Buyers, Suppliers Try Incorporating More Openness Into Their ACTE

Leaders of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives last month at their global conference in Montreal urged the industry toward more open communication, conveying a spirit of interaction between airlines and others evident earlier in 2002.

Citing the need for a "fat-free diet of truth," ACTE officer Greeley Koch, Bank of America senior vice president of corporate travel services in Charlotte, N.C., said the "industry has been reading and believing its own press releases."

ACTE engaged nearly 300 senior corporate travel buyer and more than 700 supplier executives in discussions that produced portions of consensus, if not solutions. From a general breakout session on airfare reform that generated little substantive Q&A or airline participation to a presentation of research that concluded there is a disconnect between what senior executives say they know about travel management and what they actually know, the ACTE conference, in some ways, left attendees with more questions than answers.

That was something Koch anticipated, telling attendees at the outset that working together to reach a consensus does not always deliver solutions, which he called "a bonus."

Koch—who at this conference completed a term as ACTE vice president of education and programs, won ACTE's industry professionalism award and assumed the new ACTE position of U.S. regional chair— stayed on point in encouraging dialogue by saying "no issue is too sensitive." Though the corporate travel industry may not know what to say, at least it is talking more openly—and perhaps more honestly.

The global conference marked significant changes to ACTE's leadership. Cheryl Hutchinson assumed the role of president from past-president Ron Wagner of WorldTravel BTI, who now has become chairman of the ACTE board of directors. Additionally, four new regional chairs were created to provide global leadership for the association in Asia, Canada, EMEA and the United States. "I'm honored to be assuming the presidency of the association at such a critical time in our industry," said the newly inaugurated Hutchinson. "Right now, I am turning my attention to our upcoming fall conference in Munich, which will focus on travel security issues and the airline faring system, among other things." Hutchinson, who earlier this year resigned from her position as a senior principal with Fairfax, Va.-based American Management Systems, "because of lifestyle issues, including the fact that I had to commute to work across the country from my home in California," said she has no immediate plans to start another job in the business travel industry, but instead will take some time off to focus on her work at ACTE. New U.S. regional chair Greeley Koch said the role of the new regional chairs is "to focus on delivering value to our members by organizing local educational forums that address changes in the business travel industry." Rounding out the regional chairs are Business Travel International's David Pettigrew in Asia, Galileo International's Ian Epps and BMC Software's Nadine Dewart in EMEA, and Western Management Consultants' Sylvia Grey in Canada.

Valerie Estep, president of Topaz International, and Susan Hopley, executive vice president and general manager of TRX Data Services, told buyers how, when and why to audit their companies' travel processes in a session on program value validation. Estep said online booking systems, automated quality control systems and agency operations—including service level agreements—should be audited, as well as Airlines Reporting Corp.-accredited corporate travel departments. "Initially, the perception was there would be no need to audit CTDs, but that perception is changing," Estep said. She added that the most common time to conduct an audit is when problems arise but also recommended audits during a time of transition and noted some corporations prefer a continuous audit to "remove the idea that changes only occur during the audit process." As for Web fares, Estep said, "The most common Internet study is to look at itineraries through the normal booking process and replicate those on Internet public sites that the company's travelers visit. There may be trends, so ask agencies to target those things."

TRX's Hopley discussed the three Ss, which included slippage—10 percent of all tickets are voided, 20 percent on average are refunded or exchanged and another 10 percent are accepted by a different carrier—secrecy about contract calculations and measurement, and software enabling a new level of tracking. She add that there needs to be a "balance of power" in the travel buying sector. "If we are truly going to be managers of information and data, both sides need to know what is going on," she said, adding that suppliers should provide information on such things as unused tickets.

Regarding flown data, one travel buyer lamented, "We are operating at a disadvantage in not getting validation in what the airlines are reporting." Hopley responded, suggesting clients "can get that data with enough of a push" and once that data is made available, it usually proves to be reliable. Hopley later told BTN that TRX is working with additional carriers in auditing flown data on behalf of corporate clients, a service first introduced last summer (BTN, Aug. 13, 2001).

ACTE and Sabre's GetThere subsidiary shared the results of research conducted with Business Week that indicated financial executives' involvement in travel management is "often limited to approving and cutting budgets," said ACTE executive director Nancy Holtzman. "Our goal is to demonstrate to CFOs and other corporate executives that travel management is a science that can give a company an operational advantage." The Web-based study, conducted among 319 managers with corporate finance responsibility at companies with more than 1,000 employees, found that while 95 percent of respondents oversee corporate travel expenditures, few are involved in creating a strategy to maximize the value of their companies' travel spend. According to the research, 60 percent of them feel they should be more involved.