A contributor to a recent study into the future of corporate travel suggested one of the major sources of stress exists because providers “are not incentivised to make life any easier for passengers”.
If you lived above a shop, as prime Minister David Cameron does, you might think that getting to see your family would not be too much of a problem. But in his recent Today programme interview on Radio 4, the PM bemoaned the fact that sometimes he only got to take his children to school once a month. Sure – he’s a busy guy. But he must see his wife and kids a lot more than many people do. (more…)
When it comes to reducing the cost of accommodation, here are five things to bear in mind:
1. Location is everything
Staying slightly out of the city centre can save a fortune, even once you factor in travel costs. In London, nightly rents can drop by as much as £100 with a move from zone 1 to zone 3, while for anyone working in New York, areas such as Jersey City and Brooklyn offer much better value. You also often get more space for your money the further out you go. (more…)
Buyers beware, that person next to you, laughing at your jokes, encouraging you to take advantage of the complimentary drinks and asking you seemingly innocent questions about your work on the KLM flight to Tokyo might not be what they appear. (more…)
“An army without its baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost,” wrote Sun Tzu in The Art of War almost 2,500 years ago.
Business travel (or indeed, most travel) today can be a stressful, tiresome experience. Incomprehensible booking systems, illogical security protocols and staff that believe passengers are an inconvenience are enough to make even the mild mannered despair. (more…)
Global spend for external meetings and events is estimated to be in the region of $200 billion a year (£128.4 billion), up to 4 per cent of the total global revenue for many professional service companies.
Over the last five years, most large organisations have been considering the effectiveness of their own external meetings spend. Nevertheless, while many of these organisations have engaged their procurement departments to develop policies and procedures to capture spend, they have failed to consider the true cost of running meetings. (more…)
Innovation wasn’t the official theme of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) convention held last month in the US. But its importance just dripped through constantly.
First, there’s the innovation in how we think about our consumers. One of the most interesting nuggets I heard came from Robert Stephens, the founder of IT support business Geek Squad. He used the term “patient and picky” to describe how the behaviour of travellers and consumers is evolving. (more…)
Recent high-profile data breaches including 100 million Sony Games users’ data being hacked and a pre-school fined for posting parent information publicly has highlighted the risk of inadequate data protection.
Customer data is precious, employee data too, yet how much rigour are brands applying to its protection? True event experts consider the risk of selecting certain destinations, carrying out health and safety and environmental assessments and compiling contingency plans, but are they missing the obvious? (more…)
During my career selling travel services I have encountered many ‘classic’ buyers. By that I mean very professional people who know exactly what they want and how to get it at the best rate. They are well practised in procedures and buying protocol and have a clear plan. This is good – but is it enough? (more…)