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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Hotel loyalty – How to defeat a werewolf
Apparently, every business everywhere is completely unprepared to battle werewolves. In meetings, conferences, webinars, and emails we constantly come across the phrase: “There is no silver bullet,” which, unfortunately, is the only thing that kills werewolves.
“No silver bullet,” you say? Then what am I supposed to do: work myself to the bone in the hope that my werewolf of a boss – I mean – my werewolf of a problem just goes away?
Travel managers would certainly label untracked travelers as a werewolf of a problem. Over the course of a year, many travelers will book outside their corporate channels at least once due to better pricing, convenience or loyalty rewards. The average travel buyer will then waste over 40 hours reconciling travel and expense data each month.
Now tell me, who wouldn’t want to take a silver bullet to that big-ole, hairy time-waster of an activity?
When you consider that many travelers book directly on hotel websites for loyalty rewards, and that 60% of bookings made directly on hotel websites will go completely untracked – thus making travel reconciliation bigger and hairier – it’s easy to understand why hotel loyalty rewards are seen as monsters terrorizing corporate travel programs.
What’s more, when your travelers book outside of your program, it can lead to overspending. Despite the fact that pricing, as noted earlier, is another leading reason travelers book outside their corporate travel tools, non-compliant bookings have been found to increase travel spend by up to 15%.
So, where’s the silver bullet?
Ok, so we know non-compliant travel is bad, like, scary-bad, but a silver bullet was promised. What if I said hotel loyalty can be that silver bullet? Yes, we are talking about a “hair of the werewolf” sort of situation here (cue eye roll).
We work with clients and suppliers to improve traveler compliance using a one-of-a-kind Loyalty Booster program, a campaign-based program that awards travelers with additional points and miles just for booking preferred hotels within their program.
The additional points awarded are from the hotel brands your travelers already love, and we work with clients to ensure the right suppliers are chosen for campaigns. That way you can shift market share to a preferred hotel too. The program is free to join and requires no additional work from you.
Now you are probably wondering: What can I get for my hefty investment of zero dollars and zero effort?
Participating clients have seen a 12% increase in their travelers booking hotels within their program, with an additional 3% increase after the campaign ends. The sustained growth after these campaigns end shows a true behavioral change in travelers, and as anyone knows, a 15% uptick in compliance will go a long way in quashing your furry menace of a problem.
Another unique benefit is that this program acts as a carrot – rather than a stick – to your hotel program. It’s a way to entice travelers into travel programs.
Non-compliance is a werewolf for travel managers. Werewolves are scary, time-consuming, and expensive. Hotel loyalty rewards used to be a werewolf too, but now they can be the silver bullet for non-compliance, thus proving this proverb true: “The werewolf of my werewolf is my friend.”
Loyalty Booster is a win for travelers, because they get more points and miles for brands they love. It’s a win for travel managers because they get back hours of time while enjoying an improvement in the quality of their work and benefitting from an increase in traveler satisfaction; and it’s a win for companies, because they can save money while improving the security of their employees.
Ask a program manager or CWT representative about Loyalty Booster.
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12 top tips for negotiating business travel
Our Global Travel Forecast shows that travel prices are expected to rise sharply in 2019. Hotels are up 3.7%, and flights up 2.6%, driven by a growing global economy and rising oil prices. The only respite will be ground transportation, which remains flat.
As negotiation season approaches for travel buyers, there is a lot at stake, so we have gathered twelve top tips from our key experts to help you succeed in designing a stellar travel program for 2019.
Air
- Consolidate your expense data to get visibility on ancillary spend as unbundled fares and low-cost models become the new industry trends.
- Control fare distribution as channels are more and more fragmented and new pricing concepts (branded fares) are not always well displayed.
- Monitor changes frequently based on potential swings in pricing.
- Negotiate new fares by anticipating forecast price increases – plus any changes in the competitive landscape from mergers and acquisition, new long-haul, or low-cost competition, and other airline strategies designed to increase yield.
