Returning to business travel means re-engagement with car rental and ground transportation firms. As buyers prepare their programs and their travelers, Snap Inc. global travel and corporate card 'ninja' Sean Parham and AMD strategic sourcing manager for travel meetings and events Lisa Stanford late last month spoke to BTN ground transportation associate editor Dawit Habtemariam about some of the major issues on their minds—and what's not on their minds—as they restart ground transportation in the context of post-pandemic corporate travel. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
BTN: Car rental and other ground transport providers have focused on cleaning and air-quality protocols. What discussions are you having with your security and risk teams in terms of how to review supplier practices and move forward?
Sean Parham: We had to have some kind of guidance [from the security team] because we felt … they needed to communicate to employees the safest and most secure way to travel. Security provided the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and used those to pose questions to all travel suppliers, including ground transportation. [The travel team] asked those questions specifically or went to their websites to do the research on those issues and then ask, but this wasn't necessarily in the context of a request for proposals.
Lisa Stanford: We have a Covid task force that our global travel manager works with to ensure that when we do return to the office or return to business travel, safety precautions are put in place [and] travelers know what they are.
BTN: What about black car or ride-hailing? Did you address concerns with those providers, and what was the result?
Parham: For our black car provider, we actually did go in and ask them about glass partitions between the driver and the passenger. [At first,] they responded that the partitions weren't something they were ready to move forward with. But between us asking and other customers asking the same questions, they decided to go ahead with it. So those partnerships and questions and due diligence were developing as we all moved forward [within the pandemic]. We've also been getting updates and having conversations with Uber and Lyft around what they are doing to try to ensure a safer environment for their employees or contractors. There are a lot of conversations going on between my team and myself, security and our suppliers.
BTN: There are concerns in the industry about a potential car rental shortage. Do you have plans to ensure your drivers have access to rental vehicles?
Stanford: We put a secondary supplier contract in place just because of the industry car shortages that are expected with [semiconductor] shortages. We wanted to make sure that our travelers have the rental cars when they need them. Historically we've had one global ground provider, and they still are our global approved and preferred supplier. The secondary supplier contract is in place with negotiated rates, but mostly for overflow—if we need the car or the type of car, we have a fallback supplier to utilize.
BTN: When the pandemic struck, ground transportation providers sold off fleet, reduced staff, closed locations and, like all suppliers, lost revenue. In some cases, they declared bankruptcy or ceased operations. How have you safeguarded your programs?
Parham: We're looking at supplier financial well-being, and we're asking questions about liquidity. Especially when it comes to the transportation sector, you don't work with a company that is about to go belly-up and your people get stranded can't get home or get to the next meeting. We definitely ask questions around that.
Stanford: Definitely. We do random audits on their financial health as well. If we're going out to bid, we would be running a financial health check on any potential suppliers. We do keep an eye on that on a regular basis, especially if they're considered a strategic or partnership type of supplier to AMD. Having a single global rental car provider may not be a tremendous amount of spend, but the risk is pretty high with individuals operating vehicles, so we consider them a strategic partner and make sure that they are financially sound.
BTN: Have you incorporated sustainability into your ground transportation program?
Stanford: If we were to go out to RFP, it would be a focus. But right now [sustainability] is just not a driving factor from my travelers' perspective, whether they choose one supplier over another.
Parham: Last week our company came out with a sustainability statement around what we were doing as a company. When it comes to our impact on the travel perspective, we are definitely going to be focused on what are our ground transportation providers are doing. Looking at black car providers, for instance, are they going to continue to use petroleum-based engines? Are they going to be moving toward hybrids? That'll be part of our vetting going forward as we start to launch back into travel. In 2022, it will be a component of RFPs and corporate communications, and it will be global.