearly half – 47 percent – said yes, they did expect to feel immediate pressure, while slightly less – 41 percent – said no. Another 12 percent simply didn’t know.

Those who did expect to feel pressure to make changes were prepared to pull several cost-saving levers in the next six months. More than half anticipated stricter pre-trip approvals (58 percent) and shifting more travel to web conferencing or telepresence (56 percent). Significant numbers were also prepared to implement class of service restrictions on air (44 percent) or hotel (30 percent) and tighten other air policies (34 percent). Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) were even prepared to impose a temporary travel freeze.

Among the 19 percent who said “other,” several noted strategies revolving around stricter monitoring and adherence to policy and delaying or decreasing travel, although not an outright  ban of all travel.

It is in this uncertain economic climate that corporate travel managers begin 2012 corporate negotiations, balancing the potential for budget and volume cuts against anticipated rate increases.

For your complimentary copy of the results, please click here:

AirPlus_The Wire_October 2011

Additional Resource:

Advito Projects Higher 2012 Travel Prices

Portugal is in the news – the business community is closely monitoring developments in this Iberian country. How does travel management react these days?

AirPlus: Looking at travel management, is there something very special in your market compared to travel management in other countries of the world?

Susana Luz (SL): Apart from the size of the travel management market – which is much smaller than other countries in Europe – there is no special difference. Studies indicate that travel managers in Portugal for instance took the same measures to react to the recent crisis, controlling costs by booking with more anticipation and choosing the less expensive options.

AirPlus: What are the main travel management trends and developments in Portugal?

SL: I would say that travel figures will grow mildly in 2011. The booking process tends to be more decentralized, giving more responsibility to the employee, and mobile technology will become more and more important due to the use of smart phones. Finally, in general the use of credit cards will increase.

AirPlus: How mature is TM in Portugal?

SL: When I visit customers, I can see every day that this topic is much more in the eyes of the top management of the companies. It accounts for significant costs, and so they feel that they should pay attention to it. How? Companies try to find a better administrative process, they analyze the figures and try to get better deals with their suppliers.

AirPlus: What do you consider to be the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge for travel managers in your market?

SL: The costs of travel will continue to grow. So there definitely is an opportunity for travel managers to see their role within the organization become more important. Also with the internet, knowledge is much more easily accessible to travel managers, so they can be better prepared. The biggest challenge in my opinion would be the movements of the airline industry, that is airlines buying other airlines, and the introduction of ancillary fees. That makes it much more difficult to know the exact cost of the trip.

AirPlus: Is there an AirPlus U.S.P. or an advantage over the competition for AirPlus in Portugal?

SL: We do have competition, however none of the other companies is completely focused on business travel. Today AirPlus benefits from the special position of being the only payment solution capable of providing the data that is essential for companies to reconcile, like the cost center or the travel agency invoice in the statement. And, of course, the insurance solution.

In the intercontinental flight segment, the percentage of business class bookings amounted to 34. German companies exceeded this average, with a business class share on long-haul flights of 41 percent. Swiss companies were at the top of the list with a business class booking rate of 45 percent. At 11 percent, US companies lagged behind.

The reason why the more comfortable service class is being booked more often, especially for long hauls – companies have come to realize that reaching a destination well rested and motivated to start a business appointment right away is far more cost effective than scrimping on flight tickets.

Download the white paper here

As with most areas of travel policy, those that address issues of safety and are ever changing, as technology, employee demographics, a volatile economy and worldwide political, economic and environmental conditions continue to influence business travel.

While the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil a decade ago propelled the concept of corporate traveler security into the limelight, leaps in technology have made it increasingly possible for corporations to better pinpoint the exact location of travelers through their travel management companies with online booking tools and to communicate with travelers through email, cell phones and corporate intranets.

AirPlus surveyed 143 corporate travel managers in early September about the effects of such events on their travel policy. Such occurrences are the true test of the efficiency of security plans and can expose weaknesses in existing travel policy. What works on paper can’t always been executed as planned, policy gaps may exist, or travel policy may simply be silent on issues of safety and security.

More than one-third (34 percent) of those surveyed responded that these events had propelled them to create or revise their existing safety and security policies. An even higher number – 39 percent – were revising their communications policies and procedures for emergency situations.

The role of technology in both tracking and communicating with travelers has become increasingly critical and to that end, nearly one-quarter of the respondents (22 percent) said they were implementing new technology to assist in emergency travel situations. Other strategies that corporate travel managers have recently implemented were expanding the scope of expense policies related to travel disruptions (13 percent) and driving education around alternative forms of travel for emergency situations (11 percent).

For your complimentary copy of the results, please click here: AirPlus The Wire September 2011

According to the results of an AirPlus survey of corporate travel buyers, travel managers continue to have difficulty finding efficient and accurate ways to track ancillary fees. The process can be so overwhelming that nearly half (44 percent) are not tracking the airline ancillary fee data in any way. When it comes to expense reporting, 38 percent rely on travelers to include their ancillary fees manually in expense reports, while only 7 percent include fee menus in those tools and 15 percent have automated capabilities built into their expense reporting tools.

Outside of expense reporting, a small number are currently looking to other options for tracking: Five percent track ancillary fee information through their travel management company (TMC) and 11 percent are manually reviewing corporate cards for likely airline fee data.

That range of current approaches highlights the ongoing challenges of tracking airline ancillary fees. If they’re captured at all, it’s across multiple platforms.

Industry-wide attempts at providing solutions have so far fallen short: There’s been little traction from a Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) task force created to tackle the issue, the International Air Transport Association’s electronic miscellaneous document (EMD) has not been adopted by U.S. carriers and an optional fare-filing system for carriers from the Airline Tariff Publishing Company has gained little participation.

There has, however, been some movement on the part of individual suppliers. For example, solutions have been rolled out this year from expense provider Concur and data consolidator TRX, while Continental has been providing some detail on baggage expenses as part of regular reporting to corporate clients. This summer, AirPlus released a new set of reports capable of sorting hundreds of ancillary fees into five categories, the first of its kind.

Across the board, most industry estimates put ancillary fees at somewhere between 2 and 4 percent of a corporation’s total air spend. Concrete information on ancillary fees would provide corporations the ability to better negotiate with airlines as well as set more accurate budgets.

Survey Methodology
For this issue of The Wire, AirPlus International surveyed 101 corporate travel buyers in North America and Europe from June 3 to July 8, 2011.

Click here for your complimentary copy of the full results:

AirPlus The Wire August 2011

Additional Resources:

Lack of Transparency: Companies Seek Ways To Track Airline Ancillary Fees
http://www.procurement.travel/news.php?cid=ways-to-track-airline-ancillary-fees.May-11.31

AirPlus Addresses Ancillary Fees With ‘Assumption Engine’
http://www.management.travel/news.php?cid=ancillary-fees-AirPlus-Assumption-Engine.Jun-11.15