Introducing the latest myCWT product and service enhancements
Building on our digital, omnichannel myCWT platform, our new products and services will simplify travel management for you and your employees – anytime, anywhere, anyhow.
Note: Featured services may not be available in your country at this time. Please reach out to your CWT representative for more details.
Hear from Chief Product Officer, Erica Antony as she shares the key product highlights of 2024, along with the key areas driving innovation.
-
2040: Baseline, Boom or Bust
As we enter an era of rapid transformation and unprecedented challenges, it is essential for travel managers, meeting & event planners, and corporate decision-makers to look ahead and frame our current strategic thinking with a clear vision of the future. Business travel and meetings and events (M&E) are poised for significant change over the next decade and a half, driven by a complex interplay of sustainability goals, technological advancements, evolving work models, and geopolitical dynamics.
In this paper to mark the 10th anniversary of our Global Business Travel Forecast, we explore, for the first time, a long-term vision of the future and potential trajectories through three distinct scenarios, each offering insights into how these forces should affect policy-making, budgeting and priorities. By examining these scenarios, we can better understand the diverse possibilities that lie ahead and the strategic imperatives required to thrive in each potential future.
Based on trajectory data analysis and interviews with industry leaders, behaviorists and climate tech founders, this forward-looking approach enables us to anticipate changes, strengthen our strategies, and make informed decisions that align long-term objectives. It is through this lens of foresight and adaptability that we can build resilience, seize opportunities, and navigate the complexities of the future.
We invite you to reflect on the insights presented, and consider how your organization can prepare for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Together we can ensure that travel and meetings remain catalysts for growth, scalability and sustainable practices.
- Scenario development is both an art and a science
- Megatrends Shaping the Future of Business Travel, Meetings and Events
- Sustainability goals the new crux of corporate policy
- Technology Revolutionizes Travel Management
- Modern work models spark new travel patterns
- Changing demographics open doors to new opportunities
- Three Scenarios: Base case, boom and bust
- Future-proofing strategies
-
CWT GBTA Global business travel forecast 2025
When it comes to pricing, global business travel has finally reached an enduring, higher baseline. Prices will continue to rise in 2025, but only moderately, so expect a period of normalized growth.
However, this pricing environment, one of marginal gains and price regularity, is fragile. Global leisure travel has now realized a lot of its pent-up demand, while corporate travel has been resurgent, with 2024 edging at preCovid levels.
There are many factors at play, whether its volatile oil prices, labor costs and constraints, inflationary pressures, and geopolitical factors. As this elevated baseline edges upwards, albeit marginally, travel budgets will come under increased scrutiny, especially as travel patterns and attitudes change.
It’s why business travel can’t be viewed in a silo, and the true value to an organization must be fully realized. This forecast can help with those calculations.
-
Capitalize on emerging technologies in corporate travel
Technological advancements are accelerating at an unprecedented pace. How will emerging innovations like Generative AI, blockchain, and self-sovereign identity (SSI) transform corporate travel?
BTN and CWT probed global CEOs, travel managers, industry consultants and tech experts on the promises, questions, and expectations these innovations raise and how they are set to reshape traveler experience, cost control and service delivery in corporate travel and events.
Download and discover
- The technologies that will have the greatest impact on corporate travel in the next 2-5 years
- How these emerging technologies are poised to control costs, enhance service and security, and boost efficiency
- The critical challenges, opportunities, risks and roadblocks each innovation raises
- What travel managers, buyers and experts anticipate from these innovations
-
Amadeus on what travelers think about digital health passports
An optimistic recovery scenario — combining infection containment, vaccine rollout, and rebounding economy — seems to be on the cards for the travel industry, one of the sectors most impacted by the pandemic. As the industry contemplates and explores new ways to recover, it will take a combined effort from governments and the whole travel industry to get the world traveling again. We also believe that technology and innovation will become powerful enablers of change.
By putting this theory into practice, governments and stakeholders across the travel industry are exploring the benefits of digital health passports or certificates to rebuild travel and tourism safely.
We conducted a survey earlier this year, across 9 markets, of over 9,000 travelers who had ventured abroad for leisure and business in the 18 months before the survey. We wanted to understand the travelers’ attitudes to digital health passports and in storing health data digitally.
About 41 percent of the people we surveyed said they would book international travel within 6 weeks of restrictions lifting. We also found that the comfort level of using digital health data is high globally. About 91 percent of people stated that technology would increase their confidence to travel in the next 12 months. Interestingly, this confidence level was 84 percent in September 2020.