Hotel
- Interrogate content on behalf of your travelers by using technology offered by your travel management company (TMC). Save time and effort compared to manually searching on an aggregator site. If it’s not offered by your TMC, ask why.
- Optimize your hotel program by focusing your time and effort on key properties while ensuring an adequate mix of rates. Combine fixed rates such as Last Room Availability (LRA) and Non-Last Room Availability (NLRA) with chain-wide discounts and dynamic pricing.
- Analyze the door-to-door impact of travel. Hotel room rates can be optimized through favorable scheduling of your overall trip.
- Prioritise security standards And instigate contingency plans with key partners to localize, alert and communicate with travelers.
Ground
- Leverage your position. There will be an increased effort to raise rates within the car rental industry. Know your current patterns, how your costs are distributed, and insight into the global marketplace.
- Ask your car rental suppliers to provide data from your travelers’ bookings to understand how much your organization is paying in ancillary fees. This enables you to conduct informed negotiations on items that represent the greatest expense.
- Focus on more than just rates. Get a complete picture of how your total costs are distributed. It will help you focus on more than just rates.
- Look out for charges that are already included in your contracts, such as damage to vehicles your employees did not incur, incorrect refueling, and GPS charges.
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Sweet spots – 3 of the best places for meetings and events in 2019
The experience economy is in full effect. New countries are opening up to international events trade, there’s a buzz around innovation and event technology, and the meetings and events industry is looking forward to impressive growth in 2019 (Look out for the 2019 Meetings and Events Future Trends report coming out in September). But with so many destinations to choose from how do you find the perfect spot? We’re sharing some insider tips on three destination hot spots for 2019. What are you waiting for? It’s time to get planning!
- Punta Cana
The Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana coastline has a beach that stretches for 32 glorious kilometers with the best-connected Caribbean airport, just a 30-minute drive away. Visitors can choose from 36,000 hotel rooms at sun-soaked resorts like Paradisus Punta Cana Resort and Paradisus Palma Real Golf and Spa, both fully geared with world-class conference facilities. - Berlin
While many know Berlin as the hipster capital of the world, it’s fast becoming a must-visit destination for business travel and events. Offering state-of-the-art facilities, world-class dining and entertainment, and an unmistakable creative energy, the rough diamond of Germany is now attracting a new kind of traveler. Look around the city, and you’ll see the newly-instated head offices of corporate and investment companies, and slick tech start-ups interspersed with independent cafes and gritty street art.
If you want more of a Berliner style experience, hop on a Segway or into a mini hot rod. There is something for everyone. For art lovers, Berlin is where you can find some of the most eccentric graffiti painted on the sides of buildings like the East Side Gallery as well as hundreds of galleries and museums. - Banff
A Canadian resort town known for its mountainous surroundings and clean, crisp air, nothing will motivate attendees more than a view out of a meeting room in Banff. Gather around an open fire or dip into the natural hot springs, a great way to get warm and for colleagues to get to know one another, whilst overlooking the glacial mountains – how surreal!
Turn that annual meeting or project get-together into an eye-opening experience. It’s the ideal balance of boutique-hopping along Banff Avenue and wild walks through the emerald forests of Banff National Park, created in 1885 and ranging over 6600 square km. Most delegates know the usual venues set aside but take their expectations to a whole new level by visiting Banff.
- Punta Cana
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Hands off my data – How to stay safe on the road
Securing our personal data can be a challenge while traveling. Being away from home and the office sometimes forces us to connect to unknown networks. We’re also likely to be working in public places where our information may be at risk. And, as we scuttle from one place to another, we may well lose things.
So it’s no surprise that only 35% of global business travelers feel very confident about data security when traveling for business, according to our research.
The study indicates that 46% are concerned about a security breach when online or trying to get online, 37% have downloaded a file without knowing what it was or who sent it, and the same percentage of people have opened a phishing email.
