Smart phones and modern technology are a root cause of a fundamental change in the travel industry, Ron DiLeo, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), said.
He told delegates at the Advantage Conference in Madrid the change was an “inflection point” in the industry as it was making people buy travel in a different way.
Smart phones meant travel providers could reach the traveller at any time of the day and this was making business travellers behave like consumers.
It meant travellers could if they wished go outside their company’s official travel policy by, for example, using their own card to upgrade themselves on a flight or hotel.
“People will make a decision based on their personal desire and the travel manager can’t do anything about it except embrace it,” he said.
DiLeo, a former managing director for American Express business Travel in EMEA, said he had once heard a travel manager explaining why he did not allow his travellers t download apps.
But most had two devices, one a company one and the other personal which they used these to make their life a little easier.
“Travel managers are afraid of mobile devices as people use them to make decisions for their own good,” he said.
Procurement people had come into the travel buying business in the 1990s to give it some structure but it was a different world now.
There were about five generations travelling today from the over 60s to the mid 20s and 30s.
Bu many people under 30 were travelling on programmes designed by the over 60s and managed by the over 40s.
“People are coming to work today who have had five jobs by the time they are 30. They have no tolerance for something that does not give them instant sense. You can’t tell these travellers ‘You can’t have a mobile device’”.
DiLeo said Human Resources were now coming back into travel because companies could not afford to lose good people because of their travel policy.
“This is all about trying to get people think differently about buying," he said.Smart phones causing fundamental change in industry – DiLeo