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.
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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
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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.
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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
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CWT Solutions Group facilitates a pricing solution which results in a 24.3% reduction in charter pricing with a focus on the local communities wellbeing
Results at a glance
- Projected Total Savings versus current contract of 24.3% on spend of $18 million USD annually
- Optimized rise and fall pricing formula ensuring a successful longterm partnership
Challenge
A global ERM company faced with fierce external pressures from commodity prices, needed to find incremental savings in their air charter contracts. With an annual air charter spend of $18 million USD, the company had a longstanding relationship with their incumbent supplier and had not been to RFP in almost 10 years.
Prior to approaching CWT Solutions Group to manage the request for proposal (RFP), the incumbent supplier proposed a bid avoidance to our client proposing price increases across all markets. With historical challenges of limited supply in the region, the client was concerned that there would be minimal opportunity for savings.
A long-time client of CWT, the company’s procurement team reached out to CWT Solutions Group to help determine the opportunity of going to RFP and how Solutions Group could support in their efforts.
Our consultants took a detailed and custom approach, assessing the past twenty years of macroeconomic indicators, to create custom forecasting projections and a competitive analysis to determine potential opportunity. With the CWT Solutions Group insights and experience in hand, the ERM company made a well-supported decision to approach the market for a competitive pricing exercise.
Solution
Working closely with the client to develop a tailored strategy, Solutions Group aligned with the client’s operational, commercial and community care objectives of the RFP.
With multiple mine sites to service, internal stakeholder priorities from each site were consolidated and incorporated into the project success plan. Assessments were made of supplier management structures, technical capabilities, health and safety standards, and long-term financial health.
Our consultants gathered, cleansed, and consolidated the client’s data with enhanced market-related metrics. Pairing this information with short-term and long-term risk assessments allowed the team the ability to determine risk mitigation solutions. On the commercial front, Solutions Group developed comprehensive market insights through a competitive analysis against the client’s current pricing, budget, and market indices.
Utilizing a proprietary forecasting system, our Solutions Group dynamic negotiation tools allowed the client to easily forecast long-term financial impact figures during supplier negotiations. This advantage supported a strong face-to-face negotiation, resulting in on-the-spot pricing evaluations and decisions. Dissecting the elements that contribute to supplier operational costs, Solutions Group was able to find multiple avenues of negotiation potential, leading to a layered approach to reach ultimate savings potential.
Results
Combining both operational and commercial objectives, Solutions Group was able to facilitate a mutually beneficial pricing solution while meeting all site stakeholder technical requirements. This resulted in a 24.3% reduction in charter pricing versus our client’s current contracts. This greatly exceeded the initial expectations of the client and adds to a long list, of very happy customers.
The Bonus
As part of Solution Group’s ongoing work to support people, profit and planet the client’s objectives around community care were a major priority to consultants throughout the sourcing exercise. With mine sites located in remote regions, the local community near the sites greatly benefit from access to spare charter seats. Knowing the opportunity of mobility is vital to the wellbeing of the local communities, our Solutions Group Consultants made it a top priority to ensure charter airlines would accommodate and support the allocation of unused charter seats to locals. Solutions Group was able to find a resolution to this community care objective without any sacrifice to the financial results.
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Meetings Mosaic: Re-thinking corporate events for a brave new world
As Covid-19 continues to alter societies and economies, everyone is wondering what the future will look like. The novelty of meeting on video screens is going the way of learning to bake banana bread: It’s wearing off, and we’re wondering when we will meet again.
We humans are social creatures. We share mirror neurons that allow us to subconsciously match each other’s emotions. Face-to-face requests are 34 times more likely to garner positive responses than emails. Yet, in the absence of an effective vaccine or treatment, 64% of epidemiologists think it will be over a year before large events return. And, it’s increasingly unlikely that we will see a return to the status quo.
Brands should prepare for the future with a meeting & events strategy that includes a mosaic of virtual, hybrid, and in-person events to give attendees the interaction they crave.
CWT Meetings & Events responded to the pandemic by applying our project management and creative expertise to online events, at scale. We have numerous virtual events in development in 11 countries. Here’s how companies can stay relevant, foster engagement, and maintain business continuity in a way that’s sustainable and maximizes future opportunities.