Here are some useful tips:
- Carefully review your company’s information security policy to stay abreast of best practices and know what to do if your information is compromised or suspected to be at risk.
- Keep hold of your electronic devices, telephones, wallets, bank cards, written material, and photocopies of documents. If you’re not taking them with you, put them in a safe.
- Avoid exposing confidential information to strange eyes and ears. Use screensavers that prevent outsiders from viewing your computer screen. Also, exercise caution while having conversations with your colleagues. Make sure no one is listening.
- Don’t leave confidential information in hotel rooms or meeting rooms unattended. If you no longer require it, make sure it has been properly disposed of and no one can read it.
- Install access passwords and screen locks on all devices. If possible, also set up some form of encryption.
- Don’t enter your credentials into public computers.
- Don’t use unknown networks. When connecting to the Internet, use reliable networks and a VPN access.
- Don’t plug in accessories that you don’t trust.
- Use secure pages (https).
- Don’t access unknown links or download suspicious files.
- Watch where you’re charging your cell phone. Plugs can be rigged to access information from mobile devices.
- Don’t share your passwords with anyone, or use a password management website.
- Carefully review your company’s information security policy to stay abreast of best practices and know what to do if your information is compromised or suspected to be at risk.
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The strength of difference – How we foster diversity & inclusion in our corporate culture
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities,” said American educator, author, and businessperson Stephen R. Covey. This quote is especially true in a globalized world.
According to a McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) study Diversity Matters, gender-diverse companies perform 15% better and ethnically diverse companies 35%.
Being able to integrate different worldviews is a tremendous advantage that companies should not neglect. At the end of the day, organizations are a reflection of society. That’s why at CWT we strive to create an environment that promotes diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities for all, regardless of our ethnic and cultural backgrounds, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
This is how we do it:
1. We adhere to international standards
The Human Rights and Labor Principles of the UN Global Compact and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the main sources of our policies. We are also a signatory of the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and, in accordance with the UK Modern Slavery Act (2015), where we have published our global statement against slavery and human trafficking.
2. We put it in writing
Having an official document strengthens the importance given to a topic. Our Code of Business Ethics and Conduct underlines our commitment to recognizing and respecting the diversity and inclusion of people and ideas globally. It also ensures and promotes equal opportunities.
3. We have strong governance
Clear governance is essential to succeed, and key leaders are the most effective advocates. The Chief Human Resources Officer and the Chief Customer Officer sponsor the global diversity and inclusion taskforce I lead.
4. We promote extensively
We use every opportunity to organize training, events, and conferences within our organization to promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion. We celebrate the UN Cultural Diversity Day for Dialogue and Development, run several campaigns throughout the year and foster various local initiatives around the globe: from empowering Chief Millennial Officers to leading intergenerational cooperation in Asia Pacific, to embracing Employee Partnership Networks that champion LGBTQA rights in the US.
5. We train recruiters
Recruiters play a key role in ensuring that equality is respected in our talent acquisition processes, so they get trained to select candidates on a nondiscrimination, equal opportunity and by competency basis.
Our commitment to diversity is reflected in our recruitment processes. In the US, for instance, we actively monitor the diversity of our hiring and set goals annually that are reviewed at the highest local levels to monitor our progress through affirmative action planning. We also collaborate with external agencies that share our focus on diverse hiring and placement. One example is Canada, where we have specific language in our job postings offering accommodation to individuals with disabilities throughout the recruitment and onboarding process.
I hope you find these useful.
We believe people will only give 100% of their potential at work if they are free to be 100% themselves; that is why we fiercely support diversity and inclusion in our organization.
To find out more about Responsible Business at CWT, please feel free to read our latest Annual Responsible Business Report – June 2018.
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CWT research: 65% of business travelers are nervous about data safety when traveling
According to research commissioned by CWT, the global travel management company, only 35% of global business travelers feel very confident about not compromising their employer’s data safety when traveling. Travelers from the Americas are significantly more confident (46%) than those in Asia Pacific (28%), or Europe (27%).
