Organising your Business Travel

 

Organising business travel can be very stressful especially if you have lots of flights, hotels and car hire to book. Corporate travel management companies that specialise in business travel can help to reduce operating costs and improve productivity which will make your job a lot more stress free.

The companies can do this by removing the administrative overhead associated with business travel, reduce travel costs and ensure that customers receive an efficient and hassle free service. There are many benefits of using a corporate travel management company to organise your business travel which can make your life a lot easier



As these companies do all the hard work for you it saves time, money and effort leaving you to get on with more important things. They will meet your needs, policies and preferences so you know that you are getting exactly what you need and want for your business travel.

It is unlikely that you have time to search the internet and the high street for the cheapest travel prices available whereas an outside company does have the time and resources for this. Corporate travel management companies can find you services that will offer you the best value which is something that you probably would not be able to do on your own.

In the business world things have a habit of changing from hour to hour which can end up wasting your time and costing your company a lot of money when it comes to business travel. A specialist company is more likely to have the resources to be able to adapt to changes very quickly which saves you a lot of stress.

Some corporate travel management companies that specialise in providing business travel for businesses will extend their travel management expertise to their customers’ staff. This enables them to personally benefit from a preferential service that you wouldn’t get anywhere else.

A company that specialises in business travel will be able to find you the best deal a lot more efficiently that you would be able to yourself. This is because they know of the best companies to go directly to and may even have deals with them which means that you can get flights even cheaper.

If you are too busy at work to phone around or search online for the best travel deals then a corporate travel management company specialising in business travel is perfect for you as they will save you time, money and stress.

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Business travel in China set to boom

The Chinese market represents expansion opportunities for travel management companies, with business travel spend expected to more than quadruple by 2020.

According to the latest study, business travel in China is the third largest market in the world, and if current growth continues by 2020 it will be the second.

Business travel spend for 2010 is thought to reach $62 billion, and by 2020 forecasts predict an annual figure of $277 billion.

The study, by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) and travel payment company AirPlus International, also reveals differences in international and Chinese business travel standards.

According to Volker Huber, senior VP Global Distribution at AirPlus International, business travel management practices in Europe or the USA cannot easily be adapted to the Chinese market.

Employees who use company credit cards to pay for travel represent 13%, and only 10% have suitable travel guidelines or analytical tools.

"Air travel accounts for 85% of all business trips within China. If the costs are not correctly controlled and analysed, companies are faced with unmanageable and exorbitant expenses," said Huber.

Travel managers have less time to perform their tasks, according to the study. Some 90% of Chinese business travel managers complain of time pressure, nearly a third more than international travel managers.

In conclusion, Huber urged companies who operate in China to "give thought to effective travel management and to develop corresponding programs".

www.airplus.com   www.acte.org

View the original article here

Air fares and hotel rates to rise in 2011

Two pieces of research, published separately, indicate the cost of travel will rise in 2011, with airlines keeping capacity tight to raise air fares, and hotels increasing rates as occupancy improves.

According to American Express’s (Amex) annual Global Business Travel Forecast, increases of up to 10% are expected in both air fares and hotel rates next year.

Christa Degnan Manning, director of eXpert, Amex’s global research practice which carried out the study, said: “Pricing power will swing back to air and hotel suppliers for the first time in two years in 2011 as more competition for limited seats on planes and increased occupancy levels at hotels are expected.”

The region with the highest predicted growth is Asia Pacific (up to 10% for long-haul flights), although other regions come in close.

In Europe and the middle east long-haul fares are expected to rise by between 5% and 9%, while for Latin America it is between 3% and 8%, and for North America between 3% and 7%.

The cost of short-haul flights in Europe is expected to rise by between 4% and 9%.
Hotel rates are also expected to head upwards, with Asia Pacific again thought to see the largest increase (up to 10% for both mid-range and upper-range hotels).

The 2011 Industry Forecast from BCD Travel is more cautious about how much air fares and hotel rates will rise, saying it expects “moderate” increases.

The research, by BCD’s consulting unit Advito, indicates that year-over-year increases in 2011 will not be as great as in 2010.

Bob Brindley, Advito’s VP, said: “Demand in 2011 will still be enough to bring travel volumes very close to their 2008 peak.

“Price increases, in turn, will in most cases bring costs per mile back to or a little below their peak in the first half of 2008.”

North America is likely to see air fares increase by between 2% and 7%, according to the study, while Latin American and Asia Pacific will see rises of between 4 and 5%.
Europe could continue to lag behind, or it may break through, with predicted rises in air fares of between 2% and 7%.

In the middle east fares are thought to see a rise of between 2% and 6%, and Africa between 2% and 5%.

Hotel rates will also see moderate increases, predicted Advito, with the greatest growth in room rates seen in emerging markets, led by Latin America (up 6%) and Asia Pacific (up 5%).

Europe is expected to lag behind, with an increase in rates of only 2.5%.