However, we could see the key differences in traveler sentiment and the kind of technology they would be comfortable using in different markets. For example, the top 3 most-cited technologies that would increase travel confidence are mobile applications that share on-trip notifications, contactless mobile payments, and mobile boarding. On using digital health passports and sharing digital health data, here’s what we found:
Europe is more apprehensive about digital health passports
The survey pointed towards countries like Singapore, India, UAE and the US as most interested/comfortable in using digital health passports at all times when they travel. For example, 65 percent of the travelers from Singapore would use digital health passports if most countries accept them and are regulated by international standards. Comparatively, people in the UK, Russia, Spain, and Germany are a bit reluctant, with France the least comfortable at 33 percent. It may depend on how health data is shared and stored, as we found that travelers feel more comfortable sharing data with airlines they frequently use.
Travelers want to know how data is stored and shared
Close to 70 percent of travelers surveyed said they would be comfortable sharing health data if airlines they most frequently traveled with offered a way to store the data in an app they used already. However, the purpose of sharing the data differs. While 3 in 5 travelers would be comfortable providing the information purely for transportation, about half of them would be more interested in sharing the data for booking and checking. When we compared the data storage and the comfort of sharing, India, the US and the UAE were the top contenders for sharing data with frequently used airlines and downloading third-party apps. Our research indicated that the European countries (Germany and France being the lowest) are more reluctant to share health data and more apprehensive about where it is stored. That brings us to the question:
Concerns about personal information
We found that the general concern is similar in the majority of markets. More than one-third of travelers in the US and Europe, and about half of the respondents in Russia and Singapore, cited the risk of having their personal information hacked. However, the survey revealed that the concerns vary a little when we look at mainland Europe. Transparency is the top concern. For example, 40 percent of the respondents in Germany feel a lack of control and transparency over whom the data is shared with is a deterrent. For 38 percent of French travelers, the concern is privacy.
Most travelers point towards the right technology, be it existing applications offered by airlines to store and share health data or trustworthy third-party applications to boost confidence. The survey also revealed that understanding the traveler sentiment towards digital health data across different markets is crucial to rebuilding travel.
For more from Amadeus’ Global Report on Rebuild Travel: Digital Health Survey, check out the reports.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
-
CWT and Tracker Software Technologies partner to simplify tax and immigration compliance for travelers
CWT,the Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform, has signed a global referral agreement with Tracker Software Technologies (TST), a specialist in business traveler compliance management. Following this arrangement, CWT will be able to provide a data feed of travel bookings for mutual customers to the TST platform at our customers’ request, which automatically assesses individual trip data and proactively alerts nominated stakeholders, travel managers and their travelers, to specific tax and immigration compliance requirements pre-trip.
In response to global events such as the pandemic and Brexit, border controls have tightened, and new taxation rules and work visa requirements are in place which vary widely between countries and states. Employers and their travelers are at risk of significant fines and sanctions if they do not have the correct immigration and tax protocols in place for any given business trip. TST’s solution is designed to eliminate the headache of navigating these complexities and help keep travelers and their employers fully compliant in the ever-evolving landscape of a mobile workforce.
“Our customers have a need for streamlined processes, real-time visibility of where their travelers are, how long they’ll be gone, the type of work they’re doing and, to be alerted to any tax and immigration compliance actions required. Not just in the EU, UK or US, but globally,” said Patrick Andersen, CWT President & Chief Commercial Officer. “Our collaboration with TST, which has one of the world’s most extensive rules engines on the market, enables CWT to offer this crucial, accurate and pre-emptive tax, immigration and Posted Worker compliance solution, in a simple workflow, to our customers globally,” concluded Andersen.
“Today’s travelers need innovative thinking, global scale and specialized expertise. Our team’s aim is to compliment CWT services by providing compliant, positive, and seamless immigration, tax and posted worker data to their clients, allowing peace of mind for both their travelers and managers,” added Liam Brennan, CEO of TST.
Legal disclaimer: CWT does not provide any form of legal, tax or medical advice. We recommend that appropriate legal and tax advice should be taken from qualified advisors before taking or refraining from taking any action.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
TST is based in Dublin, Ireland and operates the Global Tracker platform, providing technology services to Fortune 500 companies directly and via industry partners. Dedicated solely to business travel compliance the technology easily integrates with existing travel ecosystems and company processes allowing companies of all sizes to manage the downstream compliance events caused by their employee travel.