- Create the theatre
Virtual environments and computer screens are simply not as fun as stages and live audiences. For virtual, we have to go further than ever to create the theatre of the event, grab people’s attention and keep them highly engaged. Recently, we hosted a 2-day space-themed virtual event for a pharma client to motivate their sales reps. We set up an exotic plenary room, built a visual and communications identity around a “moon landing”, added in augmented reality within the presentation and delivered space-themed goodies directly to participants’ homes. This created a real buzz around the event, our client saved 45% versus delivering live and engaged attendees both online and off. - Make your platform perform
Your chosen platform IS your venue! We should spend as much time making the platform perform as we do selecting a venue for a live event. We build customized engagement plans that include elements such as creative registrations, virtual environments to walk into, easy-to-navigate agendas, auditoriums, virtual panels, polling, gamification, mixing live and pre-recorded touchpoints, breakout rooms and even finishing with a virtual Happy Hour networking in the bar, or a team-building with a celebratory chef or song quiz. If your virtual event turns out to be just a glorified online meeting, it is a missed opportunity. Instead, apply the excitement of live events to a virtual setting with added data capture. - A perfect execution
Unlike a live event, 80% of the work of a virtual event is in the preparation. The key is to marry content with creativity. Think of objectives way before execution. What will the attendees take away with them? What behavior will we want to encourage? How do we reconnect post-event? Pack the “swag bag” with content, downloads, videos, and then give them an offer that connects back.
We set up a global product launch for a fashion and luxury brand. Speakers engaged attendees in 3 regions across 12 hours from two complex broadcast studios in Paris. Robust contingency planning and a follow-the-sun approach made for perfect global connections and an attendee satisfaction rating of 4.7/ 5.
We know we’ll all meet again, first in smaller groups, then larger groups. For now, start by building virtual events, then create hybrid events in the mid- and long-term to build brand loyalty and excellent ROI.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
- Create the theatre
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Walking the virtual path – A blueprint for your first event in the cloud
Meetings and events have always played a crucial role in most business strategies. As the pandemic took hold and people were largely based at home, virtual meetings became commonplace. Now, as the world starts to emerge from the pandemic, thoughts of business travel inevitably start to return. But with different countries opening their borders at different times and with the ever-present threat of a second wave, cost control and the wellbeing of employees are at the top of the priority list. Attending an event doesn’t feel easy to justify anymore. In fact, digital conferences and virtual events are under consideration by 63% of people interviewed in recent market research [*] and they plan to incorporate “virtual” in their strategies even when employees return to the office.
That’s why going virtual will be a major part of the way forward, whether we consider it an incredible opportunity to engage our audience or an inconvenient necessity.
However, unless you’re an early adopter by nature, the very idea of a virtual event can quickly seem overwhelming. But once you see what they are capable of, you will quickly realize you don’t need to start from zero. In many ways, what you have learned from your in-person events will help you succeed in the digital space. Here are some suggestions as you embark on your first virtual journey:
Ask the right questions
Focus on what you want to achieve. This is nothing new for you: your objectives will impact your choices, whether it be the event format, technologies required, or even how you’ll measure the ROI to evaluate your success. It may seem obvious, but it’s not. Actually, many event professionals are rushing to the “how does it work?” question before having a clear reason for organizing the event.
Reconsider your audience
Sure, you know your target from your past experiences. But, if you’re moving from in-person to virtual events there should be some new information to capture if you want to be equally effective. How tech-savvy are your attendees? Are they extrovert enough to make the remote team building formula work? Are they active enough in social media for you to include Twitter in the program? If you’re not sure, researching or simply asking your audience will give you some indication. After all, you want to engage them and unless they feel comfortable and valued, they will disconnect in just a click.
Create an impactful format
As for your live events, you will put a lot of effort in designing the overall attendee experience. Similar to in-person events, it’s about creating top-notch content, and interactions with participants before and during the event, and in follow-up communications. Digital channels multiply the number of touchpoints with the audience. They also press you to deliver meaningful content in short shots, as your online audience is more prone to distraction. Think about a TV show, whose success depends on content, immediacy and speed. As a consequence, the suggestion is to keep the structure of the format simple, concise and, whenever possible, interactive.
