Industry provocateur Scott Gillespie of tClara poses the question, “Why travel for business?” To help answer that, tClara between Aug. 17 and Oct. 12 surveyed 272 U.S.-based managers and executives via two market research panels about the merits of virtual versus in-person meetings. Covid-19 has forced the widespread adoption of virtual meetings and decimated the…
P. Jason King is founder, president and CEO of P. Jason King Associates, an executive search and career development firm focused on various elements of the travel industry. A pandemic, he tells job hunters, is no excuse for letting up on best practices and etiquette. He argues they also need to work hard while managing…
During his 41-year career in travel, Partnership Travel Consulting’s Tom Kallas held senior roles at corporate travel agencies including BCD Travel, IVI, Travelocity Business and World Travel Inc. Here he argues that TMC pricing is “not simply repeal and replace.” The recent article regarding the American Express Global Business Travel strategy to charge a fee…
Danny Eldridge is CEO of ServeVita, a software integration firm that works closely with the likes of Unit4 and Sabre. In this guest post, he advocates for rethinking which TMC services are essential and which are value-adds. One of my favorite movies and books is “Moneyball” about Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s. Being a…
AmTrav CEO Jeff Klee is concerned that the industry isn’t doing enough to not only survive Covid-19 but emerge from the crisis stronger than before. He admits that he’s got many more questions than answers. In 2008, incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel famously talked about not letting a good crisis go to…
In a battered travel industry, which way will prices go? There are strong arguments for both up and down. Tony O’Connor, managing director of the Butler Caroye consultancy, lays out several of them. Some travel buyers are hoping for deep discounts and big bargains from travel suppliers desperately competing for business when travel demand recovers….
ProKonsul Consulting’s Gaurav Sundaram has some experience with the Global Business Travel Association. He served on the group’s India advisory board between 2012 and 2015, and then for three more years as an external advisor in India and Singapore. He’s got some ideas on how to evolve GBTA into a more representative, worldwide organization. With…
Ron DiLeo was the executive director and COO of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives from 2010 to 2012. Based on that experience and his long history in corporate travel, including lately as a consultant and risk management entrepreneur, DiLeo argues that membership associations need to continually reinvent their programming if they are going to…
Mark McSpadden is vice president of global product strategy and digital experience for American Express Global Business Travel. He’s also a road warrior ruminating on how the industry can meet the challenge of bringing back to travelers peace of mind and a feeling of preparedness. For years, I could leave my home near DFW airport…
Most in-person events organized by industry membership associations are on hold. Even if conditions improve to allow them to resume, consultant Tony O’Connor doesn’t think they should in the same way. As a leader for the Global Business Travel Association in the Australasia region, he has an inside view. His vision for a new model…
Caroline Strachan and Paul Tilstone have been as active as anyone in building and supporting professional travel management associations. This guest contribution from the two managing partners of the Festive Road consultancy blends dismay regarding the scandals now rocking the Global Business Travel Association with some ideas on how to avoid the same mistakes. Speaking…
Among the effects of the Covid-19 crisis is more dialogue about the efficacy of the prevailing transaction fee pricing structure used by travel management companies. Based on his experience in the technology services industry as it adopted the Software-as-a-Service approach, Fox World Travel chief information officer Sam Hilgendorf makes a case for subscriptions and other…
Rocketrip has been crunching TSA data to create projections on the pace of the rebound in air traffic. As vice president of marketing Liam Moroney explains, such projections can be useful for travel companies rebuilding operations and considering future staffing needs. The internet is awash with predictions about when travel will return and what new…
Covid-19 came out of nowhere and the economic rebound is going to take much longer than previously anticipated. AmTrav president and co-founder Craig Fichtelberg is optimistic about the travel industry overcoming the challenge. In this guest post, he argues for an improved federal stimulus package and a consensus behind return-to-business and return-to-travel plans. Businesses need…
A few years ago, Cornerstone Information Systems CEO Mat Orrego wrote the first installment of this editorial. From his perspective, recent events have illustrated some exceptional, successful cases of the kind of problem-solving in action that he had discussed. For some, according to Orrego, it’s now about pivoting or perishing. This pandemic has forced us…
