Read the latest news from Business Travel Direct
Apr 2011: Business Travel Direct highlight the importance of its Traveller Security technology. Read the full story here
Jun 2010: Leading TMC, Business Travel Direct, confirm over £4 million of new business.
Read the full story here
Jan 2010: Ground-breaking new EuroCentre Collaboration from Chambers Travel Management and Business Travel Direct.Read the full story here
Jan 2010: Business Travel Direct Scoops Top Award for Best Business Travel Management Company. Read the full story here
Sept 2009: Former lastminute.com MD joins the Ickenham Travel Group to develop the company's online tour operator letsgo2.Read the full story here
Oct 2008: Business Travel Direct Enhances Traveller Security Options for its Clients.
Read the full story here
View the following case studies on some of our most high profile clients
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LATEST NEWS
Apr 2011: Business Travel Direct highlight the importance of its Traveller Security technology
One year on from the ash cloud crisis that grounded aircraft and sparked travel chaos across Europe, a travel management company (TMC) has claimed it is geared up to deal with any future crises, contrary to recent suggestions.
At the recent Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM) conference in Oxford, it was suggested during an educational seminar that the travel industry was still not adequately prepared to deal with the travel management surrounding major incidents.
Business Travel Direct managing director, Julie Oliver, has moved quickly to highlight that travel security technology already exists today and that her TMC – like many others – already embrace this to identify and manage through a travel crisis.
Both corporates and TMCs were criticised after the ash crisis for not having up-to-date contact details for employees, making it difficult for some business travellers to be located in accordance with corporate manslaughter legislation.
But Oliver said: "As soon as we learn of an emergency situation whether by television reports, FCO advice, email alerts or twitter, we immediately run a crisis management report on our Sabre Traveler Security tool to find out who is in the affected area and who is due to travel to the destination in the near future. This is when the crisis management plan kicks in."
"Firstly we must ensure messages are delivered to the traveller impacted using Sabre VirtuallyThere web and mobile tools. The second step is to inform their employer, and then contact travellers whose immediate travel plans are going to be disrupted. We then provide a more general consultative service for our customers to give them a broader understanding about how the crisis will impact them."
"Capturing traveller data such as phone numbers, email addresses and social media contacts has been mandatory at Business Travel Direct for some time. In the event of an incident we can mobilise staff very quickly and have policies and procedures that must be followed depending on the nature of the incident," she said.
"All of our staff are well aware of their priorities in these situations and we work together to make things happen efficiently."
Oliver said her comments could not represent the entire industry, but insisted her company, and many similar, were prepared for any future crises. The past year or so has highlighted the absolute need for agencies to take advantage of today's travel security technology. She also said communication between TMCs, corporates and travel suppliers was key to managing emergency situations, and called for closer dialogue with politicians and regulators.
Jun 2010: Leading TMC, Business Travel Direct, confirm over £4 million of new business
Leading independent TMC, Business Travel Direct, is proving that offering the right service proposition can successfully secure new business even in difficult trading times. In recent months Business Travel Direct has won £4 million of new accounts including life science leader, Millipore and animal welfare charity, the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
Business Travel Direct secured the account for international life science company, Millipore by being able offer a European solution. Business Travel Direct will provide a service for Millipore teams based in the UK, Ireland and France. Key to winning this business was the ability to provide a multi lingual service as well as consolidated reporting with its American TMC partner which is servicing the US business. Business Travel Direct has a focus on Europe as part of its European IATA accreditation and the ability to work in the local currency.
An independent consultation in how to reduce travel costs at the World Society for the Protection of Animas (WSPA) led to the charity choosing Business Travel Direct as its new TMC. With 13 offices worldwide the charity needs access to competitive fares often for travel to lesser-known destinations. Further savings will be achieved by using Business Travel Direct's self-booking tool.
Peter Reglar, CEO of Business Travel Direct comments: "We are continuing to innovate and add value to our clients through the solutions we offer. Our aim is to ensure an individual approach to our customers' needs. Flexibility is key to everything we do which is demonstrated in our ability to adapt and mould to customer demands."
Jan 2010: EuroTeam opening at Business Travel Direct
Business Travel Direct today announced a ground-breaking alternative for Corporate customers that is designed to deliver significant value to corporate customers and, at the same time, drive operational efficiencies.