Both pieces of research suggest that corporate negotiated rates will become more important.
Brindley said: “Advito is recommending that buyers be even more vigilant in choosing supplier agreements carefully; promoting use of preferred airlines through policy and pre-trip controls; and redoubling communications to travellers to book flights early.”

Amex’s Manning said: “Even with the expected increases in rates, businesses can preserve travel budgets and efficiencies by staying knowledgeable about industry pricing trends, planning appropriately.”

He used the example of hotel costs: “Average daily rates are epected to rise... however, corporate negotiated rates will be lower as hoteliers compete for corporate loyalty business and to lock in volume business commitments.”

Manning added that businesses are likely to forfeit their savings if employees pay consumer rates by booking outside preferred agreements and channels.

View the original article here

The Future of the Hotel Industry and Social Media

from Mashable

About 4 days ago Sarah Kessler 16

The Future of Social Media Series is supported by Gist. Gist provides a full view of the contacts in your professional network by creating a rich business profile for each one that includes the most news, status updates, and work details. See how it works here.
Unlike many modern industries, most of what a hotel does needs to happen offline. It’s hard to deliver room service or make beds with a click. But hotels are experimenting with plenty of other ways to improve service and connect with customers using social media. Many of their ideas have serious potential.

“I suspect we are in the same position that we were with online marketing 20 years ago,” says Bill Carroll, a senior lecturer at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell. “The only difference is that it won’t take 20 years, it will take 5 to 10 years until we really see the impact of interactive communication among consumers.”

Here are six ways that social media could make that impact on the hotel industry.

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1. Extending Concierge Services

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A concierge with a Twitter () feed could be a powerful thing. Instead of making a single stop at the concierge desk to collect brochures, guests could ask questions before they get to the hotel, from their rooms, or while they’re out exploring. They would also have easy access to the questions other guests asked and past recommendations.
Several tourism bureaus have already figured out this strategy. Hotels are for the most part still experimenting.
This month, UK hotel chain Premier Inn launched a trial of a Twitter concierge program. On Fridays, customers can send an inquiry to the concierge via Tweet using the hashtag #PIconcierge. The hotel encouraged its customers to Tweet questions “on anything from local activities for the kids, karaoke bars in the area, directions to the local theatre or even where to find an emergency dentist.”

Hyatt launched its Twitter Concierge service in May 2009. “When we launched this,” says John Wallis, the global head of marketing and brand strategy for Hyatt, “we made a conscious decision that this channel would only provide information and never push out promotional information.”

Although the feed does occasionally handle dinner recommendations, the current conversation is heavier on customer service issues. One person, for instance, asked for help locating a number on his rewards card. Another asked about sending a friend a gift during his stay.

Carroll thinks that the online concierge strategy might be one that sticks. “[If I'm a hotel owner] I’m able to go back and forth with these communications to my customer before they get there, after they get there — so it’s an extension of what the concierge does on a day-to-day basis and that improves service.”

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2. On-Site Merchandising

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Carroll sees the biggest on-site opportunity for social media in the hospitality industry at the intersection of social media and mobile. If mobile geolocation features alert a hotel that you are in the building, it creates the opportunity for them to pitch relevant services. Perhaps when you arrive, for instance, management will encourage you to come down to the bar and enjoy a complimentary cocktail. When Foursquare users check into the Wynn Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, for example, they unlock a special that earns them a complimentary glass of champagne at Blush Boutique, one of Wynn Las Vegas’s nightclubs.

“Location-based services such as Foursquare () and Facebook Places have brought a new level of how people demonstrate that they want to be associated with where they are, and that they are interested in communicating with people in the same place,” says John Wallis, the global head of marketing and brand strategy for Hyatt. “Based on the evolution of these channels, we have the potential to market to customers in a manner that is 100% relevant to their situation at that moment.”

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3. Customer Service and Recovery

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Interacting with customers using Facebook () and Twitter can improve customer service. The idea of personalized customer service was also possible with a telephone number. But it’s vastly easier with social media.

“It’s enabling us to accelerate that conversation and make those connection points in ways that weren’t before possible,” says Andy Kauffman, the vice president of commerce at Marriott Hotels. “But the principles behind it are all rooted in good service and, if something happens, great service recovery.”

Marriott International has two full-time people who work on the Twitter feed. One of them is on the customer service team. John Wolf, the director of public relations, is the other. He says that brand loyalists sometimes point him to people who are Tweeting about problems they’ve had at Marriott hotels.

“We’d rather know that there’s an issue than not know it, and we’d rather be given the opportunity to solve the problem,” Wolf says.

This strategy has successfully recovered previously dissatisfied customers. It also gives Marriott the ability to solve problems for customers as they arise.

Other major hotel chains also have some version of this personalized customer service. In addition to its HyattConcierge Twitter service, Hyatt guarantees answers within 24 hours to questions that are posted on its Gold Passport Loyalty program Facebook page.
“We really don’t know whether [responding to customers on Twitter and Facebook] pays off or not,” Carroll says. “However, at the same time, we do know that the conversations are going on and…that it probably is advisable to be part of the conversation.”