“These results show there is still a lot to do around educating travelers on how to look after their company’s data. For instance, connectivity in public spaces can put company data at risk,” said Andrew Jordan, CWT’s Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer. “Awareness and training are key to protecting against any possible security breaches.”
When traveling, the three situations in which respondents were most concerned about exposing company data were having their laptops or other mobile devices stolen, or lost (29%), using public Wi-Fi (21%), and working on their laptop or other mobile devices (9%). These were followed by unintentional sharing of company documents (9%), accessing company emails (8%), opening a file or visiting a website they shouldn’t have (8%), and disposing of paper documents (6%).
These concerns are justified since nearly half of business travelers were concerned about a security breach while online or trying to get online. And this was not the only issue: 37% admitted to downloading an unknown file from an unrecognized sender – and the same percentage opened a phishing email.
Fortunately, most business travelers took action when they became aware of a security or data breach. 37% of surveyed travelers claimed to have immediately shut down their device, 25% reported it to their company, 34% notified their company’s IT department. 62% of those polled confirmed that they knew how to report a phishing email appropriately.
“These percentages can surely improve dramatically with better training on data safety,” said Jordan.
Less than 20% of business travelers said that they received frequent and formal communication and guidance about data and internet security from their company, while 34% said they received some guidance on what not to do.
About the survey
The CWT Safety & Security Study was created by Carlson Wagonlit Travel and conducted through Artemis Strategy Group between the 29th of January and the 9th of February, 2018. Survey data was collected from more than 2,000 business travelers from the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States), Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) and Asia Pacific (Australia, China, India, Japan, Singapore and South Korea). To participate in the study, business travelers were required to have made more than four business trips within the past 12 months.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected. We provide their travelers with a consumer-grade travel experience, combining innovative technology with our vast experience. Every day, we look after enough travelers to fill more than 260 Boeing 787s and 100,000 hotel rooms – and handle 105 events. We operate in around 150 countries, and in 2017 posted a total transaction volume of more than US$ 23 billion.
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The sardine can experience – Are the days of crushed knees coming to an end?
When you thought economy class’ seat pitches couldn’t get any narrower, the frequent flyer’s worst nightmare made a comeback at the 2018 Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. I’m talking about Skyrider 2.0, the new generation of standing seats, first introduced by Aviointeriors Group in 2010.
The seat-saddle hybrid that makes you stand up halfway during the whole flight makes me shudder. I can’t picture myself as some kind of John Ford character riding into the sunset. And about getting work done while traveling? Forget it. There’s no way that your laptop will stay put on such an incline.
Thankfully, I recently came across other news that gave me hope. Are the days of crushing our knees behind the seat in front of us coming to an end?
In the US, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Bill will come to pass, requiring minimum seat width and pitch standards within a year.
Another call to regulate this came from the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General, who is auditing to determine whether evacuation can still meet the 90-second standard for deplaning passengers in an emergency.
Low-cost carriers were the ones that started the trend for reducing leg room and they’re starting to remove padding and other standard seat features too. Will legacy carriers follow suit?
Aside from comfort, less space can lead to more risks to public health, especially on long-haul routes, where full-service carriers are facing strong competition from low-cost airlines.
As stated in our 2019 global travel forecast, Norwegian Air, Wizz Air, AirAsiaX, and Eurowings low-cost, long-haul flights will be joined by Air France’s Joon this year. Meanwhile, Iceland’s WOW Air is breaking into the Asian market offering routes via Delhi to select American cities like Boston, Chicago, Pittsburg and Los Angeles. In the US, World Airways is planning to relaunch itself via the long-haul LCC route in the first quarter of 2019.
How legacy carries will respond and whether this will affect seat standards is something that remains to be seen.
In the meantime, the only thing we can do is recline and hope for the best.