Think of the technology as the means and not the aim
In the last few years, there has been an explosion of digital solutions and more recently, new alternatives pop up every day with the emergence of the pandemic outbreak. In this digital jungle, it’s easy to be overwhelmed, but don’t forget that the tool is not the ultimate end. With a live event, you look for the venue that best suits your objectives, you don’t shape the event around the venue! It works the same way with technology: consider it at the service of your business objectives and stay focused on the virtual experience you want to create. If you are confused by the vast pool of possibilities, a trusted partner will help you find the technology that works for you.
Start small and think simple
If you don’t consider yourself a digital black belt: start simple! Choose a calendar of well related small virtual events rather than a complex one-shot program. That way, you can examine how your attendees react, and progressively raise the bar and scale your program. Content experts may also help you design an overall impactful experience for your digital audiences.
When taking your first steps, collaborate closely with your suppliers on all the complexities while you stay focused on your brand priorities and your clients’ expectations.
[*] 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact Survey, TOPO (Gartner)
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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Podcast: How will the ‘new world’ of travel impact the employee experience?
As travel slowly restarts around the world what will it mean for the employee experience and how should a travel manager prepare?
CWT’s Julian Walker speaks to Jeremy Prout, Regional Security Manager, and Dr. William Hauptman, MD, Medical Director Assistance, from International SOS. They take a holistic view at getting employees back on the road and provide a roadmap and strategic framework for a return to travel.
Learn about:
- Resuming travel: pre-trip approval, airport screenings, and many other requirements
- Creating a ‘return-to-travel’ strategic framework
- Preparing travelers for a new trip experience
[buzzsprout episode=’4143830′ player=’true’]
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The changing dynamics of crew travel
The rapidly changing landscape of the pandemic restrictions has seen the energy, resources and marine (ERM) sector adapt quickly to find new ways of keeping employees mobilized against a backdrop of border closures, flight cancelations and quarantine restrictions. As these restrictions began to ease in some markets it was still hard to imagine a return to what was in business travel, including crew rotational travel in the ERM sector.
One such example has shown the ingenuity required to find solutions that considered both the business and employee impact on operations. On Thursday April 2, 2020 the Western Australia (WA) Government announced the closure of its borders effective 11.59pm Sunday night. A global energy company providing essential services required urgent movement of 28 rotators from the east coast of Australia to Perth (west coast). Failure to get a replacement team into the state before the borders closed would result in the rotators potentially facing a 14-day quarantine period before on-signing, this could push teams already on-site beyond health and safety regulations. The added complexity of the situation included knowledge that an extended closure may further impact the continuity of business-critical site operations. So, what do you do when you are potentially locked out of a state? You move employees and their families across the country to a new temporary home in Perth, WA.
An urgent call went out to identify which rotating crew would be willing to move for up to 6 months – their families in tow. The decision to move entire families from the east coast of Australia to Perth, a 4,000-kilometer distance, made in hours, not days. Whilst families were scrambling to pack belongings for an extended stay, CWT ERM teams across Australia, Europe and Canada flew into action working seamlessly – with the time of day or night irrelevant given looming border closures. By 2.50am the following day, less than 12hrs after the initial request, all bookings were complete and families began to fly into their new reality with everyone relocated within 24 hours.
Ensuring the health and wellness of not only employees, but families, creates new challenges for ERM organizations. What are the new considerations for accommodation, ground transport, schools, location, and accessibility of essential shopping and local community services? An obvious need is for a self-contained apartment, but for those who cannot make the immediate decision to relocate their families and now arriving after border closure, simple things like a self-contained apartment with a balcony becomes a must have, especially for those with young families who are facing 14 days of self-quarantine.
But what of the sausage dog? The bird? The rabbit? I kid you not! Unfortunately, in some cases, leaving the family pet at the last minute for up to 6 months is not an option – so they came too. While securing flights in an environment of cancelations and fleet groundings was the immediate and obvious challenge, family relocations for extended periods, some required extended periods of self-quarantine, presents many never before logistical considerations requiring immediate attention and ongoing management. Urgency, flexibility, compassion and determination became the name of the game, and this is not achieved without the commitment and cooperation of all service suppliers working collaboratively to deliver solutions and value to clients, especially in a crisis.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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CWT to upgrade customer experience with Concur® Travel
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, today announces an expanded integration with Concur Travel, the leading brand for expense, invoice, and travel management solutions. CWT clients using Concur Travel can select RoomIt by CWT, the hotel distribution division of CWT, as their enriched source of hotel content.
