Stephen Doel, procurement manager for the British Heart Foundation, talks to Catherine Chetwynd about measuring compliance, advice to suppliers and the future of travel
Is your travel policy mandated?
It is. Ideally, every hotel, flight and rail journey is booked at least 12 days in advance, so that we benefit from discounts, although not every requirement fits into that. Anything out-of-policy is reported to the booker’s line manager, who has to sanction it. And for accommodation, we have a maximum London rate and out-of-London rate we would pay – that’s built into policy – and they can stay roughly where they want to.
Do you measure compliance?
The bulk of our bookings are rail journeys and at least 70 per cent comply with the 12-day process – the message is starting to get across that advance booking is cheaper, and we have performance figures to show that. Because they are working for a charity, our people have a social conscience in the way they book travel.
Do you have a travel managementcompany?
We use Click Travel. Our offices are in Camden, north London, and we did a special piece of work in the area to find out where people stay and what influences their choice. There are three hotels nearby where Click has negotiated special rates for us, and there was one hotel where we were not getting very good service – and we got better service through Click. They have also got rates for us at a lot of the national chains and at hotels where we have got larger volumes of traffic.
Does being a charity affect yourrelationship with suppliers?
I take the view that this is a commercial arrangement, but we want to get something else out of the deal. For example, our heart-health teams talk to suppliers’ staff and we encourage contractors to make us ‘charity of the year’ – it builds greater loyalty between them and the charity. February was National Heart Month and we ran Wear It, Beat It, when people dressed in red and raised money for the charity. It’s about drawing the corporate world into what we do and buying into our vision, which is to eliminate cardiovascular disease.
What one piece of advice would yougive to suppliers?
Understanding the needs of the customer. We have one train journey that takes place above all others, between London and Birmingham, where our major call centre is, and we cannot really get better rates. There are two operators on the route: Virgin and London Midland. Virgin is a premium service but quicker, and London Midland is a stopper. This effectively means there is no competition, which removes any opportunity to negotiate. We encourage people to take the cheaper route but it is time versus the rail fare – six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.
What’s the biggest challenge in your role?
My greatest challenge is the changing shape of the organisation. We have a fairly high turnover of staff and I am constantly advising new starters of the processes. About a year ago, our retail division was still not using Click, so we had one division using the system, and one making it up on the hoof. It is all about education, sending an internal email reminding staff of the policy and the benefits of that.
How long have you been a travel buyer?
I’ve been three years in the retail division, and I am also involved in discussions with the Charity Sector Procurement Group (CSPG). Travel is one commodity all the major charities talk to one another about. The RNIB [Royal National Institute of Blind People] is the contract convenor and there are six members of the travel-buying framework. When we meet, we are 30-plus charities and the buying framework will grow as people see the benefit.
How many are in your team?
There are two of us – myself and my assistant. I have the overview of procurement for the organisation. My assistant works on a lot of the data, and liaises with the convenor at RNIB.
How does the future of the travelindustry look to you?
The two major elements for me are rail and hotels. Whoever wins the upcoming general election may determine changes in rail policy, with better pricing and social policy. High Speed 2 is the great unknown. I live in east London and have seen the benefit of HS1. HS2 will change people’s notion of how they travel north. Now, they fly because there is not much of a premium and it is quicker. There has been major under-investment in the railways for the past 50 years and HS2 is the catch-up.