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Let’s chatbot: Can AI revolutionize your travel program?
Artificial intelligence — and its growing list of uses — continues to improve life for consumers. Those same advances are also making life easier for corporate travel management programs, travel managers and travelers.
With AI applications such as machine learning, chatbot programs and natural language processing, travel management companies (TMCs) have an opportunity to rapidly advance the corporate travel experience.
And research tells us the business travel industry wants these innovations, too.
In a recent Business Travel News survey, nearly half of travel buyers surveyed saw high potential for self-booking chatbots, AI-enhanced program analysis tools and traveler experience personalization.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to simplify and streamline the traveler journey with new technology,” said Oliver Heckmann, Google’s VP of engineering for travel and shopping, in a recent report.
According to Google research, almost 70 percent of requests to its Google Assistant system are expressed in natural language, meaning that people are getting more comfortable having conversations with computers.
“Optimizing for the traveler will be even more important as people start to use more digital assistants across surfaces and speak in natural language,” Heckmann said.
But, we also know travel buyers have been slow to adopt AI-enhanced technologies. Only 7.6 percent of travel buyers report they’ve adopted AI-backed booking tools or chatbots and just 5.9 percent use an AI-enhanced travel management partner, according to the BTN report.
TMCs and AI: The perfect pair
AI technology has garnered a huge amount of attention and it can be difficult to understand the pros and cons. If your home device does not play the song you requested, that’s not a big deal. But if your travel app gets a travel request wrong, it can have significant implications. That’s why CWT takes a measured and thoughtful approach to how we leverage the application of AI and implement it into our solutions.
This spring we launched a pilot program incorporating a natural language search interface into our proprietary reporting software. Clients can now ask anything — just like they’re using Google — and immediately see clear visual representations of their data.
Imagine any question and ask anything, from “Show me all of my out-of-compliant travelers in London” to “How much did my sales team spend on car rentals in July?”
The feature is a natural extension of what clients have been asking us: How can you make it easier to understand my data and — more importantly — how can you make my job easier?
That’s the power of AI.
And this is just the beginning. We know that travel management companies have a real opportunity right now to raise the bar higher in terms of what we can deliver for clients and their travelers using AI and its countless applications.
Chatbots and digital assistants give travelers what they want
Coupled with data on traveler tendencies and booking preferences, TMCs can drastically improve experiences for travelers.
Google and Phocuswright, in a joint study, found that one in three travelers across countries are interested in using digital assistants to research or book travel — and they’re already searching for everything from hotels to flights to things to do at their destination. And, nearly 80 percent of business travelers in the U.S. prefer using self-service technology to manage their travel, according to the Global Business Travel Association.
That’s where chatbot programs come in.
Like some of our TMC counterparts, CWT has also begun beta-testing chatbot travel programs. Travelers simply text the dates and locations they need — and our chatbot finds and books a preferred hotel.
While driven by powerful AI technology, these chatbot programs are incredibly simple and user-friendly — mirroring the market offerings already available to consumers and perfectly underscoring why AI is a serious boon for our industry.
These programs are just the beginning. As AI evolves, machines will learn and grow and continue to better serve travelers.
For too long, business travel companies trailed behind our consumer counterparts. But now, with advancing AI technology by our side, we can lead clients forward to a simpler, easier and better corporate travel program experience.
Read more about CWT Insights and innovation.
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Please Sir, I want to take a business trip | How the tedium of approval stresses travelers out – and inflates costs
People often have a romantic view of business travel – flying business class, five-star hotels, lobster dinners, piling up the points, cutting epic deals. And sure, it has its perks! But ask anyone who travels more than three or four times a year, and they’ll tell you it can be stressful too.
For many travelers, the stress begins long before they board the plane. Getting approvals, for example, can be a soul-cleaving experience.
Most companies demand employees seek approval before booking. And in theory, this makes sense. Companies don’t want employees booking trips willy-nilly, racking up costs.
