In the news: Seven trends in corporate travel management, Myanmar National Airlines’ partnership with Amadeus, LUXE Concierge – a new digital subscription service
Sabre reveals seven trends in APAC corporate travel management
The trends will help APAC agents manage travel for their corporate clients. (Image credit: Rawpixel-iStock)
Sabre Corporation has identified seven trends emerging within the Asia Pacific (APAC) region’s corporate travel management sector from its Sabre Corporate Travel Practices Survey 2015.
The findings were from the responses of 100 participants from 15 key markets in the survey, representing both dedicated corporate travel management companies and travel agencies.
“The evidence is that Asia Pacific agents are managing more travel for this region’s demanding corporate clients, while achieving tighter cost control and with technology playing the enabling role,” said Roshan Mendis, senior vice president, Sabre Travel Network Asia Pacific.
“It seems to be happening without compromising the comfort of travellers. In fact this year they are having more of their personal preferences met,” he added.
The seven core themes (summarised) revealed this year are:
1. Premium Economy is attracting a loyal corporate following
Tightening budgets around duty travel for the region’s many discerning corporate travellers has been made much easier with the advent of the relatively new Premium Economy class of travel. Despite the relatively limited provision, bookings for this class have increased by more than 10% among one-fifth of the corporate travel agents surveyed, and they look set to climb further and faster.
2. Secondary expenses, including ancillary services, are under tighter control
The common policy directive to book the ‘lowest available fare’ was causing difficulty for many agents last year, in that they needed to consider the low cost carriers over the full service options on many of their routes. This year the mandate appears to have relaxed, with the focus more on ancillary expenses. Almost a third of respondents now control reimbursable ancillary costs (paid baggage, pre-assigned seating, meals and lounge access) compared to one in five last year.
3. Better pre-trip planning is reducing the risk of ‘off-policy’ booking
The prevalence of web-enabled mobile devices in APAC, together with the race to develop tempting travel apps have created a fertile environment for ‘rogue’ (off-policy) travel bookings to grow. However, this year, the region’s corporate travel management companies and their clients have recovered the initiative and are beginning to stamp these transactions out. The difference in 2015 is the choice of policy enforcement strategy.
4. Mobile itinerary management apps are now mainstream
Respondents to the survey reported that their clients are welcoming mobile itinerary management apps in much greater numbers this year. The reason is that when travel plans are mirrored on the traveller’s mobile device, compliance rises and off-policy or ‘rogue’ bookings fall. 68% have clients deploying these apps, incorporating policy compliant content, with a further 18% confirming their intention to follow.
5. Data analytics will be key to more personalised services
Better use of booking data is now the highest rated priority among the region’s corporate travel management practitioners.
6. With more reliance on agents, some see a ‘concierge’ model emerging
“Asia Pacific corporate clients are still very much dependent on TMCs for their travel needs versus other parts of the world.” Clients are becoming “more cost conscious and more demanding.” They will want to get all services such as air ticket, hotel reservation, transfer, visa assistance etc under one roof.
7. Technological integration (B2B2C client-servicing) is much more important now
Respondents’ hope is that technology will continue to cut costs and drive productivity gains, both for themselves and their clients short-term. The majority (62%) see the delivery of savings and increased efficiencies as “much more important” now, while 58% state that end-to-end solutions will have a “more significant” role.
The Sabre Corporate Travel Practices Survey 2015 was conducted from April to May 2015, with respondents based in with respondents based in Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
Download the full report here.
Myanmar National Airlines’ expands global reach in partnership with Amadeus
MNA has embarked on a multi-million dollar strategy to reinvigorate its brand . (Image credit: Myanmar National Airlines)
Myanmar’s national flag carrier, Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), has inked a new distribution partnership with Amadeus, which will allow travel agents using Amadeus access to the airline’s developing route network and full service experience.
Captain Than Tun, chief executive officer of MNA, said the deal with Amadeus is “a critical element in our plan enabling us to provide increased access to our beautiful country for millions of visitors across the world.”
He added that the focus is to give Myanmar “an airline that will be a strong competitive force in the region, worthy of flying the national flag.”
The agreement will see MNA joins 478 airlines globally whose content is available on the Amadeus system. Amadeus travel agents worldwide will now have guaranteed access to the airline’s full range fares, to support growing demand for travel to and within Myanmar.
In June this year MNA received the first in a series of new, state-of-the-art Boeing Next-Generation 737s for its fleet. The first arrival of six Boeing Next-Generation 737-800s and four 737-Max 8s is part of a multi-million dollar strategy to reinvigorate its brand and signal the re-emergence of Myanmar as a competitive member of the global aviation market.
The airline will also add six brand new ATR 72-600s to its domestic aircraft fleet, with the first two planes arriving later this year.
MNA’s growing international routes will link to 26 domestic destinations, and growing to four more cities in the Asia Pacific region by early 2016
LUXE Concierge, a new digital subscription service for the travel industry
A new digital digital subscription service from LUXE City Guides.
LUXE City Guides have launched LUXE Concierge, an innovative new digital subscription service specifically designed for the travel industry.
It is billed as “an exclusive, invitation-only digital platform that gives travel specialists access to LUXE’s carefully selected directory of recommendations to the most desirable places in 25 destinations”.
The company said the contents are updated every month by resident city editors, and are delivered in a co-branded mobile app.
Selected partners will be able to draw on LUXE’s meticulously curated and constantly updated travel content to deliver a cleverly customised, jointly branded app package directly to their clients’ mobile device.
“Every app iteration is bespoke, featuring all travel arrangements booked by the agent such as flights, tours and accommodation, plus full access to the premium digital LUXE City Guide for their destination. Agents and hotels can also save valuable time by reusing their favourite itineraries for different clients,” it added.
LUXE City Guides CEO, Simon Westcott, said the LUXE Concierge service was designed to benefit any hospitality or travel business with a luxury client base, from hoteliers and travel agents to high-end conference planners.
“LUXE Concierge provides users with access to LUXE’s continuously curated Global Recommendations Directory, putting a world of stylish, and trusted insider knowledge at their beck and call,” he added
According to the company this is the first service of its kind combining all travel documentation, itineraries and genuine insider insights into a single app or PDF, delivered to clients in their preferred format.
Some of the app’s key features include:
- The convenience of having all travel arrangements including accommodation bookings, flights, car hire, activities and tours in one place
- The ability to input non-LUXE recommendations or destinations such as addresses for business meetings or conferences
- The ability to create daily, personalised itineraries
- Location maps and directions to the nearest points of interest while in a destination.
- 12-months access to LUXE City Guides’ continuously updated destination content