-
Recognizing performance in a pandemic
The Challenge
Back in 2019, CWT Meetings & Events had already begun planning an event for a global chemical and consumer goods customer event for May 2020 by contracting a venue in Lisbon for an extended weekend of festivities. The event was in flux for a number of months with the unknowns of the pandemic until CWT consulted with the client in July to commit to a virtual event in October.
When they had to turn the event into a virtual one, CWT Meetings & Events was challenged to create an unforgettable program that properly conveyed gratitude and appreciation for their top performers’ efforts.
Solution
CWT M&E built a creative communication strategy that focused on building and sustaining excitement, including:
- Save the date email
- Invitation email with embedded video from the senior leader
- Pre-event branded box sent to homes shortly before the event with a luxury gift, detailed event booklet and gourmet treats for a virtual “coffee break”
- Post-event email with a wrap-up highlight video
We fully customized the virtual platform to the client’s brand and event logo within a 3D-degree experience, including: virtual networking lounge, plenary space for presentations and rooms for team-building/networking. Our creative designer even highlighted attendees with their images creatively included in the virtual décor. All speakers were live at the client headquarters with a green screen streaming speakers into the virtual platform. CWT M&E staff along with the client’s production partner managed all aspects on-site.
We created and followed COVID-19 protocols without exception, including a maximum of three speakers on stage at one time and each speaker assigned their own microphone. Moving speakers in and out of the green screen room took strategic coordination to ensure safety protocols were followed with masks in place when not speaking and social distance maintained.
Memorable moments included:
- Keynote speech from the first German to free dive with a shark after a shoulder injury left him bed-bound for nearly a year. His presentation engaged the attendees on risk management, which is a large client focus.
- Team-building escape game, “Beat the Hacker”, commenced with a video from the senior leader sitting in front of a laptop that keeps malfunctioning. He communicates an ominous message—“We’ve been hacked”; company data will be released unless all tasks are solved within 45 minutes. The winning team was announced on screen to virtual confetti and a bonus gift.
- Recipient of the top President’s Award recognized on-screen by the senior leader with presentation of a luxury gift. Virtual confetti flew on screen once more to bring the event to a close.
Results
The CWT M&E Team was recognized by key stakeholders and senior leadership for their creative and agile mindset to transform the clients’ event onto a virtual platform. The event achieved cost savings of approximately 30% and a Net Promoter Score of 61% when attendees were asked if they would “recommend the incentive event to a friend or colleague”. We also negotiated with the contracted venue to secure waived cancellation penalties with a future re-booking at that property. Our virtual success strenghtened/reinforced the relationship with the client. We have recently been granted the organisation of their 2021 incentive travel program that will also be turned into a virtual event.
Quick Facts:
- Success secured event for 4th straight year
- 30% cost savings
- 61% Net Promoter Score
“Absolutely everything was great, including the interactive format and speakers – it’s nice to feel part of such a large and creative team”
“It was very interesting to do this event in a virtual way. This shows me know how to adapt to the present situation.”
“It was absolutely high-tech and innovative.”
“Feel a part of the best company talents.”
“The Guest Speaker and Networking Competition were great as well as the very personal introduction of employees”
-
CWT’s ninth annual Responsible Business Report shows sustained momentum and continued recognition
CWT, the Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform, has today published its September 2021 Responsible Business Report, showing continued momentum, including being awarded the EcoVadis Platinum sustainability rating for the second year in a row.
“CWT upheld our best-in-class responsible business practices throughout this unprecedented year thanks to unwavering commitment, passion and cross-functional teamwork from our entire global organisation,” said Michelle McKinney Frymire, CWT’s Chief Executive Officer. “I am thrilled to see us continue to challenge ourselves in our quest for excellence and proud of how our sustainability achievements clearly demonstrate CWT’s values in action.”
The report covers CWT’s main 2020 achievements in its seven Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) areas: Ethics & Business Behavior; Human Resources and Human Rights; Environment; Responsible Products and Services; Community Involvement and Responsible Business Strategy and Governance.
