T&E Plus

Writing Your Way to a Free Trip

Alan Alda once said, "Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory. Be brave enough to live life creatively."  In today's market, innovation is required by the employed, the unemployed and all industries.  No one is exempt. As such, some in the travel industry are finding creative ways to lift spirits and increase business--even if it is deemed seasonal.   Short-term incentives do not usually result in long term changes.  However, we all need a lift and some fun.  

 

British Airways asks "Why do you need to travel overseas for business?"  The contestants who write the best essays will win a flight from NYC, Chicago or Los Angeles to wherever British Airways flies.  In a move to change corporate opinion about travel, British Airways commissioned Harvard Business Review to conduct a survey which found that 95% of the people who responded stated that face-to-face meetings are a building block for long-term relationships.   Will the award of a free flight bring a long term relationship with British Airways, or will the best price through your travel management company win in the competitive marketplace?  Even though British Airways may gain relationships, sometimes it is the T&E policy that prevails.

 

Other unique marketing campaigns include qualifying for a free concert with British singer Natasha Bedingfield in honor of your favorite charity, provided by Starwood Hotels and scoring a free room upgrade by shaking your hips with a hula hoop for 20 seconds, provided by Kimpton Hotels. Or, if hula hoop isn't your preference, then you can also try your hand at rock, paper, and scissors.   Are these amenities listed in our online booking tools?

 

All of these activities remind us of simplier times.  So, find your Strunk and White book, No. 2 pencil and good luck.

 

Fun and laughter builds relationships; let's hope that everyone who wins these awards will remember the suppliers who embraced the creativity and innovation.

 

For more information, please visit their websites:

British Airways: http://opportunity.ba.com/

Starwood:  http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/about/news/news_release_detail.html?obj_id=0900c7b980b2287d

Kimpton Hotels: http://www.kimptonhotels.com/pdfs/press/Playground-0509.pdf

USA Article: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2009-07-20-customers-hotels-airlines_N.htm

 

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

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TSA asks…What is your birthdate?

Beginning August 15, all domestic airline carriers will collect additional traveler information, during the booking process, and provide it to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prior to travel.  The data collected includes the traveler's full name, birthdate, gender and redress number, if available.  Without this information, boarding passes will not be printed during online check-in and travelers can expect lengthy delays at screening checkpoints.

 

Is your company prepared to collect this data from your travelers?  

Most companies have traveler profiles that reside within their online booking tool and with their travel management company.  Will you upload birthdates from your ERP system or will you ask each traveler to update their profile manually?  For most, it may be less time intensive to ask travelers to update their own profile because a direct data feed from your ERP may require additional coding.  

 

Are travelers concerned about providing too much personal information?

Many of us are concerned with privacy and personal identifiable information. The birthdate will not be printed on the boarding pass; however, it will be stored with your travel management company, and passed to the airline and TSA.  Once travelers add their birthdate to their profile, it should be masked so that it does not appear each time the profile is accessed. 

 

What if travelers do not want to include this information or transmit it to TSA?

TSA does not require you to include this information in your travel profile; however, failure to provide the data will result in lengthy delays at screening checkpoints at all airports.

 

What is redress?

The Department of Homeland Security’s Travel Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) is a single point of contact for individuals who have inquiries or seek resolution regarding difficulties they experienced during their travel screening at transportation hubs--like airports and train stations--or crossing U.S. borders, including denied or delayed airline boarding, denied or delayed entry into and exit from the U.S. at a port of entry or border checkpoint or continuously referred to additional (secondary) screening.

 

To find out more about the Secure Traveler program, visit http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1169673653081.shtm    

If you want assistance updating your travel process and technology tools, contact me.

 

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

 

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Travelers: Please INCREASE your Spend

Fare increases, credit card charges, agency fees, fuel charges … the added traveler costs never seem to wane. Why then, am I encouraging you to increase your spend?   

 

We all must buy more traveling toothbrushes, breathmints and gum.  When a thousand travelers answered the question, "Who do you hate sitting next to most on the plane?" the highest rated answers were "those with bad breath and BO" according to Skyscanner.   Isn't it disgusting when you continuously have to smell the pepperoni pizza, smoke and coffee on the breath of someone sitting next to you? And, what about those smelly feet?  Yuck, leave your shoes on.     

 

If you like to brush your teeth every few hours like I do, I recommend the TSA approved "all in one" toothbrush, Fresh & Go…  http://www.freshangousa.com/    But, please, don't expense it on your T&E report.

 

For more information on the most annoying passengers …. http://news.skyscanner.net/articles/2009/07/002674-bad-breath-and-bo-get-up-travellers-noses-most-annoying-passengers-revealed-by-skyscanner.html

 

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

 

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Examine 13 Areas for Travel and Expense Management Optimization

What should be audited for T&E Optimization?  How do you know if you are paying too much for a service?  What are the best practices in the industry? If these are questions you've asked recently, you're not alone.  Companies are unlocking opportunities in pricing, discounts, policy, risk/reward service level agreements, security, and outsourcing. 

In today's economy, should your organization traipse along or uncover new methods to increase revenue and identify gaps?   Leading organizations choose the second option. Thirteen "audits" or "reviews" will increase your opportunity to uncover value.

By definition, an "audit" is a methodical examination and review.  In my experience, the most cost savings result from a financial, policy, controls and compliance review. Next, a thorough supplier review, often part of strategic sourcing, will aid in cost reduction. To gain efficiency and reduce risk, companies chose an operations, automation, risk and security review.  

