The National Business Travel Association here last week held the third-largest convention in its history, attracting more than 5,600 attendees from more than 30 countries, including more than 1,240 travel buyers, the association said. The annual event, by far North America's largest, offered more exhibition hours and more education sessions than in years past, despite a reduction in attendance from last year's record 6,450 with more than 1,400 buyers, according to NBTA statements.
As in years past, there were plenty of supplier parties and celebrity keynotes (President Bill Clinton, comedian Jay Leno, Olympian Dara Torres and US Airways' "Miracle on the Hudson" pilot Captain Chesley Sullenberger). Meanwhile, industry suppliers had no shortage of press releases, although no organization offered more announcements than NBTA itself. Here's a roundup:
NBTA said its convention in San Diego used more than 13,445 hotel room nights, generated $8.37 million in local spending and had an estimated economic impact of $20 million.
NBTA said it hired former Cendant and Rosenbluth International executive Mike McCormickas executive director and COO for a three-year term.
NBTA announced a new European conferenceit is planning with Business Travel Newsfor the fall of 2010. An NBTA spokesperson said the event is not "replacing" the Paragon Crossroadsevent that NBTA hosted in May 2008 in Milan and May 2009 in Paris. However, Crossroads will be retired. The location and exact date of the new event, which will not have a trade show according to current plans, are to be determined. [Separately, the Institute of Travel & Meetings of the United Kingdom and Ireland (a Paragon member) revealed plans for an international travel buyer forum to be conducted by telepresence in early 2010.]
NBTA announced dates for a number of conferences around the world in 2010, including Tampa in January; Mexico City, New York and Sao Paulo, Brazil, in March; Shanghai and Toronto in April; Orlando and Washington, D.C., in June; Melbourne, Australia, in September; and Sao Paulo in October. NBTA scheduled next year's annual conventionfor Aug. 8 to Aug. 11 in Houston.
NBTA's direct members elected three directors-at-largeto the association's board while allied members elected one. The new National Business Travel Association directors are Thomson Reuters travel services director Sharon Fogarty, Miller Coors strategic sourcing manager Pamela McTeer and Atmel Corp. travel manager Mark Ziegler (direct members each to serve a three-year term), and Concur senior director of segment marketing Christopher Juneau (an allied member elected for a two-year term). Running unopposed, Hilton Hotels Corp. global travel management director Craig Banikowskiformally was elected president, and Monsanto travel manager Jim McMullan became vice president.
Travelers on average pay $0.53 less this year than last in taxes for lodging, cars and food in U.S. cities, according to NBTA Foundation research sponsored by Concur. "We know that the fall is due to the weak economy and not tax cuts," noted NBTA Foundation Chair Fay Beauchine.
NBTA's general aviation white paper examines benefits to businesses of air charters and fractional or full aircraft ownership, "offering examples of increased employee efficiency, productivity and safety." In the paper, the NBTA Aviation Committee advised "travel managers to develop a mission profile, identifying corporate needs such as frequency of travel, common destinations and average lengths of trips."
NBTA's new online booking tool RFP template"is the first of its kind that we're aware of," according to NBTA Technology Committee chair Dianne Bradley. The template has 19 sections covering "issues such as profile management, implementation, non-travel services, security and privacy and mobile services," NBTA stated. "The template also offers insights into the role of OBTs in a managed travel program, the benefits of using an OBT and other important considerations regarding content."
NBTA enhanced and converted to an interactive guide its CSR Toolkit, and partnered with "eco-responsible event production company" Green Globe Productions on its annual convention.
The NBTA Hotel Committee added "renegotiation request" and "unsolicited bids" functions to its Modular Hotel RFPfor 2010. The former "allows users to display current rates received, specify requested target rates and amenities requirements per property and provides a standard template for hotels to respond. Using this tool will simplify and standardize the buyer's and hotelier's RFP renegotiation process," according to NBTA. The unsolicited bids element "provides a standard format for hoteliers to reach out to buyers in an effort to gain their business."
The NBTA Groups and Meetings Committee unveiled a guide for small meetings.
NBTA officials said the board of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives "refused to enter the financial due diligence process, so there are no ongoing discussions at this time" about a combination with ACTE. An ACTE official said ACTE and NBTA need to agree to the framework of a merger and sign nondisclosure agreements before financial details can be shared.