EuroTeam is a European-wide travel solution centrally run through our offices in Uxbridge.
Commenting on the news Peter Reglar, CEO of Business Travel Direct said, "Clients are increasingly consolidating their business travel programmes across Europe. A centralised travel model can provide for greater corporate control and cost savings."
The EuroTeam is staffed by a team of experienced multilingual travel consultants. A key advantage to this solution is the ability to secure the lowest ticket prices for clients by accessing local country fares as well as through a comprehensive fares database. Ticketing and invoicing is available in both pounds and euros.
In addition the EuroTeam will be a focal point for processing and fulfillment of both telephone and on-line bookings. All elements of the travel journey are bookable: air, hotels, car and rail – including GDS and non GDS transactions.
Jan 2010:Jan 2010: Business Travel Direct Scoops Top Award for Best Business Travel Management Company
Local company, Business Travel Direct has started 2010 in winning form by picking up the Best Business Travel Management Company award in the prestigious Business Travel Awards.
Impressionist Jon Culshaw presented the award to Peter Reglar, CEO of Business Travel Direct at a glittering ceremony in London.
The Business Travel Awards are national awards that recognise companies delivering the very best in business travel whether it is hotel accommodation, car rental or air travel. Business Travel Direct was voted the best in its specialist sector of providing a full business travel management service for companies.
The 22 awards are decided on by an independent judging panel including senior buyers representing a wide range of companies such as Astra Zeneca, Royal Mail group, Airbus UK and leading business travel journalists.
Business Travel Direct was deemed to be the leading travel management company in the fewer than 250,000 UK transactions annually.
Peter Reglar, CEO of Business Travel Direct comments, "We couldn't have had a better start to the New Year than by winning such a prestigious award. Throughout our history we have strived to offer something different and I believe that this is what the judges recognised when they decided to give us this award.
"We are all too aware that businesses have been struggling during the current economic downturn and so have adapted our service help them make the most of their budgets. Our offer of a totally flexible service means that companies are only paying for what they use and not wasting precious resources on extras that the don't need."
Business Travel Direct is a leading, independent travel management company with offices in Uxbridge and Oxford. The company has been arranging business travel since 1970 and aims to combine the traditional values of service delivered by skilled consultants backed up by the latest technology. Business Travel Direct's client base ranges from small and medium sized businesses to major household names. Clients include Ofcom – the communications regulator, NATS – formerly the National Air Traffic Service, and Serco.
Sept 2009: Former lastminute.com MD joins the Ickenham Travel Group to develop the company's online tour operator letsgo2
Ex-Lastminute.com managing director, John Bevan has joined the board of Ickenham Travel Group plc with a specific brief to develop the company's online tour operator, Letsgo2.com.
letsgo2.com was established in 2004 to offer tailor made short breaks and holidays to destinations in Europe and worldwide.
Peter Reglar, CEO of Ickenham Travel Group, said: "John Bevan brings a wealth of experience and knowledge that I am sure will contribute to the future success of the whole of the Ickenham Travel Group.
"John's first task is to advise on how we can further develop the Letsgo2 brand to take it to the next level."
Ickenham Travel Group plc comprises of leading independent TMC, Business Travel Direct; online tour operator, Letsgo2.com and representation company, ITG Sales & Marketing.
Oct 2008: Business Travel Direct Enhances Traveller Security Options for its Clients
The realisation that on any given day it was sending over 300 business travellers to category 4 or 5 countries* has prompted Business Travel Direct, the leading independent TMC, to launch a unique security alert service.
In what is believed to be a first for the business travel sector, Business Travel Direct has joined forces with QCIC, a leading independent security consultancy, to launch the service which automatically sends a weblink to a country risk overview report when a trip to a category 4 or 5 country is booked.
There are currently over 50 countries with a category 4 or 5 rating including countries such as Russia, Thailand, Nigeria, South Africa, Pakistan and India.
Offered as a free service the country risk overview alerts travellers to the potential risks/problems they face when visiting a category 4 or 5 country. The report provides a summary of the current political situation, general security and travel tips and emergency contact numbers for the British embassy and local emergency services.