Key highlights include actively:
- Reiterating CWT’s support to the UN Global Compact 10 Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals
- Committing to define Science Based Targets to further combat climate change
- Launching a Responsible Travel Consulting framework to help customers design more environmentally responsible travel programs
- Campaigning against human trafficking
- Reinforcing diversity & inclusion programs
- Caring for the health and wellness of our employees
- Engaging with multiple global and local community projects
- Restating UN Women’s Empowerment principles commitment
View the full September 2021 CWT Responsible Report
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
-
Not so taxing: Why immigration compliance matters more than ever
Organizations have always had tax obligations, adherence to immigration regulations, legal risks and reporting requirements when it comes to their employees’ business travel and remote working.
However, the tightening of border controls in response to Covid-19, Brexit and a growing penchant for remote working among other issues has created a perfect storm. Many countries have taken the opportunity to increase the enforcement of taxation rules for short-term business visitors, increase scrutiny of work visas, social security certificates (A1’s and CoC’s) and Posted Worker notifications in the European Union, as well as Brexit restrictions on EU-United Kingdom movements.
Non-compliance with regulations can result in fines in the millions for employers, with employee fines and potential sanctions also likely to occur, as well as reputational damage.
To comply with the increase in enforcement of these regulations and to avoid fines and sanctions, organizations need streamlined processes, full visibility of where their travelers are, how long they’ll be gone, the type of activity they are performing and, to be alerted to any compliance issues before they occur.
Tracker Software Technologies (TST) helps clients manage their traveler tax and immigration compliance. TST’s extensive rules engine has over 6 million algorithms which assess a traveler’s accumulating time at the host country, nationality, country of residence, trip purpose, destination and duration of stay at each location.
Based on the assessment, alerts are sent to identify and address any compliance issues before they occur, giving clients peace of mind that their travelers have the right documentation and other permissions to enter a country, in addition to tracking days spent in different countries for any tax requirements.
We ask Tom Crosby, Director, Consulting Services, Tracker Software Technologies why it’s more important than ever to manage compliance risks associated with business travel and remote working.
Brexit hasn’t had an impact yet
The lack of travel has slightly masked the impacts of Brexit and the now implemented Posted Worker obligations. The requirement to count days spent in the Schengen zone for the UK-based worker will become a new reality for mobile teams. This data is readily available in travel systems and travellers will look to their employers to advise them when they are approaching thresholds. Who could have thought that you would need your employees to also record their holiday travel into the EU as the Schengen requirements cover ‘days of presence’, not ‘days of work’. A month in the sun in August could potentially have significant implications on travel in the 3rd quarter.
The latest iteration of Posted Worker directive came into force in July, 2020, but with a world focused on COVID-19 there have been no real horror stories yet. They will soon come to pass. If you have not set up your processes to manage this new administrative phenomenon then this is the optimum time to do so.
It’s important to seek out a comprehensive listing of ‘activities’ from traveling employees so you can avoid unnecessary secondary processes by gleaning more detailed information from the traveller when they book their trip. If you are re-engineering the new travel process, then make it easy for the traveller to do everything on one visit to the screen or smartphone.
Remote working is on the up
Most LinkedIn timelines and blog feeds have been filled with speculative features on how remote working will prevail post-COVID. Remote workers carry the same risk attributes as business travellers. They are displaced from their normal place of work for an extended period – maybe within their same tax residence, or within a jurisdiction they have a ‘right to work’ in, but maybe not. ‘Pre-remote work request’ will become as commonplace as ‘Pre-trip request’. Employees will be asked to submit these requests under policies (still to be developed in many companies) and employers will evaluate these requests under the same variables that cause compliance issues for business travellers.
Remember that ‘Remote Work’ – is just, that – ‘work’ – so some of the grey areas around ‘meetings’ and ‘conferences’ that sometimes obfuscate business travel liabilities can’t be applied to remote workers. They are ‘working’ from day 1, so tax, immigration and posted worker obligations arise immediately.
Corporates are under scrutiny
The COVID-19 pandemic has emptied many countries coffers in supporting citizens and businesses. At the same time, many global corporates are still reporting healthy revenues. Governments will turn to corporates to secure additional tax revenues, as evidenced recently by Corporation Tax increases in the UK from 19% to 25%. There are large bills to pay for the COVID-disruption and the Corporates reporting healthy profits can expect greater scrutiny in the years to come.
To find out more about CWT’s robust travel and compliance ecosystem contact mailto: globalcmsupport@mycwt.comImage credits: Adobe Stock
-
How to think on your feet from those who have done it
Companies like ours began 2020 with optimism. A few weeks later the world turned on its head and business continuity processes were put in place. In less than 48 hours we rolled out 24/7 myCWT messaging to help travelers get home, and mobilized our workforce from 132 offices to work from home within four weeks.
