Business Travel News
Business Travel News
  • SECTIONSOpen Menu
    • Transportation
    • Lodging
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • Distribution
    • Meetings
    • Global
    • Management
    • Travel Procurement
    • Voices
    • Recent Issues
  • VOICESOpen Menu
    • Expert Q&A
    • Podcasts
    • OpEds
    • What to Watch 2022
  • RESEARCHOpen Menu
    • BTN's 2022 Essential OBT Guide
    • Corporate Travel 100
    • Corporate Travel Index
    • Expense Manager Report
    • Small & Midsize Enterprise
    • Salary Survey
    • Strategic Meetings Report
    • VIEW ALL
  • WEBINARSOpen Menu
    • View All Webinars
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Hall of Fame
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit
    • Business Travel Lodging Summit
    • Business Travel Show
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Business Travel Trends Forecasts
    • DEI Symposium Series
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Government Travel Summit
    • Innovate
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • Business Travel Buyer's Handbook
    • Business Travel Buyer's Techbook
    • Corporate Travel Index Calculator
    • Data Sources: The Reference Guide
    • White Papers & Case Studies
    • Influencers
    • Webinars
    • Hotel Search
  • SECTIONSOpen Menu
    • Transportation
    • Lodging
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • Distribution
    • Meetings
    • Global
    • Management
    • Travel Procurement
    • Voices
    • Recent Issues
  • VOICESOpen Menu
    • Expert Q&A
    • Podcasts
    • OpEds
    • What to Watch 2022
  • RESEARCHOpen Menu
    • BTN's 2022 Essential OBT Guide
    • Corporate Travel 100
    • Corporate Travel Index
    • Expense Manager Report
    • Small & Midsize Enterprise
    • Salary Survey
    • Strategic Meetings Report
    • VIEW ALL
  • WEBINARSOpen Menu
    • View All Webinars
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Hall of Fame
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit
    • Business Travel Lodging Summit
    • Business Travel Show
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Business Travel Trends Forecasts
    • DEI Symposium Series
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Government Travel Summit
    • Innovate
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • Business Travel Buyer's Handbook
    • Business Travel Buyer's Techbook
    • Corporate Travel Index Calculator
    • Data Sources: The Reference Guide
    • White Papers & Case Studies
    • Influencers
    • Webinars
    • Hotel Search
Business Travel News
  • Business Travel News on Twitter
  • Business Travel News on LinkedIn
  • Business Travel News on Facebook
  • SECTIONS
    • Transportation
    • Lodging
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • Distribution
    • Meetings
    • Global
    • Management
    • Travel Procurement
    • Voices
    • Recent Issues
    Subscribe to NewslettersBTN DailyBTN GlobalBTN Travel ManagementTravel Procurement
    Subscribe to Print IssuesBusiness Travel NewsTravel Procurement
  • VOICES
    • Expert Q&A
    • Podcasts
    • OpEds
    • What to Watch 2022
    Jean-Christophe Taunay-BucaloTravelPerk Nears Completion of Click Travel Integration
    Tripism CEO Kerr Assesses Travel Management EvolutionTripism CEO Kerr Assesses Travel Management Evolution
    Bryan LeibmanNewly Acquired by JPMC, Frosch Goes Into Growth Mode
  • RESEARCH
    • BTN's 2022 Essential OBT Guide
    • Corporate Travel 100
    • Corporate Travel Index
    • Expense Manager Report
    • Small & Midsize Enterprise
    • Salary Survey
    • Strategic Meetings Report
    • VIEW ALL
    Annual Supplier Ratings• Car Rental Survey & Report• Hotel Survey & Report• Airline Survey & Report
    Special Reports• The Mechanics of Sustainble Business Travel• Diversity Equity Inclusion
  • WEBINARS
    • View All Webinars
    Traveler-Driven Program and Policy Adjustments to Consider in the Next Era of Travel

    Tues., Aug. 2 at 12pm ET / 9am PT
    Sponsored By: TripActions

    The Mechanics of Sustainable Business Travel

    Monday, August 1 at 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT
    Sponsored by: Avis Budget Group, HRS, United for Business

    Trends in Managing Travel for Entertainment Companies

    Wed., July 27 at 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT
    Sponsored by: United for Business

  • EVENTS
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Hall of Fame
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit
    • Business Travel Lodging Summit
    • Business Travel Show
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Business Travel Trends Forecasts
    • DEI Symposium Series
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Government Travel Summit
    • Innovate
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
    38th Annual Travel Manager of the Year Awards

    Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina, CA - August 16,

    4th Annual Business Travel Lodging Summit America

    InterContinental Times Square - New York City,

    5th Annual Strategic Meetings Summit London

    etc.venues Monument - London, 26 September 2022

    Entertainment Travel Summit London

    Kimpton Fitzroy London - 29 September 2022

  • RESOURCES
    • Business Travel Buyer's Handbook
    • Business Travel Buyer's Techbook
    • Corporate Travel Index Calculator
    • Data Sources: The Reference Guide
    • White Papers & Case Studies
    • Influencers
    • Webinars
    • Hotel Search
    BTN CTI Calculator

    Filter in or out as many as 200 cities, as well as hotel and car rental class and meals of the day and watch as the per-diem calculator automatically adjusts per diems to your program. Drill down into cost breakdowns and export the results.

  • Business Travel News Supplier DirectorySUPPLIER DIRECTORY
T R A V E L   P R O C U R E M E N T

Procurement

Southwest Invests for Corporate Sales Growth & New Distribution Strategy

By Michael B. Baker / August 17, 2018 / Contact Reporter
Share

Southwest Airlines is on track to quadruple year over year its number of new corporate contracts in 2018, armed with a bigger and newly structured sales force and a distribution strategy leveraging new capabilities unlocked by its recent reservations system switch, sales executives told BTN.

Over the past year and a half, Southwest's sales team has focused on two areas: "What do we need to do to make it easier for our customers to do business with us?" and, "How do we ramp up our selling capabilities?" senior director of corporate sales Matthew Smith said during an interview at the recent Global Business Travel Association convention in San Diego. In terms of personnel, the corporate sales organization has grown from about 25 to more than 80 over that period, he said. That includes about doubling the sales employees in the field and building up new teams with specific focuses, such as government business.

The intent, however, was more than just purely adding numbers.

"We want to grow, but we want to grow smartly," Smith said. "Our organization needs to get better with every salesperson we hire, so we need to continue to look for the best people out there and surround them with supporting mechanisms, whether it be a sales enablement team that helps with contract implementation, a sales analytics team that helps get strategic around pricing or loyalty opportunities or a performance [team] that helps us understand the root cause of performance increases or decreases."

Along with growing the number of corporate contracts, Southwest also aims to increase the percentage of corporate contracts in compliance with their terms, Smith said. The goal the team has set for that is "within reach" for the year, he said.

Unlocking Distribution

Southwest's new structure has brought a familiar face back to its team. Former director of corporate sales and distribution Rob Brown had been with Southwest for more than two decades but left a few years ago to manage NuTravel's Airline Solutions Group, has rejoined Southwest as senior director of sales strategy and B2B channels. Among his duties, he oversees a team focused on relationships with third-party intermediaries, including travel management companies, global distribution systems and corporate booking tools, as well as a team focused on service for corporate travel managers and agencies.

Brown said the latter is "going to be an important element to be able to add to our full circle of providing that customer service. Having a team in place that can service all of those top customers in a way that gives them that hospitality feel will be key to Matt's team and to continue to build loyalty to those customers."


We want to reduce hurdles, give tools to the selling teams and let them do what they do best."

Southwest's Dave Harvey

Dave Harvey, just promoted to VP of corporate sales, said the goal is to correct areas in which the carrier "is hard to do business with." That includes "a huge tech investment, looking across our small to medium-sized business platform Swabiz, our API strategy with direct connect or doing things differently with TMCs or GDSs," Harvey said. "We want to reduce hurdles, give tools to the selling teams and let them do what they do best."

The carrier's switch last year to the Amadeus Altea reservations system is enabling some of the changes, he said. The system allows for some "industry standard" capabilities with GDSs that were not previously available, such as self-service for agencies, he said. "Our hands were tied, and now we're in investigation and discovery to find out what that's going to look like," Harvey said. "Ultimately, it will allow for more personalization. We have a lot of the rich data coming through our different channels, and we're not necessarily maximizing that."

Southwest also is working on automatic reaccommodation for travelers during flight disruptions, another capability enabled by the new system. Things on the longer-term road map include allowing foreign points of sale, codesharing, interlining and loyalty relationships, Harvey said.