But pre-trip approval processes have become so onerous that the booking experience is about as streamlined as a Lego bulldozer.
This applies across Asia. In India and China, travelers can require four or five levels of approval before booking. Even in Singapore, that beacon of efficiency, travelers may require two or three. So, they typically wait around three days – sometimes even a week – before booking.
As mortals wait, airfares rise
In Asia, business trips are usually booked two to four weeks in advance. Waiting three days bumps airfares up four per cent on average. A week? Seven per cent.
Worse, if the fare goes up in the interim, it can be back to square one – the company’s travel policy might require the traveler to restart the entire approval process all over again.
You might ask: “Isn’t the ability to hold a booking one of the benefits of using a travel management company?”
And the answer is yes – but only for certain fares. It doesn’t apply to cheaper fares, which are ticketed instantly. Consider China, where approximately half of all airline seats are ticketed instantly, and these are around 30 per cent cheaper than the flexible seats.
It seems absurd to waste your travelers’ time – while costing the company money. Particularly since a whopping 98 per cent of trips are approved in the end. For domestic travel, approval rates are even higher.
What to do?
Start by identifying which trips require approval. Then set thresholds. For example, you can modify your policy to auto-approve any flights under US$500. And for flights over US$500, if fares increase only 10-12 per cent while you’re waiting for approval, you’re good to go.
Next, consider post-trip instead of pre-trip travel approval. Since almost all trips get approved anyway, just trust your employees to do the right thing. Deal with issues when they file their expenses after the trip.
And of course, use technology. Some apps send push notifications when a trip needs approval. This can cuts approval times massively (emails tend to molder in inboxes). Technology can also auto-approve trips if the approver doesn’t approve them in time.
We’ve worked with our clients to find savings of up to five per cent. That might seem piffling, but when you’re spending US$5 million a year on flights – not uncommon for mid-to-large sized companies in Asia – that’s a quarter of a million dollars. Plus you have happier and more productive travelers. Result!
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In full view – Why should you consolidate your travel expenses?
We’ve all been there. The bargain offer of the new gym membership that’s going to keep you fit. It’s only a small amount each month. But wait, your trainers have holes in them, you need a new padlock for the locker, and definitely a new water bottle (gym drinking fountains – no thanks!). Then there’s parking, a new towel, as well as a post-workout caffeine fix at the café. Suddenly, that gym membership isn’t just an obvious monthly fee. It’s really costing a lot more.
While there are handy apps that can help you track your personal finances to see what you’re spending, which may save a few hundred a year, consolidating travel and expense data can save your company millions.
A product like CWT Travel Consolidator crunches data on travel expense– flights, hotels, taxis, meals – to give a Big Picture view on how travelers are spending the company’s money.
Here’s how it can help you save money – and improve your travel program.
Boost the bottom line
Getting people to stick to travel policy is like herding cats. It doesn’t help that there are a gazillion different hotel and transportation apps vying for their attention.
But when travelers book outside of policy, the travel program – and the company’s duty of care can take a hit. .
As Peter Drucker, prime deity of management gurus, famously said: “Only what gets measured, gets managed.”
We spoke to one client that spent over $100 million on travel in 2017. It turned out that 18% of flights, 40% of hotel, and 42% of car rentals were booked outside of their travel management company.
You can use credit card expense and HR data to track every single expense. That helps you identify travelers who book outside the policy. Then you can craft targeted communications to get those last-minute bookers and those not even aware of the policy, back on track. It helps you tweak the policy, and improve your travel program. Either way, the first step is to find out what’s going on.
Put more in the piggy bank
According to a study by the GBTA Foundation, 54% of travel managers say they don’t have enough data to calculate the full cost of a trip.
By consolidating expense data with data from a travel management company (TMC), you can work out the total cost of a trip, and make better decisions.