For companies and travellers seeking an enhanced service, the free report can be supplemented with a range of paid for services such as a secure meet and greet, country risk reports, business etiquette reports and group presentations.
The secure meet and greet service is particularly useful for those travelling to category 5 countries. The service includes the full detailed country risk report and an individual report based on the traveller's itinerary. The traveller is met at the airport by a consultant who provides a full security briefing as well as information on local laws, where to change money and recommendations for safe restaurants and bars. Travellers also have telephone access to a consultant throughout the trip.
A business etiquette report is useful for companies wanting to adhere to local business conventions. The report provides useful information such as how business is conducted locally, when it is appropriate to discuss business, local business hours and how the local religion may impact business.
Group pre-trip presentations are offered for companies where several members of staff will be travelling to high-risk countries.
Julie Oliver, group managing director, Business Travel Direct comments: "We were surprised to find that so many of our clients' employees are regularly travelling to category 4 and 5 countries. Equally surprising was the discovery that many companies do not have anyone with responsibility for monitoring the safety of staff while they are abroad.
"This new service is timely as it will help companies to better fulfill their duty of care obligations which have been further highlighted under the new Corporate Manslaughter Act."
Mark Rowan, director, QCIC comments: "This partnership with Business Travel Direct brings business travel and security together in an easy to use, accessible service.
"Our aim is to make business travellers more aware of the problems they may face. While the majority of trips are completely trouble free, we believe that being forewarned is being forearmed.
"We can help by providing simple guidelines so that business travellers can avoid inadvertently breaking local laws.
"At the other end of the scale we offer a fully comprehensive service for those travelling to high risk areas. While countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan are immediately recognised as high risk, people frequently don't realise that areas within a country can have varying risk levels. With our personal itinerary we can make them better aware of what they may encounter."
CASE STUDIES
Case study
Client Overview
A leading, independent provider of investment and wealth management services for private investors, charities and trustees, including discretionary asset management, tax planning, trust and company management, pension's advisory and banking services.With 11 locations across the UK their travel is diverse and includes a mix of both major domestic travel primarily rail and hotel, with air, ferry and car hire and international travel including primarily air and hotel.
Challenge
Traditionally our client has always utilised a manual, predominantly paper based authorisation and booking procedure, whereby each booking requires pre-authorisation with a manual signature from a designated signatory. Each location booked their travel through a source of their choice from travel management companies to direct with the suppliers. Settlement was also made through a variety of methods including direct accounts, third party lodge facilities and individual credit cards (with reimbursement being made via internal expense processes).The challenge we faced was introducing a more streamlined approach to bookings with a change in the booking procedure, achieve substantial cost savings through revised travel policy guidelines and encouraging advance purchase, central billing processes, a hotel programme of corporate rates, provision of comprehensive combined MI and the eventual introduction of a self-booking tool.
In 2008 our client employed the services of a company called Carbon Smart, as experts to assess their true carbon footprint and assist with the auditing and writing of their Corporate Social Responsibility report that has since appeared in their annual report & accounts. Following their work they provided an action plan as a means of improving the accuracy of their carbon footprint and offering possible routes to managing and reducing it. A key recommendation was the employment of a single travel provider with the MI capabilities to help identify what travel our client was undertaking but also indicate where they can make both financial and carbon saving directives going forward.
Approach
As the incumbent provider of travel services to their London and Edinburgh offices, Business Travel Direct required the buy-in, by the Executive Committee but also those regional offices with long standing relationships with other travel management companies. The objective was to introduce a single appointed travel service provider and central billing process.The next step was to instigate a tiered implementation process with phase one being a simple introduction of all regional offices using a single supplier and central billing. This phase also addressed all implementation requirements' relating to data uploads in preparation for phases two and three, the online introduction to nominated bookers and eventual adoption by all travellers.
A number of additional reference fields were pre-populated within individual profiles and processed through quality control software prior to invoicing to ensure data integrity, a key requirement for accurate billing and MI content.
We then introduced the revised, streamlined booking process across the business to both bookers and travellers via a highly structured roll-out plan and communication programme. During the first phase of the three phase implementation period, assistance was also given to our client to assist in the communication of the new procedures and the benefits of the change.