It was a herculean effort that kicked off a series of impressive developments. Meet a few of the committed professionals across the organization who show that when nothing is sure, anything is possible.
Cultivate resilience as a team
Francesca Rigamonti – Events Operations Innovator
Francesca and her team helped two international sports federations to keep their events on track during the pandemic. Just one of these events represented 28,000 room nights, for 1,300 guests over 40 days, managed amidst the complexities of Covid protocol. At times it felt like a marathon.
Accepting they couldn’t achieve perfection in a high-pressure environment, they focused on the client’s goals and desired outcomes to help prioritize. Teams were organized to provide cover for the period of the event, and they came together as a team, “Learning to deliver a major event during a pandemic – a world-first no matter the industry or type of event – is no mean feat. When there’s no history and best practice to influence decision-making, rules change by the minute, decisions get postponed, and time compresses. What normally takes a month, you might have to pull off in a week.”
Help others succeed
Kathy Voss, Traveler Experience Innovator
Hundreds of thousands of airline tickets went unused as travel more or less stopped during lockdowns. Airlines, travel companies and clients were overwhelmed with the sheer volume of travel cancellations and amendments. Seeing an opportunity to make it easy to use the relating travel credit or unused tickets, Kathy’s team reviewed and made available over 575,000 unused tickets in our unused ticket management tool, so that when travel picks up, the ticket value can be realized against a new booking.
Looking for innovative ways to improve service and benefits, helps clients through tough times.
Get value from everything you do
Jenine Wong – Savings Innovator
Jenine Wong brings product innovation to life. Connecting teams, she manages a diverse program of work across CWT product strategy and operations, blending the best of people and technology to deliver the value of price optimization to thousands of clients.
During hard times, companies prioritized savings more than ever. Jenine thinks it’s critical to think beyond cost-cutting, “Don’t just trim around the edges; get value from everything you do. With a travel return on investment approach, CWT offers a suite of tools and processes that can deliver measurable savings for your program—empowering clients to go beyond pure cost-cutting measures to embrace how travel affects employees. We help to deliver real ROI through pre- and post-ticketing savings, powerful insights, and supplier and third-party expertise. Uncertain times call for seeing the bigger picture.
Simplify complexities
Eilon Carmi – Messaging Innovator
During times of uncertainty, traveling employees need channels of communication and tools that mirror those used in their day-to-day.
As a CWT product director for over 8 years, Eilon’s focus is to build consumer grade products that traveling employees will want to use. myCWT, our award-winning app, is only part of the story; he’s shaping our myCWT platform and related service channels – web, mobile, messaging – to deliver the services employees expect from a travel program.
Read more about navigating change and the people who power CWT.
-
CWT appoints Global Leader of Innovation Business Development
CWT, the Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform, has appointed Joel Hanson as Senior Director of Global Innovation Business Development. In this leadership role within CWT’s Global Supply Chain Partners team, Joel will serve as the steward for CWT’s innovation process and will be responsible for incubating, building and delivering industry-leading products and services to optimize CWT’s client and their traveler’s end-to-end travel experience.
Based in Minneapolis and reporting into Vince Chirico, SVP Global Supply Chain Partners, Joel is a CWT veteran, having joined the company as Global Senior Writer before spending the last six years as the company’s Senior Product Incubation Manager. Over the last two years, Joel has spearheaded the launch of CWT Guest Services worldwide which has enabled clients to effortlessly handle non-profiled travelers and was pivotal in the conceptualization and successful launch of CWT AnalytIQs, a pioneering tool for today’s travel managers to track and forecast spend.
“I’m thrilled to have Joel at the helm of global innovation business development,” Vince Chirico, SVP Global Supply Chain Partners commented. “With the travel industry in recovery, CWT continues to evolve its cutting-edge solutions and innovations to empower our clients and their travelers. Joel was an obvious candidate to fill this position, with his customer-centric mindset and innate capability to perceive and pioneer proprietary innovations that truly enable CWT to simplify business travel for its customers.”
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.
-
Meet Bill La Peer, VP, Enterprise Vertical Sales
Bill La Peer joins CWT as Vice President, Enterprise Vertical Sales. With over 25 years of industry experience behind him, Bill takes the helm leading CWT’s strategy in winning new global accounts in the financial services market.
We chat to the sales heavyweight from Michigan about his new role, the value of becoming a trusted advisor and how he recharges after a busy week.