Take that client. We calculated the average cost of a three-day business trip from Paris to Madrid – and from Madrid to Paris. For each traveler, the difference was around 60 Euros. As a result, the travel manager recommended hosting most team meetings in Madrid, saving a significant amount of the spend, long term.
Negotiate to accumulate
A product such as CWT Travel Consolidator will tell you whether your travelers are using your preferred suppliers. If they’re not – negotiate with the suppliers they do use – there’s up to 7% in savings potential to be found.
In the next blog I’ll talk about how ground transport and meals can be a massive part of your spend and how to get the best visibility from them.
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Sydney domestic airfares to most capital cities up more than 5%, hotel rates also climb: CWT/CAPA report
CWT Solutions Group, the consulting division of Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and CAPA – Centre for Aviation have found that economy class airfares on several key domestic routes from Sydney increased during the first six months of 2018, compared with the same period last year. Economy fares to Melbourne, Canberra and Adelaide increased more than 5% year-on-year. Airfares on the Sydney-Perth route bucked the trend, with economy ticket prices falling 1-5%, while business class fares increased more than 5% year-on-year.
Looking at key international routes, flights from Sydney to Auckland and Singapore saw the biggest increases in fares.
These findings are published in the latest Business Travel Pulse report, which focuses on the Australian city of Sydney. The report brings together key aviation and hotel data from both organizations to deliver informed opinions and in-depth analysis.
“East coast, ‘golden triangle’ economy fares are continuing their relatively steep rise as the fare wars we saw a few years ago subside into the background and the major airlines focus on profitability,” said Peter Harbison, Executive Chairman, CAPA – Centre for Aviation. “We can expect this trend to continue as long as the economy holds up, but it is likely to continue to slow market growth this year.”
“The good news is that the threat of rising fuel prices has subsided a little recently. If Brent Crude settles down around US$70 a barrel, nervousness about higher costs should diminish. That would allow the airlines some scope to exercise fare pricing flexibility in the event that growth does slow. But we can expect economy fares to remain generally on an uptrend, now that competition has settled down,” added Harbison.
Sydney Airport’s capacity growth increased strongly in 2017, with the volume of available seats increasing by 4.2%. The projected 2018 full year capacity is also up, continuing this increasing trend year-on-year since 2013. This correlates with passenger traffic trends that have been steadily increasing since 2012. Passenger traffic increased marginally in 2017, but less than the increase seen in capacity, suggesting benefits to the traveler from a competitive average ticket price (ATP) perspective. The 2018 passenger evolution increase appears similar to the 3.5% increase seen in 2017. However, ATP may increase if passenger evolution increases outpace capacity.
“While Australia was the initial testing ground for the low-cost long-haul model, in recent years there has been almost no growth in capacity in this segment in Australia,” said Akshay Kapoor, Senior Director, Multinational Accounts, Asia Pacific, Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “This could be one of the factors contributing to higher ticket prices on international routes.”
The report also reveals that the hotel occupancy rate in Sydney slightly declined to 83.5% year-to-date, a decrease of 0.6% over 2017. Correlating with the somewhat flat occupancy, the average daily rate (ADR) has increased by 2% to A$285 in 2018.
“Sydney remains one of the most supply-constrained hotel markets globally,” said Kapoor. “The city still has the highest occupancy rate in Australia. Consequently, corporates are paying more to secure Last Room Availability (LRA) contracts with hotels – and even when they do have such contracts in place, they struggle to book their negotiated LRA rates as rooms are sold out.”
Last Room Availability (LRA) rates, which are typically higher than regular corporate rates, give a company the right to buy a room at their contracted terms and prices even if the hotel only has one room left in that category. So far in 2018, Sydney has seen the biggest spike in LRA rates across the country, with an 8% increase over last year’s rates.
“Traditionally, the rule of thumb in business travel has been to first book your flight at least two weeks before the trip, and then book your hotel,” added Kapoor. “However, booking hotels early is exponentially important in markets like Sydney, to access negotiated rates. It is recommended to book at least 30 days in advance for properties in the Sydney CBD.”
