Business Travelers Welcome

If you are traveling on business you may not realize it, but you are a hot commodity right now, it's true. unfortunately, customer reward has been hiding ever felt the global economic crisis. These days, hotels, car rental, airline, and hotel industries that pay attention to a slight increase in business travel, and it is a very good thing for their shareholders equity and quarterly profits. Indeed, traveling business people are often given a quote for the extra nights, extra day car rental, and even a free add-on services by companies that want to retain them as loyal customers. type of discount strategy worked. fortunately, the business travel market will come back, and the sign can be read loud and clear; Business Travelers Welcome! You see, as a business trying to grow out of recession, they must re-establish commercial contacts, and send the sales, marketing, and proposal teams to meet and greet clients. This is a win-win for all industries, particularly hospitality concerned that they really need to go back and spend on everything travel related. Of course, these days there are a lot of competition for the business trip. No hotels, extended stay hotel and timeshare rental condos and even serving the business community, a welcome sign that flashes in neon light, they want your business, and they will do anything to use it. they aim to please.

TRAVELLERS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY (LITERALLY) TO AVOID APD

Thanks to a recent report from Sainsbury's Finance claiming that families are planning to avoid or reduce APD by taking more staycations and long-haul flights from other European countries, APD is back in the news again.

Not that it’s been out of the news much (try Google-ing it). Since it was introduced in 1994 to combat the lack of VAT on fuel, APD has been the subject of many an angry rant from leisure and business travel journalists, who fight back with renewed vigour each time an additional price hike is announced.

And who can blame them? What started out as an extra £10 per passenger per long-haul economy flight from the UK peaks at an incredible £125 come 2016. The Government defends APD tooth and nail, claiming it’s a valid eco-tax. But they would, wouldn’t they? It accounts for £2.6bn in additional revenue to the treasury.

My question is whether APD is about to back fire on the Government as savvy business travellers get wise and fly short haul out of the UK using Charles de Gaulle, Schiphol or Frankfurt as their long haul hubs. This would certainly reduce the APD coffers in the short term and damage the UK economy in the long term.

If APD really is a green tax as the Government claims, maybe they need to look at ways to incentivise airlines to be more environmentally friendly rather than penalising the passengers who – just possibly – think they’re already paying enough taxes as it is.

Posted by David Chapple - talk to him on Twitter @btshowlondon

Beneficial aspects for Travel Agents

Technology is changing the one constant in our lives, it continues to grow and prosper like no other on earth. the internet has become so important in our personal lives and businesses have to update and keep up with changes. with internet marketing can be a travel agent and how it can benefit you.

Internet marketing is quite simply defined as the marketing of products and services via the internet. it can also be referred to as online marketing or e-marketing. choose to use internet marketing to the travel agent is really a decision that each company needs to make. This is one of the most powerful medium of advertising and reaches the largest audience.

Travel agency is an institution that has acted as an intermediary between airlines and consumers. sometimes a wholesale travel company may be involved in a relationship. Internet has brought along a large set of challenges, opportunities and benefits for the travel industry. one of the most serious threat faced by travel professionals from the internet is an opportunity for airlines to target consumers directly to sell their services.

To counteract the threat of reduced business due to the Internet, travel agents need to use internet marketing to its full potential to target customers and business opportunities. in your business can join the crowd, trying to stand out or fold up the tents and slipped away.

Benefits of Internet marketing for travel agencies include:
Modern technology has made it possible for people to access information with a few simple clicks of the mouse. this has been done away with the need to physically search for information and travel agents need to realize that a strong presence on the internet to put them in front of customers like nothing else.

Accessibility of information continues to increase every day as more people get connected to the internet. This is one of the best ways to reach a large target audience. In terms of cost, internet marketing for travel agencies is a very inexpensive way to advertise to millions of people, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Shopping market expectations continue to evolve, providing easier access to consumers for products and information.

Travel professionals can use their websites for lead generation, if any visitor to this site will be asked to leave their contact details before exiting the site, will lead the list grows every day.

Another distinct benefit of internet marketing is the fact that it allows travel agencies to directly monitor and evaluate the results of the campaign. you do not have to wait for your results to decide whether your advertising strategy is working or not, more information, you can implement changes without delay. Internet marketing for the travel agent is really the best way to reach out and attract the attention of consumers. at a basic level of need that the site is well designed and attractive full of useful information.

Improve Journey Through Business Marketing Platform

Business has become a popular source of revenue for a long time. Different people choose different types of business in accordance with their capabilities. among the industries with the growth of various travel and tourism has become a destination.

Many people who take this business because if they can kick start their business with the right then it will never look back. but whatever business you choose you must remember one thing.

It is very important to promote and market your business the right way to bring your business to the top. you must ensure that the more people learn about your business. you need to reach your customers around the world.

There are certain companies that can help you market your services and products. marketing can be both online and offline, online marketing has become more popular nowadays because of the widespread use of internet.

You must choose the best marketing travel company that can help you to reach your customers in the best way possible. unless you attract your customers,
with the help of your marketing companies to promote and market your business through a variety of magazines both online and offline.