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4. Last-Minute Deals

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About two years ago, Wolf asked Marriott’s online network what they wanted from their social media interaction with the hotel brands. “I figured the last thing they wanted were deals, that they just wanted to engage,” Wolf says. “And they said, no, they wanted deals.”
Fairmont and Omni Hotels & Resorts are two examples of chains that tweet or Facebook last-minute special offers in hopes of unloading their unbooked inventory. Carroll says he’s seen this approach achieve bookings in the past. “Is that incremental ROI, or are these people who would have done it anyway and all you did was dilute business you would have had otherwise? Did you really steal some share? Don’t really know.”

Inoqo, a service that streamlined this process by creating a Twitter feed on which all hotels in a city could advertise their excess inventory, didn’t go as well as expected and eventually took its site down. But still, says Carroll, it’s really too soon to tell whether advertising last-minute deals on Twitter and Facebook will be an effective approach.

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5. Facilitating Guest Communities

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Within the intersection of mobile and social media, Carroll also sees the opportunity for hotels to help facilitate guest communities. “It might be a community I create on a relatively short-term basis for those people who are in the city, on the property, or at some event,” he says. “It could be a social group…for whom [the hotel would] gather information about recommendations and what goes on at the hotel or what [one] might do. ”

Reward members are another group that hotels are starting to connect with via social media. Marriott launched a beta version of an online community for its reward members called Marriott Rewards Insiders. Marriott’s 33 million active reward members can share travel tips and stories as well as get the insider scoop from Marriott’s own people.

Hyatt has also built a Facebook community around its Gold Passport reward program. “The purpose here is slightly different than with our Twitter concierge,” Wallis says. “Most importantly, this gives consumers the opportunity to speak with us and one another directly.”

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6. Emphasizing Unique Properties

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Social media can make it easier for both large brands and small independent hotels to tell their stories. In the case of large brands, hotels have the opportunity to highlight individual properties. Potential Hilton guests, for instance, can check out videos of each Caribbean hotel on YouTube ().

Smaller companies can use social media to reach their customers without a national advertising budget. Many hotels use Twitter, for instance, to communicate promotions and remind customers what they’re about.

Carroll says that not all hotels will be able to leverage this ability equally. The value of being able to give voice to individual hotels is only worth as much as the location. “If you’re a standard-along-the-road intersection property for a choice hotel [the opportunities are] limited. If you’re an absolutely unique property… then your ability to create communication around that has greater value.”

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Series supported by Gist

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The Future of Social Media Series is supported by Gist. Gist keeps you better informed with less effort by giving you a full view of your professional network in one place bringing together information from across the web for all your contacts giving you the right information at the right moment to get a meeting, deliver an amazing pitch, or just find a better way to make a connection.

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More Business Resources from Mashable:

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- How Hospitality Companies are Using Social Media for Real Results
- 6 Tips on Starting a Digital Business from the Founder of Pandora
- 5 Big Social Media Questions from Small Business Owners
- How 7 Startups Are Building Their Online Communities
- 13 Branded Mobile Apps That Got It Right

Image courtesy of iStockphoto (), lisegagne & Penn Olson

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More About: facebook, future of social media series, Hilton, hospitality, Hotel, hotel deals, hotels, Hyatt, HyattConcierge, Marriott, Omni, social media, twitter

China Business Travel

According to the American Express Business Travel's second survey of corporate travel management service in China, the country will become the world's third-largest market for corporate travel within five years. The survey shows that the spending on international business travel by China approximates US$4.2 billion a year, which is 17 percent of the Asian market for business travel. This figure, in addition to the spending on the domestic business travel in China, adds up to almost US$20 billion.

The healthy growth of China's GDP is likely to secure a two-digit rise in China's business travel market in a few years. It is estimated that by the year 2020, the number of Chinese business travellers will be five times as many as that at present. International travel service providers and global giants such as American Express, Kar Shun Travel, and Rosenbluth have noticed the potential of China market for business travel and have made inroads into China.

Global business travellers are advised to adhere to local business etiquettes. In Chinese business culture, conservative suits are the norm. For business purposes, it is traditionally acceptable to call a Chinese person by the family name, together with a title, such as ""Director Li"". Avoid using someone's first name unless you know him or her closely. Formality is a sign of respect, and it is sensible to clarify how you will address someone early in a relationship.

Business hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. There is, however, a five-day workweek in larger cities. Avoid visiting government offices on Friday afternoon because this is sometimes reserved for "political studying" of the officials. Offices are typically closed on public holidays including the Spring Festival, during which most Chinese take five days off; other holidays during which offices close include Labor Day on May 1, and the National Day on October 1.







China Travel provides detailed information on China Travel, China Business Travel, China Travel Services, China Travel Agencies and more. China Travel is affiliated with China Guided Tours.