What gets you excited about sales?
There are several aspects of sales that excite me, and I can divide them into 3 areas; challenging, rewarding, and varied. If you break down the sales lifecycle each stage represents a challenge, and if executed properly your reward is advancing to the next stage. The ultimate reward is having a corporate buyer put their trust in CWT to partner in managing some of their great assets, namely people and working capital. Each day brings multiple opportunities at different stages of the lifecycle and might include activities ranging from research and writing to creating presentations and pricing.
What will be your first focus in your new role at CWT?
To be successful in sales requires being both strategic and tactical approaches.
I am a big proponent of the Challenger Sale focusing on educating vs. selling. Creating constructive tension is about introducing new ideas and concepts to the corporate buyer and challenging them to think differently. As I familiarize myself with CWT and my prospects, my areas of focus will be acquiring the knowledge of both organization and client so I can find clients for whom we are the right fit, and they are the right fit for CWT.
Best client achievement?
I have worked in several different roles during my career including operations, account management, and sales – as an individual contributor and in leadership positions. It’s difficult to single out just one achievement. What they all have in common is becoming a trusted advisor to corporate buyers. That is a person who has both the power and responsibility to direct or advise, and become an asset for the organization to reach its goals. In every sales opportunity one of my goals is to become a trusted advisor.
The term trusted advisor is frequently overused, however if achieved this status is invaluable. You can be a real asset to the client, organization and to the business relationship. Even if you don’t win the account becoming a trusted advisor can position you for future success.
Biggest disaster of your career?
I’m not sure if this would be considered a disaster, however it has had a significant impact on me: Early in my career I was speaking on the phone to one of my direct reports and reviewing an email at the same time. She kindly asked if I could call her back when I could give her my full attention. I am so thankful to this day that she was confident enough to tell me that. Although some interruptions cannot be avoided, when I am engaging with others in person, via phone or virtually I make an effort to give everybody my full attention. It is respectful and prevents you from missing a detail that may appear minor, but in the end can be crucial.
What do you like to do to relax after a busy working day?
At an early age I caught the fitness bug and still have it today. I usually hit the gym before starting my workday (even when on the road). It helps me stay sharp physically and mentally – especially important during busy and stressful times. I enjoy reading as well and do most of my reading in the evenings and when traveling. I’m usually bouncing between 2 books at a time (one fiction and the other non-fiction).
Favorite book?
I am an avid reader with an interest in a wide range of topics from business, history, biographies, and fiction (in addition to a variety of news sources). A wide range of interests keeps you current on industry and world events, trends, and more. Someone advised me early in my career to incorporate fiction into my reading – it helps develop your vocabulary and provides you with a break from your busy professional and personal life.
To select one book as a favorite is challenging. However, if I have to pick one it would be “When Lions Roar/The Churchills and the Kennedys”. It was fascinating to read about two powerful families, and to compare and contrast how they led their families, and countries (especially in challenging times), and dealt with success as well as failures over the years.
What advice would you give to businesses looking out for a new TMC?
Education and building relationships are important for buyers and suppliers. Buyers should have a sense of the travel management companies that can service their business and be open to meeting and sharing information well in advance of an RFP. The RFP process should be focused on understanding the details of the offering and determining which TMC has provided the best solutions and value.
-
Plane sailing: How to mitigate the irritations of air travel
For months people have been talking about a return to travel, and indeed willingness is strong and steady. In a recent poll from GBTA, seven in ten (72%) travel buyers felt their employees were ‘willing’ or ‘very willing’ to travel for business in the current environment.
So we’re back to some annoying things about traveling by air and how to mitigate them. Now that we’re back to traveling to new places and connecting to old friends and colleagues, we would never have guessed we’d miss them that much.
Long lines: Stretch
Waiting lines at the airport a nuisance? With social distancing measures in place you can create your own little space to relax and work out. Practise lunges while waiting, or do some yoga warrior poses. You will step onto the plane feeling fresh and revived. You can also listen to your favorite funny podcast. It will put a smile on your face. See how many people return it. You could even use the time to listen to CWT’s On the Fly podcast about all things travel related.
Delays: Catch up on work
A flight delay can be the ideal time to catch up on work without being disturbed by colleagues walking into your office. Your colleagues know you are en route so you will probably not be bothered by lots of phone calls. Try to get in an airport lounge for a comfortable workspace and to enjoy the snacks and drinks while you are at it. Not so bad at all! You can also use the time for a mindful meditation or yoga session. Some airports have special meditation rooms or other silent sanctuaries available.