In addition, they also publish web articles and other resources online. enterprise companies can also help you create the technology necessary for a good travel website, they can offer a wide range of marketing options.

You can create a social media marketing for business trips or even mobile marketing for tourism and travel, they can help you make online marketing base for your business trip. Social media marketing is one of the best ways to reach your target customers today.

Facebook, smart phones are some tools that can be widely used for this purpose. you can stay connected even when you're moving, you just need to create your own page where you can give details of your travel and tourism business.

You need to issue travel products and services that you want to sell. you have to publish on hotel rooms, rates, facilities and packages that you offer and activities. reservations can also be done easily with the help of this new technology.

UNBUNDLING DEMYSTIFIED

Unbundling was a dirty word that first reared its head in the travel market a few years ago and the public’s disdain toward suppliers offering unbundled prices peaked when Ryanair suggested it was planning to ‘charge a pound to spend a penny’. It’s since become part and parcel of how we buy travel and, when the game is played well, travellers and travel managers can use unbundling to their advantage, paying for only what they need and saving money as a result. 

In the trade, unbundling is more commonly referred to as ancillary fees. And though we may be more used to their existence, controlling, navigating and tracking them can still be a mystifying experience for many travel managers. According to recent research by the GBTA just 21 percent (21%) of travel managers are tracking ancillary fees while those fees account for over eight per cent of total travel spend.

Believing that ancillary fees have a significant impact on travel budgets and policies and, with better insight into how these fees work, travel managers can make more informed choices, the GBTA has now released the ‘2012 Ancillary Fee Handbook, Who Charges What, When & Where’.

The study categorizes virtually all the ancillary fees that business travellers can incur through airline, hotel and car rental travel. It also provides a rating system that evaluates each fee on three essential characteristics:

1. How common it is for a business traveller to incur the fee?
2. How transparent it is to travellers and planners?
3. How easy it is for travel managers to track the fee once it has been incurred?

You can download it here: http://hub.gbta.org/resources2/view/profile/id/21535. Travel managers across the globe can now breathe a collected sigh of relief. 

Posted by Daniela Reck - daniela.reck@centaur.co.uk 

IT'S TIME FOR TRAVEL MANAGERS TO SWOT UP ON MOBILE

Earlier in the week, AirPlus International and ACTE published a white paper focusing on how mobile payments will change corporate travel and expense management. I read it. And I’m glad I did – it’s a really interesting insight into the future of business travel management.

There are a number of key things that come across. Firstly, forget all the scare-tactics about mobile encouraging rogue travellers. According to this white paper, mobile actually has the potential to drive compliance. Why? Because it helps to link a lot of currently disparate processes together. 

By automating the purchase of smaller trip transactions through NFC (Near Field Communication) technology (which is when you simply touch your phone against a ‘contact’ point on, for example, a rail ticket machine, hotel room door, airport check in desk), managers will win back control over expenditure. By linking it to an app for your travellers, you can also control which suppliers they use and eliminate the temptation to fiddle expenses. And linking everything to your management system makes invoicing easier, quicker and cheaper.

Secondly, mobile also has big benefits for the traveller. It means they no longer have to carry cash and credit cards makes it easier and quicker for them to account for their expenses when they return home, too.  

Yet, despite all the arguments for using mobile payment technology, we’ve been slow on the uptake, with just five per cent of companies actually using mobile payment technology in our industry. Why? Well, mainly because the technology isn’t widely rolled out yet. It is here and it will happen. It’s just a matter of when. 

And it’s also partly due to ignorance – travel managers just don’t know that much about it. If they did, they would want to embrace it and, perhaps by embracing, they could help to speed up its adoption? In the meantime, I recommend reading the white paper and getting a head start.

Posted by David Chapple, david@businesstravelshow.com - tell me what you think @btshowlondon

BUYERS ARE RELAXING THE RULES ON ROGUE TRAVELLERS

I’m at the ITM Intelligence Conference in Manchester this week and, so far, it’s been a really interesting event with some fascinating insight into the future of business travel.

Yesterday’s recurring theme was traveller empowerment. I even wrote a blog post along these lines last week. With the rise and rise of social media and mobile technology, travellers are exposed to so much choice while on the move and are frequently making bookings independently. 

You would think this would have travel managers running for the hills. How on earth are they supposed to mandate travellers to stay within policy when travellers have essentially flipped them the bird and are all doing their own thing?

But you’d be wrong. Leading travel buyers are actually relaxing policy and, instead of stamping down on rogue travellers as they would have done previously, they are giving them price parameters and more freedom than ever.

Why? It’s all thanks to new technology, that’s why. Rogue travellers can now book through public apps and websites and managers have still have visibility of all of these bookings, thanks to a number of new products (Amadeus/KDS’ Maverick) that feed all of the information back to their corporate data banks. So rogue travellers can still feel rebellious and managers can still keep them within policy.

Posted by David Chapple, event director of the Business Travel Show. Challenge him on Twitter @btshowlondon