Network Plans

Southwest's biggest network growth story at the moment, its upcoming service to Hawaii, has more implications on the leisure side but is certainly of note to the meetings and incentives side of business travel. The carrier is "pretty far along" in the process of securing FAA approval and is still on track to begin selling tickets for the service this year, Harvey said.

Southwest will serve Hawaii from four California gateways—Sacramento, Oakland, San Jose and San Diego—which will build from Southwest's considerable network on routes within California, on which Southwest carries almost two-thirds of all passengers, Harvey said. The carrier will fly routes between the Hawaiian islands, as well, challenging Hawaiian Airlines, which has virtually no competition on those routes.

In addition, Southwest is continuing to build service out of Cincinnati, including nonstop service to Denver that began this month. As Southwest has built up service in the Delta hub, Cincinnati airfares have fallen from among the highest in the continental U.S. to about the "middle of the pack," Harvey said.

"Structurally, it's going to do gangbusters," Harvey said of the Denver route. "There's not only a lot of demand to Denver, but it has all that connectivity out to the West Coast. It's a great corporate market, with a lot of Fortune 500 activity, so we've been able to win a lot of corporate contracts."

More Procurement
Related
Report: Ext.-Stay Q2 Recovery Continues, Supply Growth Stalls

The rate of extended-stay supply growth has dwindled and the number of rooms under construction has...

Wheels Up: ‘Steady Pickup’ in Q2 Corp. Travel

Private aviation company Wheels Up reported record second-quarter revenue, crediting strong demand and...

United Plans New RFP Platform for Corp. Clients

United Airlines plans to launch in late 2022 a new platform that will let corporate clients customize...

Sponsored Content

Connecting the World – One Meeting at a Time
Connecting the World – One Meeting at a TimeBy Delta

As the demand for business travel, group bookings, and face-to-face events continues to rise, Delta remains committed to getting travelers where they need to be, on time and safely.   KEEP READING

We’re making history by making our carbon history
We’re making history by making our carbon historyBy United Airlines

We’re going beyond traditional carbon offsets and taking a more direct approach to making sustainable aviation the norm. KEEP READING

Duty of Care Due Diligence Requires Wider Scope
Duty of Care Due Diligence Requires Wider ScopeBy Qatar Airways

Travel professionals must do everything they can to demonstrate due diligence and widen the scope of what they do in the name of duty of care. KEEP READING

Don't Let NDC Take a Backseat in 2022
Don't Let NDC Take a Backseat in 2022By FCM

Get ready to tailor travel programs by leveraging NDC with your partners in 2022. KEEP READING

More Procurement

Amex GBT: Q2 Transactions Near 70 Percent of '19 Level
Sonder Furthers Corp. Travel Plans Amid Restructure
STR Boosts U.S. Hotel Rate Forecast, Cuts Occupancy
CWT: Expect Travel Prices to Keep Rising in 2023

VIEW ALL
Subscribe to Our

Free Newsletters

pixel2

Click Here for our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Business Travel NewsBusiness Travel News
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Business Travel News on Twitter
  • Business Travel News on LinkedIn
  • Business Travel News on Facebook
BUSINESS TRAVEL NEWS
NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP
Business Travel News
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Upload Print Ad Material
  • Purchase Reprints
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Subscribe to BTN
  • Subscribe to Travel Procurement
  • Subscribe to Newsletters
  • BTN Europe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
Business Travel News
Business Travel News Travel Procurement The Beat
Northstar Travel Group
  • Retail Travel
  • Travel Weekly
  • Travel Weekly Asia
  • Travel Weekly China
  • TravelAge West
  • TravelPulse
  • TravelPulse Canada
  • TravelPulse Quebec

  • Hotel Investment
  • Burba Hotel Network

  • Travel Technology
  • Inntopia
  • Phocuswire
  • Phocuswright
  • Web In Travel
  • Meetings & Incentives
  • Northstar Meetings Group
  • Meetings & Conventions
  • Meetings & Conventions China
  • Meetings & Conventions Asia
  • Meeting News
  • Successful Meetings
  • Incentive
  • SportsTravel

  • Data Products
  • Agent Studio
  • AXUS Travel App
  • Intelliguide
  • travel42
Northstar Travel Group
Copyright ©2022 Northstar Travel Media, LLC. All rights reserved.    100 Lighting Way Secaucus, NJ 07094-3626 USA | Telephone: (201) 902-2000
RRManagement rrtestprocurement