Let's use a few examples:

1.  A T&E expense monitoring review identifies fraud.  How much can be saved by reducing fraud?

2.  A financial review uncovers higher prices for services compared to other companies.  How much can you reduce the price? How much should it cost?

3.  A policy review highlights that the travel booking language is not clearly defined.  How many travel bookings are costing too much?

4. A controls and compliance review finds that pre-approvals are not standard for travel or entertainment expenses. How much is spent on entertainment for each of your clients?

5.  An operations review identifies that numerous executive assistants, human resource staff, marketing staff and meeting planners are all planning meetings and events.  How many headcount are really needed?  Should this non-core service be outsourced?

6.  A risk review identifies that meetings are held and contracts are signed without the company approved language and legal review.  What language could harm your organization and where are those contracts stored?

7.  A security and personal identifiable information review finds that meeting planners are sending names and credit card numbers to hotels and other suppliers via email.  What happens to the data at each end?  Do you know the laws about sending personal identifiable information?  

8.  A supplier contract review uncovers key business terms missing regarding hotel penalties. How much was spent on attrition and cancellation penalties?

9.  A supplier fulfillment review identifies that your car rental company was not available or did not provide the service they agreed to in their contract.   How much did it cost to use a different service? How satisfied are the travelers with the service?

10.  A supplier satisfaction review finds that it usually takes 3-4 phone calls to get to the right person.  How much productivity was lost?  The review finds that the outsourced provider does not provide the high quality service they promised during negotiations.  How is this tracked so that a risk and rewards service level agreement can be put into place?

11.  A technology review finds that all of the executive assistants, marketing, human resources and meeting planners are using Excel to track their thousands of meeting attendees annually.  How much productivity can be gained by automating?  The review identifies that agent-assisted travel reservations are costing 4-5 times more than an online booking tool.  Why is an agent being used for domestic reservations? How much can be saved?   The review finds that expense reporting is handled by the a) traveler, b) approver c) the finance person.  How much does this cost in paper handling?

12. A global distribution system review shows that the negotiated rates were not loaded into the GDS system properly and therefore, travelers are not paying the negotiated rate.  How much money has been lost?

13. An air audit finds that agents are not offering the lowest fare.  Why not?

The savings and efficiencies gained far outweigh the cost of performing the review.  See below for a list of the 13 areas to review for T&E Optimization.

 

 

 

If you want assistance, please contact me.

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

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Where do you find T&E spend?

Where do we find T&E spend? What is T&E spend?  Most call it Travel and Entertainment; some call it Travel and Expense.  Regardless of what you call it, most organizations spend millions of dollars on it annually.  And, look beyond corporate card data to truly understand your organization's buying behaviors.

 

When I help our clients manage the T&E spend, it isn't enough to only look through the T&E corporate card data.  Transient, or business, travel is usually found in the T&E spend, yet Accounts Payable includes a fair share of airline, hotel, ground transportation and other ancillary spend data.  Strategic sourcing leverages the total spend.  This diagram helps describe the complexity of this category:

 

 

 

    

A recent Aberdeen Group report shows that out of the top five challenges in managing T&E expenses, "visibility into T&E spend data" was the second greatest concern surpassed by "enforcing policy compliance."  . 

 

We can affect strategic sourcing successes with only T&E corporate card data, although if we have all of the data, we may be more successful in negotiating lower prices by moving market share with a greater volume of spend.

 

Does anyone else get that exhilarating feeling when they open a database that includes all of the spend data, or is it just me?  If you want help corralling your spend, contact me.

For more information on the Aberdeen Group, please visit:  http://www.aberdeen.com/

 

 

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

Follow me on Twitter ...http://www.twitter.com/debischolar  and on LinkedIN at http://www.linkedin.com/in/dscholar

 

Travel and Virtual Meeting Synergies

How can travel management companies, hotels and other hospitality suppliers gain more clients in this economy?  How can meeting planners reinvent themselves?  If you know me, you've heard me, since 2002, say:  Embrace virtual meetings. 

 

When organizations start down the path of investigating a virtual meeting strategy, I help them develop the three core, parallel work streams that will drive adoption and ensure success.  Yet, before creating a virtual meeting strategy, I suggest analyzing three primary travel data points in order to lay the virtual meeting foundation.  In addition, a travel data analysis will support and offer a cost/benefit analysis to support virtual communications tools.   In the strategy and operational plans, there are opportunities for travel management companies, meeting management companies, hoteliers and yes, even meeting planners to play active roles and build new revenue streams.

 

A hotel chain has recently announced their plans to embrace more virtual technologies:

http://hdvoice.tmcnet.com/topics/unified-communications/articles/59027-marriott-cha-to-install-telepresence-rooms-hotels-worldwide.htm

 

And, please review an interesting article, "Collaboration in the Workplace"

http://www.itoamerica.com/index.php?section=pdf&id=811&name=Collaboration+in+the+Workplace

 

If you want help with your virtual meeting strategy and analyzing your travel data, please contact me. Look for results from the virtual meeting survey within the next few weeks.

 

Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT

 

Thank you for visiting the T&E Plus Blog on expense management, travel management, business meetings, events, incentives, strategic meetings management, entertainment, virtual meetings, tickets, hotels, airlines, ground transportation, T&E policy, plus more...

 

Follow me on Twitter ...http://www.twitter.com/debischolar  and on LinkedIN at http://www.linkedin.com/in/dscholar