As ground transportation suppliers increasingly are being incorporated into managed transient travel programs, some suppliers are finding additional prospects for growth by focusing on ground transportation for corporate meetings.
Suppliers are reporting a jump in use of their services for corporate events, particularly for last-minute meetings. This trend comes as more companies are issuing requests for proposals for ground transportation programs rather than using such methods as reverse auctions
(BTN, July 17). The reasons behind both could be similar: Although ground transportation is generally among the smaller parts of a travel budget, it also is one of the highest-profile pieces as far as negative feedback should something go wrong.
"It's just a level of service," according to Jeff Feinberg, president of Jenkintown, Pa.-based Roberts Event Group. "People are coming in with advisory boards or other high-level meetings, and they want to make sure that they're greeted properly and promptly and make it to their meeting."
Putting ground transportation for events in the hands of a single company eliminates the variable service that travelers might otherwise encounter, said Feinberg, who has used Princeton, N.J.-based A-1 Limousine for event purposes. Reliance on cabs, for example, would make every traveler's experience dependent on the individual cab driver.
This focus also is shifting the role of some ground transportation suppliers. BostonCoach is training its employees to provide proper meetings services, said BostonCoach vice president of events Catherine Chaulet, who holds the Convention Industry Council's Certified Meeting Professional designation.
"Our services are shifting from being order-takers in ground transportation to being partners and very consultative before, during and after the event," BostonCoach's Chaulet said.
Boston-based BostonCoach last year acquired The Best of Boston, one of the highest-revenue destination management companies in the country
(Meetings Today, Dec. 5, 2005). Company CEO Jonathan Danforth also has a meetings background, as the former president of the Navigant Performance Group, and Danforth has said growth in the meetings market is one of the top priorities for the company
(BTN, July 17).Suppliers also are adapting their technology for the growing segment. A-1 Limousine, which has worked with event planners for 18 years, is on the third generation of its own software designed specifically for event transportation, company president Jeffrey Starr said.
"What would take a meeting planner eight hours of coordination—putting together 300 travelers in a cost-effective solution—would take me about an hour," Starr said. "Our custom software manages data, has all the rules plugged into the computer system and gives me the ability to make changes on the fly."
Corporate events requiring ground transportation service increasingly are coming to the suppliers for help with only a few days' notice, Chaulet said. Recently, a request came to BostonCoach at 3 p.m. on a Friday for an event on Sunday with more than 100 people, she said. The pressure to put those last-minute events together is coming from all levels within companies.
Ground transportation suppliers also must be ready with real-time status reports in order to effectively manage meetings transportation, Chaulet said. Because of the way large events sometimes are organized, there could be an immediate need to move thousands of people within a matter of hours, so meeting planners expect ground transportation companies to have that knowledge, she said.
To that effect, ground transportation companies need to have the ability to work with competitors or even public transportation resources in order to ensure effectiveness in certain situations, Starr said.
"If I have to move more people than I have equipment, we can work with other vendors or can source vendors," Starr said. "At a holiday party last year, 4,700 people had to be moved and had to be on time, so we did all the ground organization for not only ourselves but for six other companies. This allows the planners to concentrate on the event."