Our role during this key stage, working in conjunction with a dedicated project team was always to ensure travellers and bookers were kept informed at all times, felt comfortable with the process and resulting and perhaps most importantly gained their support for the change in process.
The changes
Since the introduction of the new process we have seen a 100% adoption from regional offices in using our services. During phase one, we have seen a marked improvement in the time taken to make a booking. The accuracy of supplementary data captured is in excess of 95%.The largest behavioural change we have seen by introducing this process has been the travellers actively seeking the most cost effective options through advance purchase.
Benefits to our client
The result of our process changes has enabled us to project savings of approx 60% on rail travel alone and an imminent introduction of the online solution to nominated travel bookers across the Group.Most significantly the accurate entry of supplementary data due to pre-population of fields at for finance and MI purposes has significantly decreased the volume of finance queries raised, resulting in quicker reconciliation of accounts and allocation of costs to billing centres.
Most importantly, our client, for the first time, have consolidated MI of travel expenditure to help identify the type of travel they are doing but also indicating where they can make both financial and carbon saving directives going forward.
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Case Study
Client Overview
Our client provides air traffic control services at 15 of the UK's biggest airports, and "en-route" air traffic services for aircraft flying through UK airspace. They also provide consultation services and training around the world.
With over 100 locations within the UK, from major air traffic control centres to unmanned radar masts in remote locations. Their travel is diverse and includes a mix of both major domestic travel including air, hotel, rail, ferry and car hire and international travel including primarily air and hotel.
Challenge
Our client had no prescriptive travel policy or online booking use but needed to save money on their travel spend, which was part of an overall company initiative to reduce costs.The challenge was how we could help our client achieve this in the existing environment and we approached this challenge on many levels:
Firstly, by educating the bookers and travellers through road shows, workshops and email communication we informed them how they could buy smarter. This included encouraging behavioural changes such as buying air tickets further in advance and differing the type of ticket purchased to achieve the best value fare. Many travellers were buying flexible return segments without realising that they could change their ticket for a small fee on a restrictive ticket.
Secondly, through undertaking a four week benchmarking exercise, we challenged every requested quotation and made alternative suggestions such as using cheaper hotels within a five mile radius or cheaper airfares departing within a one hour period. We were then able to analyse this data with the Supply Chain Management team to identify the quick wins and how they could be used to change the travellers buying behaviour..
Thirdly, further effort was made to encourage more travel bookers and travellers to use the online system. By undertaking one-to-one training sessions and acting upon feedback received about our online tool we were able to identify areas of improvement to make the bespoke booking tool more user friendly.
Finally, we built reports that alerted our client when travellers were travelling on the same plane allowing hem to look at car sharing opportunities.
Another requirement was to introduce a cost effective duty of care programme for their travellers. We were able to offer travellers email alerts for higher risk destinations together with etiquette and do's and don'ts whilst in country. We were also able to give access to our online traveller tracking tool, allowing our client to track their travellers movements anywhere in the world, 24/7. This proved to be quite a challenge as the hotels our client used are booked via Hotel Reservation Service, so we had to ensure that all bookings were brought into the traveller tracking tool and automatically updated.
The changes
By introducing the new process, the largest change we have seen has been to traveller behaviours. The majority of our clients travellers are now responsibe for booking their own travel instead of relying upon an internal booking function. This has resulted in travellers becoming more cost conscious, open to alternative travel suggestions and more compliant to policy.Benefits to our client
The result of our process changes and communication plans has enabled us to achieve an online adoption level of 50% and 100% compliance to travel policy.Hotel average room rates dropped in year one of the contract by 20%, in year two they remained static, but this year has seen a further reduction by 5%.
We have also seen the average ticket price continue to drop when the routes remained static due to better education.
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| £251 | £214 | -14.8% | (£37) | ||||||
| Q1 | £258 | £211 | -17.9% | (£46) | |||||
| Q2 | £268 | £222 | -17.2% | (£46) | |||||
| Q3 | £244 | £205 | -15.9% | (£39) | |||||
| Q4 | £233 | - | - | - | |||||
Most importantly, the above results have been achieved without the mandation of either the booking technology or a prescriptive travel policy.
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