Launching in late May 2020, with a phased roll-out through the end of the year, CWT clients using Concur Travel can have all hotel content from RoomIt. As and when clients begin to look to their future travel plans, they will be able to access even more savings as well as additional reporting capabilities. This initiative delivers an upgraded booking experience that includes enhanced rate descriptions across web and mobile, so travelers can view the source of the rate and loyalty eligibility. Virtual payment is also available for all types of rates, so travelers do not have to use their personal or corporate credit card.
“We are proud to be a part of the first travel management platform to have this innovative connection in place with SAP Concur solutions, to provide an exceptional, consistent booking experience for travelers around the world, as and when they will need it,” said Patrick Andersen, Chief Commercial Officer and President of RoomIt by CWT.
“Since the beginning, we have remained true to our focus on offering personalized choice for our customers,” said Max Miller, Vice President TMC Business Development at SAP Concur. “CWT has embraced the SAP Concur ecosystem, extending the power of Concur Travel by providing an even more personalized customer experience for hotel bookings with RoomIt by CWT. This exemplifies the kind of ecosystem collaboration intended to keep the customer at the center of our partnerships.”
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.
About RoomIt by CWT
RoomIt by CWT is the hotel division of CWT, which books over 30 hotel rooms every minute. Offering more than 800,000 carefully sourced properties, RoomIt provides travelers with the amenities and loyalty programs they want, while helping organizations control their budget and improve travel oversight.
SAP, SAP Concur and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices.All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
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Now is the time to shape the future of business travel
As governments, organizations, and the media work around the clock to make sense of the impact of Covid-19, the new normal is bandied around with casual abandon. But as business travelers grapple with issues for which there is no blueprint, one thing is for sure: Companies have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to scrap the old and welcome in the new – creating the optimum business travel environment of the future. So I don’t say ‘new normal’ – I say ‘new you.’
We are working with customers around the world to help create this new paradigm, and despite all the noise, four core elements remain true in every scenario:
- Employee wellbeing
Safety and wellbeing must be a top priority in a post-Covid-19 world, so now is an optimum time to integrate safety and security, data and 100% managed travel program compliance.
We’re looking at new technologies to offer information at the point of sale to help travelers make informed decisions around issues like entry requirements, quarantine restrictions, and even the last time a hotel was cleaned. - Travel policy essentials Our customers are asking about new issues like pre-trip approval processes and how to successfully renegotiate supplier contracts in light of Covid-19. A post-Covid travel policy strikes a balance between employee well-being and savings.
To effectively revise a business travel strategy, access to historical data and the integration of real-time data from multiple sources, plus an understanding of the plan for recovery are essential. - Benefiting from educated advice
Companies will need assistance in how to bring back and manage business travel and conversation is a critical part of it – leaning in on experts, brainstorming with their peers, etc.
To facilitate dialogue, we host daily calls with client executives around the world to get real-time feedback. We launched a series of blogs and vlogs from our executive leadership team to help companies navigate the future along with a podcast featuring the International Olympic Committee.
We’re communicating with focus groups where customers of like-size, geographies and vertical markets can brainstorm, and we’ve also created microsites to guide clients, and a dedicated webpage. - Integrating the physical with the virtual
And what of those larger corporate meetings or industry events? As companies come to terms with realigned parameters, companies will need to see how to integrate the attendee experience and harness the energy generated from such gatherings into virtual offerings – a specialized proposition and skill set which many more are experiencing on smaller scales as you read this.
So, now is an extraordinary opportunity to re-evaluate everything, and engage in a more meaningful way with your travelers to provide choice, content and an environment to comply.
More than ever, innovation and growth depend upon it – so why not get in touch, and make the new normal yours.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
- Employee wellbeing
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The complexity of evacuations – How CWT solved the challenges to keep employees mobilized during a pandemic
During the pandemic, CWT helped energy, resource and marine (ERM) companies relocate, evacuate and mobilize employees and their families from all parts of the world. From relocating a global energy company’s 500 personnel from multiple countries to repatriating a flight surgeon from Russia, we worked with clients to find solutions to the many challenges brought about by the pandemic. In a unique sector requiring unique solutions, many have changed the way they do business in an effort to keep employees mobilized and operations active.