Unappealing food: Bring your own
Not a fan of inflight dinners? Remember most airlines give you the opportunity to pre-order your preferred meal. If you are still not keen on the chicken curry or roast beef sandwich then cancel your meal. You can easily bring your own food and snacks with you like dried fruit, protein bars, quinoa or chickpea salad. Check out these healthy and tasty plane snacks for long flights.
Lack of legroom: Exercise your limbs
When you are 5.5 feet tall or less you will have no troubles squeezing yourself into a seat. There will still be enough space to wiggle your legs and feet. When you are taller you will need to be a bit more creative to keep your blood flowing. But don’t worry there are plenty of exercises you can do while remaining seated and without looking weird: neck rolls, shoulder rolls, and even doing squats in the restroom.
Talkative passengers: Try engaging
Don’t immediately look away when seating yourself next to a fellow passenger wants to engage in small talk. You might be lucky, have a lively and interesting conversation while meeting a friend or an interesting prospect for your business. And if it doesn’t work out… you can always use last minute business prep as an excuse to open your laptop.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
-
Meet Cheng Meng Hwang, Head of Global Market Management & Development APAC
Cheng Meng Hwang joined CWT as Head of Global Market Management & Development for APAC. A 25-year veteran in Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and travel IT based in Singapore, he earned his stripes in the travel industry, and has worked overseas in commercial sales, business development, customer engagement, operations and consultancy roles for leading global travel technology companies including Amadeus and Abacus (now Sabre).
We talk with Cheng Meng about his new role, the importance of knowing yourself and your competitors, and how to think carefully about the color of the business suit you are going to wear.
What gets you excited about your new role?
Although I already have 25 years of experience in the GDS business and supplying IT solutions, this role with CWT allows me to connect to the demand side of the travel business and gives me a more holistic overview of the entire travel services ecosystem. Starting a new job can be nerve-wracking, but it’s also constantly stimulating as I acquire new knowledge and unlearn old routines, to position myself to write a fresh story with a clean slate. It is a blessing that I have a good team in place, and colleagues who have been extremely helpful in sharing their experiences to get me settled in quickly.
What is the biggest triumph of your career?
In 2000 I was responsible for the start-up of the China representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, in my previous company, to enhance relationships with the Chinese Authorities and Chinese carriers. This was before foreign GDS’s were fully legalised to operate in China. The annual bookings had grown exponentially by the time I left my China posting in 2003.
What is the biggest disaster of your career?
In the early 2000’s I wore a nice olive green suit to a meeting with a Chinese state-owned enterprise. Only later I found out that my green suit was not a great pick. My staff said the colour of my suit resembled the green uniforms worn by the red guards during the Chinese cultural revolution and therefore was totally inappropriate. Luckily, I had not matched it with a red tie or a red book to take notes during the meeting! Although it did not impact the outcome of the business meeting, it was a huge lesson learned to pick your business suit wisely.
What is your favourite book and why?
The Art of War by Sun Tzu (the original Chinese version). The book is about the most famous military treatise in Asia in the last two thousand years. It is broadly read within the business world as the ‘basic primer’ for competitive strategy, and the analogy is easily adaptable to marketing.
My favourite phrase from the book : “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” There are two essential things you need when going to battle – to truly know yourself and your competitor(s): including strengths and weaknesses to assess the landscape and situation. Seizing the opportunity to be successful and win is applicable to doing business today.
What advice would you give to businesses looking for a travel management company?
It is crucial to clearly understand and define the objectives you want to achieve as a business. A good travel management company (TMC) like CWT can help organizations to calibrate their requirements accordingly. This helps to avoid excessive wish lists which may not be realistic to achieve. With back to travel initiatives, businesses will be focusing on the latest immigration policies of countries and overall well-being of their employees. TMCs will need to align with customers as they prepare themselves to adapt back to normalcy and build confidence to start traveling once international borders reopen. A good TMC strives to improve their technological innovation, products and solutions, and ultimately their service and value add.
-
8 Questions for Ian Cummings, Global Head of CWT Meetings & Events
As the new Global Head of CWT Meetings & Events, the multi award-winning corporate meetings & events management service, London-based Ian Cummings leads a global team of meetings & events professionals, delivering strategic global programs (SMM), creative live, virtual and hybrid events from major global programs to intimate incentive trips through to complex global conferences and exhibitions for some of the world’s largest global companies.