“At the same time, companies should look closely at their hotel programs and assess whether it’s sensible to pay the hefty premiums for LRA rates. In many cases we’ve found companies are better off paying the non-LRA rates, particularly if they don’t have a lot of travel to Sydney during the peak seasons.”
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected. We provide their travelers with a consumer-grade travel experience, combining innovative technology with our vast experience. Every day, we look after enough travelers to fill more than 260 Boeing 787s and 100,000 hotel rooms – and handle 105 events. We operate in around 150 countries, and in 2017 posted a total transaction volume of more than US$ 23 billion.
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CWT Meetings & Events and JTB Communication Design join forces to bring strategic meetings management expertise to Japan
CWT Meetings & Events, Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s meeting & events division, has partnered with JTB Communication Design Co., Ltd. (JCD), the meeting & events arm of the JTB Group, to provide Strategic Meetings Management services to companies in Japan.
Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) is the enterprise-wide management of meetings and events. It’s a strategic approach to managing a company’s meetings and event processes, suppliers and data to create substantial efficiencies. The key benefits are greater transparency of spend, cost reductions, improved compliance, risk mitigation and improved effectiveness of the company’s meetings and events.
The partnership brings together the global SMM expertise and experience of industry pioneer CWT Meetings & Events with JCD’s in-depth knowledge and understanding of Japan’s MICE industry to create SMM solutions tailored to Japan’s unique transportation, accommodation, venue management and regulatory environment.
“We’re seeing a lot of interest from our clients to include their operations in Japan as part of their global Strategic Meetings Management programs,” said Kari Wendel, Vice President, Global SMM Strategy & Solutions, CWT Meetings & Events. “However, the nuances of Japan’s meetings and events landscape mean that SMM solutions which work well in other parts of the world can’t be applied wholesale in this market.”
“This new partnership for advancing SMM services in Japan in support of both local and global clients is pivotal for both JCD and CWT Meetings & Events,” added Wendel. “We have created, for the first time, a real center of excellence for enterprise meeting strategies within the Japanese market. The partnership will support the continued advancement of our global capabilities as well as our clients’ strategies.”
“In addition to the meetings and events expertise of JTB Communication Design in Japan, we will benefit from the SMM know-how of CWT Meetings & Events, thereby actively building company-specific SMM programs in Japan,” said Tadashi Machida, Director, JTB Communication Design. “In the future, we will continue to support the provision of SMM programs. We aim to contribute to achieving companies’ visions, solving business problems, and further strengthening their competitiveness.”
The implementation of SMM programs by European and American companies with global operations in sectors such as IT, pharmaceutical, energy, and insurance has accelerated in recent years. Asia Pacific remains amongst the least mature regions when it comes to SMM adoption, primarily because processes tend to be highly manual. This is a result of local market nuances which may not fit a global framework on which most technology is engineered. Still, Japan is one of the markets in the region where interest in SMM programs is quickly gaining traction.
In a 2016 study by CWT, more than half of meeting and event planning professionals surveyed said their companies had achieved savings of 10% from their SMM program, with a further 17% of respondents saying they had saved more than 15%.
CWT Meetings & Events
CWT Meetings & Events delivers 38,500 innovative, high-quality projects for customers every year – across all industry sectors, globally. Our creative know-how helps us deliver awe-inspiring events, and our logistics expertise guarantees professional meeting services, group travel, and compliance. We manage your strategic meetings management programs with one aim in mind – to maximize your return on investment.
CWT Meetings & Events is Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s meeting & events division.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel
Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected. We provide their travelers with a consumer-grade travel experience, combining innovative technology with our vast experience. Every day, we look after enough travelers to fill more than 260 Boeing 787s and 100,000 hotel rooms – and handle 105 events. We operate in around 150 countries, and in 2017 posted a total transaction volume of more than US$ 23 billion.