Act fast, be agile
The fluidity of the pandemic and the need for countries and territories to apply fast, far reaching decisions on border restrictions has seen ERM companies react with agility and speed. Whether moving entire families to new locations ahead of border closures, working with airlines to replace canceled commercial routes with charters, or sourcing appropriate long stay accommodation for employees, organizations have developed new agile solutions to keep operations moving.
Employee wellbeing – the new priorities
With the health and wellness of employees a priority, organizations had to consider all aspects of the traveler’s journey – from applying social distancing rules on charter flights, ensuring employees abide by local quarantine regulations, to implementing on-site hygiene practices. The sector also had to consider new factors potentially impacting site operations, including the ability for a country’s health system to withstand the pandemic. Safety of employees now extends past that which the employer can control.
Coming home was not always possible
Someone’s primary residence is not always their country of citizenship and many people around the world, particularly those in long-term overseas postings, may call a foreign country their home. In families with mixed citizenship, where partners or children may not have corresponding nationalities and documentation, border closures to all except citizens and residents added new complexities during COVID-19. Combine this with the speed required to implement evacuations, simple issues became complex puzzles requiring families to consider unforeseen solutions.
Commercial versus charter – a new schedule
With the ongoing cancelation of commercial flights and the grounding of fleets, charter flights became the now normal. However, sourcing, implementation of social distancing, booking processes, charter sharing, itineraries, and flight manifests, must all had to be carefully managed.
We are extremely proud to have worked with our customers to deliver new processes and policies that helped them facing the challenges of ERM travel during the pandemic.
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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Podcast: Managing the Olympics during Covid-19
Few events are as globally significant and historic as the Olympics, although COVID-19 comes close. CWT speaks with the International Olympic Committee and 3 PEAKS Leadership about the importance of communication and transparency, why it’s essential to have effective contingency plans and offer up essential advice on dealing with evolving situations and ‘uncontrollable’ events as we’ve never seen before.
[buzzsprout episode=’3824381′ player=’true’]
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Physically distant, socially connected: How to guide a global workforce through troubling times
While Covid-19 reshapes industries, economies and societies in previously unimaginable ways, business leaders need to think beyond immediate survival to unite employees and define culture for the long-haul.
Our industry is at the heart of the crisis but people are standing together and looking out for each other thanks to open discussion, a robust online community, and caring culture. Here’s how to keep your employees connected, apart.
Communicate transparently – Open clear channels of communication with employees, listen with empathy and respond honestly. Where there’s a dearth of dialogue or a top-down approach, misinformation will fill the void, eroding engagement and culture. CWT hosts all-employee townhalls with our CEO and executive leadership every few weeks. So far we’ve held four of them, attended by 3-5,000 employees in 40+ countries. The recordings are listened to by another 1-2,000 employees. Our CEO’s blog posts are regularly read by over half of the workforce.
Build a multi-faceted online community – With a highly dispersed global workforce of 16,000+ people spread across nearly 50 countries, strengthening bonds was important before the pandemic. Now, it’s critical that our social intranet doesn’t just replace water cooler chat but bolsters collaboration, inclusion and wellbeing too. Look beyond technology as a means to conduct meetings – host online gym classes, introduce recipe-sharing forums, share successes, exchange wellbeing tips, and schedule informal catch-ups.
Put your people first –Covid-19 has ushered in one of the biggest work-life transformations of our lifetime. Studies show the average workday has increased by 40% due to childcare, home-schooling, and changing roles. Physical safety is paramount, of course, but it’s important to address the need for authentic connections, purpose, and personal autonomy in the context of an unfolding crisis.
Many forward-thinking companies have taken advantage of government schemes, introduced pay-cuts at executive level and will allow staff to return to workplaces gradually and when they feel safe to do so.
Every company in the world is facing big decisions. It has never been more important to remember the saying: “You don’t build a business, you build people, and then people build the business.”
Image credits: Adobe Stock
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How our 24/7, around the globe service team, brought a surgeon safely home to his family from Russia during a pandemic
Results at a glance
- 24/7 seamless management around the globe.
- Frictionless customer experience.
- Returning a flight surgeon home to his family.
