Sometimes hard times produce the best ideas. Bob Papworth asks if, instead of playing it safe, TMCs should let their imaginations take flight
For travel management companies (TMCs) looking to make friends and influence corporate people, now is definitely not the time to be coming up with sparky new initiatives - cash-strapped clients are more concerned they get the basics right and have no time, money or inclination to embrace off-the-wall ideas.
Then again, those same cashstrapped clients are already all too aware of the basics, and are desperately seeking new ways of maximising the buying power of their pared-down budgets. Even in the good times, clients have shown themselves to be unwilling or unable to drive optimum adoption of the most fundamental and well-established of money-saving schemes - self-booking tools, for example - so the chances of them effectively breaking new ground, in the midst of a recession, are pretty slim.
Earlier this year, at the Guild of Travel Management Companies' (GTMC) annual conference, a triumvirate of buyers - the BBC's Jamie Hindhaugh, Neil King from the John Lewis Partnership, and Hannah Bodilly from finance group Equiniti - were unanimous in calling on TMCs to be more proactive in coming up with ideas. Subsequent sotto voce conversations were tinged with more than a little scepticism. Corporates are reluctant enough to pay for the services they already receive, the mutterers complained, and additional layers of service (and cost) would only make matters worse.
With the global recession in full swing, is the procurement brigade really open to outside-the-box thinking? Buyers' champion Paul Tilstone, chief executive of the Institute of Travel & Meetings (ITM), says: "I think there is a massive opportunity for the travel management company sector to totally re-invent itself to manage the interaction of executives, whether that's by putting them on a plane, or setting up a video-conference," he says. "I think they missed a trick between 2002 and 2007, say, by not assisting corporates in driving up adoption of self-booking tools. Now they have another chance to embrace the technology and find ways to make it work."
Another area where intermediaries could, and arguably should, become more involved, is in the management of what Tilstone calls "day-to-day ground transportation" - the mundane point-to-point travel, mostly in cars and taxis, which doesn't really count as a business trip.
The meetings sector is now also part and parcel of the travel procurement brief - something travel management companies, with their own well established meetings, incentives, conference and events divisions, have been espousing, and which corporates have only recently woken up to. Simon McLean, managing director of Birmingham-based Click Travel, says: "I am amazed at how many potential clients I go to see who don't have a travel policy, not even a dusty scrap of paper in the back of a cupboard."
In one sense, the recession is helping to change that situation, although not necessarily to the advantage of technology-driven TMCs like Click." There are a lot of clients who are saying 'let's get the business right' before turning their attention to all the tools we can throw at them. We launched a 'best fare finder' on our rail system a year ago and, to be honest, it was very slow to pick up; then, once companies grasped its value, it really took off," says McLean.
The same was true of Click's hotel system, which aggregates rates from a variety of sources so that clients can access fire-sale distressed inventory that has been dumped on the internet and elsewhere.
"They [corporates] probably couldn't quite see it upfront, but now the penny has dropped," says McLean. "I think more and more clients are going to start looking to see where there is something different out there that they can use to advantage."
One [anonymous] TMC spokesperson takes a much more jaundiced view, particularly where pre-trip reporting and approval systems are concerned.
"We've all got this stuff, but it is completely useless if clients choose to ignore it. Our own online system is simple to use, it requires no training, and the cost is minimal - but can we get people to use it? You can think outside the box until the cows come home, but if people don't have the mandate to give it a try, what's the point?"
Hillgate Travel's business development manager Andrew Burch is another who is big on pre-trip approval. "If you just ask someone why they are going on a particular trip, and make a decision before any money has been spent, you're looking at big potential savings."
Burch also has some harsh words for suppliers, particularly airlines. "The industry as a whole isn't good at breaking new ground. The last bit of real out-of-the-box thinking was probably Lastminute. com, and that was started in 1998!"
Over at Chelsea Travel Management, managing director Jackie Lacey says: "My view is that there has never been a better time for innovation. As a mid-sized travel management company, we are always looking at new ideas, and our clients are very much open to new thinking."
ITM's Tilstone will be glad to hear that Chelsea is currently big on ground transportation, where Lacey believes she has great scope to save clients money, time and hassle. She is also working flat out on hotel bill-backs to reduce process time and costs.
A lot of the old inclusive-tour restrictions, such as compulsory Saturday night stays, have been abandoned, the fares are highly competitive and upgrades are more easy to come by.
"It's not always suitable for the general everyday booking," Lacey concedes, "but it's often ideal for long-haul journeys - there are generally fewer changes when it comes to a bigger trip." Client attitudes have changed, but far from retreating behind the parapet, Chelsea's customers are increasingly willing to listen to the TMC's advice.
"I feel there is now a platform to discuss things almost on a case-by-case basis," Lacey says. "It [the recession] is encouraging people to think more creatively. In the past, TMCs have tended to offer the one-stop shop idea, but that's never been really practicable."
The role that FCm Travel Solutions can play - which doubtless includes all of the foregoing - apparently extends to clients' employees with time on their hands. The company's staff travel club, offering discounts on holidays and leisure travel, is being extended to FCm customers.
Similarly, the TMC's Healthwise and Moneywise staff schemes, offering confidential advice on sustaining healthy lifestyles and bank balances, are being offered to clients as an added-value perk which they can offer to their own staff.
Graeme Milne, FCm's UK head of sales says: "In the past two months we have had 70 clients sign up for Travel Club. We have also won £16 million in new business over the past couple of months, and 50 per cent of those clients came on board because we are offering Travel Club.
"Corporates can't give pay rises in the current climate, so if they can offer an additional benefit, such as the travel club, it will help them retain their good staff, and ultimately improve productivity and results."
One could argue, however, that these 'initiatives', whether they involve greater scrutiny of taxi use or work/life counselling, are really only extensions of existing travel management skills.
ITM's Paul Tilstone says: "If you can come up with something that adds real value, corporates will buy into it, but it is up to the suppliers to create the initiatives, not the customers."
The last word goes to Hillgate's Andrew Burch: "'Thinking outside the box' is an interesting concept, and there are those who say that if you have to think outside the box, maybe the box is broken," he says. "As far as travel management is concerned, I reckon the box is fine - the real question is how good we are at managing what's already in the box."