<B>Heston Takes Prize</B>
By David Jonas
<I>Los Angeles - </I>"It is like Field of Dreams; if you build it, they will come," said Cindy Heston, manager of corporate travel worldwide for Thomson Consumer Electronics in Indianapolis, referring to her implementation of online booking as she accepted Business Travel News' 16th Travel Manager of the Year award.
Heston also was recognized for negotiating the first joint corporate contract with Continental and Northwest, leveraging the GTM global agency network for better international fares and helping the Association of Corporate Travel Executives renew its focus on technology as co-chair of its annual conference.
Paris-based Thomson, which has a $60 million global travel budget and 3,000 U.S.-based travelers, in 1998 employed Worldspan's Trip Manager to handle online booking. In less than a year, the company moved 30 percent of reservations online. Heston attributed such high initial adoption to a requirement to use the system for simple roundtrip flights from headquarters. Also, an incentive program for travel arrangers/administrative assistants, based on reservations booked through the system, was applied in the early stages.
Total adoption now is near 60 percent, and savings--the differential between telephonic and electronic transaction fees paid to Maritz--has been pegged at 60 percent. That 60 percent is the top level of a tiered structure that reduced transaction fees relative to adoption rate.
"We found that people really like the control and information at their fingertips, rather than calling for every little nuance," Heston explained. "Usage has been above and beyond what we had targeted, so there really is no need at this point to mandate any further."
However, Heston said encouraging online booking for routine trips from other corporate locations would be the next step. She praised the efforts of Debbie Shircliff, travel manager for the Americas, for managing day-to-day operations of the system, in addition to her other responsibilities.
Meanwhile, in an industry where airline alliances still are viewed as marketing entities without any tangible benefits to corporate buyers, Heston last year proved that meaningful progress is being made. Thomson's joint deal with Continental and Northwest was the first to link two domestic carriers under the umbrella of a single corporate discounting scheme. More than 50 other corporations have signed similar agreements since Heston consummated hers last summer.
Thomson had a deal only with Northwest beforehand, but Heston said the seamlessness of the two airlines led to more beneficial terms. "When the two came together, we streamlined some areas to increase the discount," Heston said. "Contract goals were moved up a few notches."
Uniform discounting was applied throughout the route networks, except France, where a local agreement was negotiated by Jeanine Mailly, Heston's counterpart with GTM, and Anne-Marie Walker, the Thomson travel manager in France.
A few adjustments have been made since the deal was signed, but Heston said program administration has been easy since the contract was straightforward from the beginning.
Though similar contracts would not work for everyone, Heston's success confirms that corporations in secondary markets like Indianapolis have much to gain when a combined Continental and Northwest becomes a viable alternative to the dominant carriers. And internally, it was an easy sell since the two airlines have connected frequent flyer programs.
Globally, Thomson already had initiatives in place with GTM, its agency network affiliated with Maritz, to leverage the network's worldwide presence and seek out cheaper international fares. However, the program was enhanced in 1999 to include goals and incentives. "We wanted to put an incentive out there so the agency would call all its GTM partners worldwide to find lower fares where we are not covered with negotiated rates," Heston said. "The incentives are finance-based, and GTM has met its goals by hitting its targets. It is a tangible return that a global travel organization brings back to the company."
Indeed, shifting the point of sale from one country to another, when necessary, can be an effective way to ease disparate international fares. Heston has used this tactic on several occasions with more than one carrier.
Meanwhile, Heston last year was active in the Association of Corporate Travel Executives as co-chairperson of the annual conference held this past April in Dallas. She and Phil Stumpf, the other co-chair and manager of national and corporate sales at Northwest Airlines, pushed to bring technology more to the forefront. "You have to look at the value of members touching these new products because it is 90 percent of what people are talking about," she said. This year's conference ran a concurrent technology showcase throughout the schedule. "We addressed the needs of our membership, which is quite diverse."
Meanwhile, Heston has helped develop annual global meetings for all Thomson employees involved in just about every aspect of travel, plus GTM agency staff and Thomson's travel suppliers. Last year's meeting was held in Singapore.
"It is a team-building opportunity and an extraordinary benefit for worldwide consolidation, internal agency issues and external supplier relations," Heston said. "I really attribute our success in the global arena to this annual meeting."
Heston credited Teresa Yeun, former travel manager with Thomson in Singapore who also helped with Asian elements of the Continental-Northwest agreement, for organizing last year's event, and Susan Hopley, then a GTM rep servicing the Thomson account, for hatching the idea in 1993.
Future goals for Thomson's travel department include consolidating a global GDS, integrating an online booking product in France and Singapore and improving services and convenience for travelers.