The challenge
Through their Health and Human Performance Contract (HHPC), KBR has supported astronauts in the US space program since 1968. When the pandemic began to escalate globally, the KBR Government Solutions U.S. division had a flight surgeon working on a HHPC project for NASA in Russia.
KBR required immediate assistance from CWT to repatriate him from Russia to the United States as soon as possible. It was immediately obvious this would be extremely challenging as countries around the world started to impose travel restrictions in varying degrees. This also meant that airlines had to constantly change or cancel their flights.
CWT was on a race against the clock. We had to not only get him out of Russia, but ensure he was on a flight that would allow connection through to the United States.
The solution
CWT launched into action to find a viable solution to bring the traveler home.
With constant border changes and canceled flights, the process required seamless management by CWT teams from operational centers 24×7 around the globe.
The evolving complexities were fast and fluid – border closures, canceled flights, rescheduling of commercial routes, grounding of entire carrier fleets, visa requirements for potential transit points and fierce competition for limited seats on available flights. As the team worked on a solution, they took care to detail every change and action required in every iteration of the itinerary, allowing any team member, including our emergency service center, to pick up the booking and support KBR with further changes at any time, day or night.
The final booking included 20 changes across 8 different CWT counselors who adjusted, managed and communicated with KBR before the flight surgeon returned to his home and family.
The result
By providing an effective 24/7 operation that incorporated excellent communication between teams, CWT supported KBR’s traveler during the pandemic, ensuring that he returned safely, taking the fastest route possible.
“They were always upbeat and positive in the midst of a global pandemic. They never tired of me calling and greeted me like we were all one big family working together to get another family member home. “
Mary C McFather, KBR
Administrative Assistant, Multilateral Medical Operations -
CWT reports continued growth and delivery in 2019
CWT, the B2B4E travel management platform, announces a strong performance for 2019, with increases in transaction volumes, sales, and revenues.
2019 highlights for the year ended 31 December 2019 (with prior year comparatives):
Financial (in US$ Bn unless stated):
- Total transaction volume*: US$24.8 (2018: US$24.4)
- Contracted new sales**: US$1.8 (2018: US$1.7)
- Revenues***: US$1.53 (2018: US$1.49)
Operational:
- Transactions* up 2.2 % to 63 million (2018: 62 million)
- Continued investment in technology
- RoomIt by CWT: hotel attachment rate up 127bps
- myCWT app downloads averaged more than 800 times every day (2018: 650)
- Client retention rates high at 96% (2018: 96%)
CWT reported a strong financial performance for 2019, with transaction volume up 1.8%*, revenues up 2.2%***, and US$ 1.8Bn in contracted new sales (including joint ventures, excluding renewals).
In line with its aim of being the world’s leading Business-to-Business-for-Employees travel management platform, and, in keeping with the CWT 3.0 Strategy, CWT’s focus remains on customer experience, high growth opportunities, and simplifying business travel. CWT’s 2019 results clearly demonstrate the successful impact of achievements in these areas.
In addition to the main business travel offering, CWT operates four specialist divisions, all of which performed well in 2019:
- CWT Energy, Resources, & Marine provides travel management solutions for many of the world’s leading companies in the oil & gas, mining, offshore, marine, and alternative energies industries.
- CWT Meetings & Events is CWT’s meeting & events division. It delivers innovative, high-quality projects for its clients across all industry sectors globally. Its creative know-how helps it deliver awe-inspiring events, and its logistics expertise guarantees professional meeting services, group travel, and compliance.
- CWT Solutions Group is the consultancy arm of CWT. Solutions Group drives value and growth to its clients’ businesses by helping them to extract more value from their travel and expense program through state-of-the-art technology and business travel knowhow. Its innovative approach focuses in four key areas to achieve true ROI: travel and expense strategy, data insights, supplier management, and travel services outsourcing.
- RoomIt by CWT is the hotel distribution division of CWT. Every day it matches travelers with the right room at the right rate, and every minute over 125 hotel rooms get booked. It also provides travelers with the amenities and loyalty programs they want, while helping organizations control their budget and improve travel oversight.
* On a constant currency basis, including joint ventures but not the Global Partner Network.
** Annualized contracted new sales, excluding renewals, but including joint ventures, with no comparative to prior year.
*** On a constant currency basis.
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.