GBTA
Europe recently announced the formation of an advocacy group to engage the
European Commission on behalf of travel buyers. The inaugural chairman of the
group is Hans-Ingo Biehl, executive director of VDR, the Global Business Travel
Association's German partner. Biehl talked to BTN contributor Amon Cohen about the issues for which the organization
is looking for regulatory intervention, and why he believes a pan-European
voice will give travel managers much more clout in Brussels.
Why has GBTA Europe formed an
advocacy group?
This is one
of the main reasons VDR decided to join GBTA Europe. It is very important not
to act as a single country but with a pan-European voice when talking to the European
Commission. Together, GBTA Europe brings €100 billion of spend to the table
when we have those discussions.
The statement announcing the
formation of the GBTA Europe advocacy group said you have prioritized data
privacy, competition, airline contracting and ancillary fees. What do you want
the European Commission to do about each of these concerns?
Data
privacy is all about data flows and who owns the data. We are seeking clear
guidance from the Commission about rights and transparency on this issue. At
the moment it's not clear to anyone. Regarding competition, we question the
ethics and legality of having airline alliance contracts but not the option to have individual contracts with alliance members. In some cases, if you don't
sign the alliance deal, you don't get the corporate fares. Then there is the
question of fuel surcharges. This one has come from the Institute of Travel
& Meetings [another GBTA Europe member organization]. It believes they
should be part of the fare and therefore subject to contract negotiations. We
want to get some clarity on whether it is OK legally to make a separate
surcharge for fuel. If a ticket is canceled, sometimes you get a refund on the
fuel surcharge and sometimes you don't.
What about the hot topic of
ancillary fees?
It's nice
to have options for what you want and what you don't want, but at the moment what consumers are paying is not transparent. We are looking for ancillary fees to
be filed in a manner consistent with the filing of the fare itself.
Who will do the talking on behalf of
GBTA Europe?
As chair of
the advocacy group, I will represent us in Brussels, and I will be supported by
[GBTA Europe managing director] Paul Tilstone. The agenda will be produced by the
entire advocacy group. The objective is to have one buyer from each GBTA Europe
country who feeds into the agenda.
How often will the group meet?
At the
moment we intend to meet in person or by phone about every six weeks, but it
will depend on how the agenda moves.
Do you intend to hire any external
lobbying assistance?
That is not
planned at the moment. It’s a budget issue, but if we don’t get very far, we
might have to find someone.
Do you agree that up until now the
travel buyer's voice has not been heard sufficiently within the European
Commission?
Yes, I do
agree. VDR had contacts in Brussels over issues such as Lufthansa not putting
its fares in every global distribution system, but the Commission said to us that
it was no good having just one country coming and talking to them. We hope GBTA
will be listened to. In the past, the supplier side has been very successful at
lobbying its ideas. The European Commission definitely wants to hear the voice
of the consumer, too.
Can you give any examples where the
supplier side was heard but the buyer side was not?
I wish the
consumer side of the argument had been heard more intensively during the review
of the CRS Code of Conduct. There are a lot of distribution issues going on at
the moment and we have some strong views on transparency in travel
distribution. We would like the Commission to look at the Code of Conduct again
to see if it is still adequate for today's distribution model.