Following nine years at CWT M&E in country, regional and global roles, Ian takes the reins at a historical time for the industry and world at large. We caught up with him to talk highs, lows, climate change and how he tends to put people before process.
What gets you excited about the events industry?
I love the vibrancy of the meetings & events industry, its creativity and most of all its ability to connect people, and bring smiles to faces, helping them to always learn and grow. And when it comes to incentives – creating those moments in people’s lives that they will remember forever – How powerful is that?!
What’s going to turn the industry on its head?
A powerful and constantly evolving combination of creativity and emerging technology will continue to enhance the experiences we can offer.
But the single biggest change we are witnessing is the mindset shift related to sustainability, the horrendous impact of climate change and how the M&E industry must change to be a force for good across the globe. We must leave locations in better shape than when we arrived, support local and micro economies and change our mindset from one of consumption to contribution.
Best client achievement?
There are far too many from all of our teams to call out one, but there is nothing more satisfying than over delivering on a client brief and creating moments that attendees will never forget. But doing an incentive trip for over 2,200 delegates to Shanghai from Europe with a week-long program of activities was right up there as one of the best client achievements ever.
Biggest triumph of your career?
Two of my proudest moments have been winning back-to-back “Global Agency of the Year” awards in 2018 and 2019 at the C&IT industry awards. This was the culmination of a 5-year journey with an incredible team of people who bought into a shared vision that we could be recognised as the best of the best, across the globe.
Biggest disaster?
The biggest disaster for the travel and events industry can only be the COVID-19 pandemic. There are plenty of positive learnings to come from it but to see our industries all but collapse – is something we all never hope to witness again.
Words or phrases you never want to hear again?
LWOP, Furlough and “the new normal”!
What should change in the industry and what should it be replaced with?
The RFP process has become over exhaustive and cumbersome and in some cases its being done as an exercise every 3 years with no major intention to change. However much agencies put work into responding, the decision then often gets delayed. In worst case scenarios – a full debrief for non-awarded agencies doesn’t occur. I’d replace it with a much more simplified process that’s based on people and teams you want to work with. M&E is a people business and commoditising it through RFP and price doesn’t do it justice.
What would your career be in a parallel universe?
I would have loved to have had a career in sports, excelled, then supported charities and the development of under-privileged kids, moving into commentating and then ambassador roles – using sport to spread change for good. People connect so well through sport and music with borders and boundaries being reduced to zero purely for love of the sport or sound.
Visit CWT Meetings & Events
-
CWT awarded Platinum status for responsible business by EcoVadis – fourth consecutive year of being top-rated
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, has been awarded Platinum status by EcoVadis, the independent corporate social responsibility (CSR) rating agency. In the fourth consecutive year of being rated in the top category for its responsible business practices, CWT is among the first group of recipients to receive the new Platinum rating, and remains in the top 1% of over 60,000 companies rated worldwide.
“It is humbling to receive EcoVadis’ top rating for the fourth consecutive year,” said Françoise Grumberg, CWT’s Vice-President, Global Responsible Business and Diversity & Inclusion. “Our colleagues’ commitment to driving progress in areas and initiatives such as anti-human trafficking, the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles, and unconscious bias training, reinforces responsible business as a core tenet of our culture here at CWT.”
EcoVadis rates companies according to 21 CSR criteria, grouped into four broad themes: Environment, Labor, Fair Business Practices, and Sustainable Procurement. CWT’s performance in each of these four themes was evaluated, assessing policies, actions, and results, and has been recognized as being in the top 1% of all assessed companies.
Platinum status was introduced by EcoVadis in January 2020, surpassing the top standard of Gold with which CWT was awarded in 2017, 2018 and 2019, having been recognized with the Silver rating in 2016.
CWT is a leading global partner in business travel, meetings, and events. Operating across six continents, we deliver sustainable, tailored solutions that help organizations connect, engage, and thrive in an evolving world. Our myCWT platform integrates advanced technology with human expertise to simplify travel and enhance traveler and attendee experiences. Extensive global coverage, seamless data integration, AI-driven analytics, and carbon-conscious travel tools enable businesses to optimize their travel and meetings programs while delivering measurable value.
With 150 years of industry experience and a deep commitment to partnership, CWT collaborates with clients to shape the future of business travel and events, making them more efficient, responsible, and impactful.