R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That's what a newly formed group of travel
buyers from the entertainment, media and advertising sector would like from
travel suppliers, along with dedicated sales reps who better understand how to
service their companies. To get that respect, the Global Entertainment Travel
group recently held its first educational forum and outlined white papers to
highlight the nuances, challenges and opportunities of their unique travel
buying sector.
"With travel management there are various specialist
groups—banking, pharmaceutical, etc.," according to Tom Stone, a former
buyer for entertainment companies who now is managing director of the Sirius
Management consultancy in London. "There's one area that we feel is very
much removed from normal corporate travel and that is the area of entertainment
and media."
Collectively, GET companies spend more than $1 billion per
year on air travel, hotel stays and car rentals. They often book premium-class
airfares and hotel suites and rent large vehicles. However, travel buyers at
entertainment companies claim that few suppliers completely understand what it
takes to serve their demanding business segment or allocate dedicated,
knowledgeable sales reps to meet their needs 24/7.
GET participants include networks ABC, Canada's CBC
Television, CBS, CNN, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, MTV, NBC, The CW and Showtime;
entertainment companies Sony Music, Sony Pictures, Universal Music Group,
Universal Studios and Viacom; publishers Condé Nast, Random House and Simon
& Schuster; and advertising firms Interpublic Group and Omnicon Media
Group. A half-dozen of them have appeared on Business Travel News' Corporate Travel 100 list of the largest
managed travel programs.
As one of the first industry specialty groups of the
Association of Corporate Travel Executives—supported by the sponsorship of ACTE
executive director Ron DiLeo—about 20 buyers in meetings and conference calls
during the past year crafted a mission statement, outlined plans for a white
paper and forged subcommittees to work on third-party hotel payment problems
and compliance to Payment Card Industry data-security standards. The group also
planned to create a subcommittee to work on airline-related issues, comprised
of both travel buyers at entertainment companies and the suppliers that serve
them.
Their goal, according to Stone, is to "bring awareness and
effect sustainable change in the practice of entertainment/media travel
management."
Stone, Universal Music Group global travel service vice
president Pamela Witherspoon and CBS Corporation travel services vice president
Hal Rudy this spring at an ACTE conference in San Francisco highlighted how
entertainment travel and travelers differ from typical corporate travel, and
how suppliers could better cater to the sector.
[PULL_1]Atypical Corporate
Travelers
Entertainment, media and advertising firms have some typical
business travel, booked during standard hours by credit-card-carrying
employees. But there also can be may last-minute, urgent travel to cover
breaking news events. Their travelers also may include actors, recording
artists and their entourages, on-air talent, news correspondents and crews,
executive producers and directors, high-level executives, contest winners,
guests and interview subjects.
Bookings often are unusual. "A typical request can be
four first-class tickets and two business-class tickets," Witherspoon
said. "Seats might have to be behind one another" to accommodate a
security guard charged with protecting a celebrity in first class. "We
have the artist, manager, publicist, crew, band and lots of luggage."
Ground transportation requests often are for black Cadillac
Escalades, Witherspoon added. But for an entertainer to step inside, the
vehicles might need to be equipped with a certain color interior or specific
wheel rims.
In a hotel, Witherspoon said, an entertainment company might
request "four similar-size suites and two standard rooms, all on the same
floor," or perhaps they would request an entire floor. "The hotel has
to understand that there might be particular issues with people staying in
those rooms," she added. Guests might arrive after midnight, stay up all
night or sleep all day. An entertainment company might request that the hotel
remove mini-bars or ban movie or phone access if a guest is a minor or for "other
reasons."
When they use hotel suites or rooms for media interviews and
press junkets—often at costs of more than $1,000 a night—companies routinely
ask hotels to remove some or all furniture to make room for lighting, cameras
and crews, Witherspoon said.
Stone said he typically asks a hotel, "Are you sure you
really want this business? Do you know what it entails? Are you prepared for it
to perhaps alienate your existing business?"
To support the Stupid Pet Tricks segment on CBS' "Late
Show With David Letterman," Rudy said his department must "book those
people and animals and make sure the hotel accepts pets." That could
include more than just dogs and cats.
Travelers served include "security, makeup artists,
hair stylists, lighting, sound and camera operators," Rudy said. "Some
people have never traveled before and some never travel under their real name.
If you look at all tickets booked, 50 percent are issued for nonemployees."
Payment Is Pain Point
Payment for nonemployee travel proves to be an ongoing
challenge for such companies, many of which already use virtual cards but are
seeking better solutions, said Witherspoon. Some travelers are minors or
otherwise don't carry credit cards. Even when companies arrange for third-party
direct billing and request a folio to match the guest name to card charges,
rarely do they receive it, Rudy said.
"If you change your procedures in third-party billing,
it could preclude us from doing business with you," Rudy told hoteliers.
Witherspoon said the group "hopes a subcommittee of buyers and suppliers
could address third-party direct billing" issues, as well as PCI
compliance as part of GET's next phases. Travel buyers at entertainment
companies and relevant suppliers that are interested in working with the group
were asked to contact Rudy, Stone, Witherspoon or ACTE's Amber Kelleher.
[PULL_2]TMC Demands
Entertainment and media firms also prove to be atypical
customers for travel management companies and their agents, the buyers told
ACTE attendees. "A good agent can process 15 to 20 transactions a day,"
Stone said, whereas in the entertainment space, "an agent might work on
only one booking a day, or over two days. The ratios are very, very different.
The idea of how much agents should cost and their productivity is not
applicable" in servicing this sector. Agents, he said, often must wait for
ticketing approvals, the vast majority of which occur after 6 p.m.
"We still actually have onsites," Rudy said of
some entertainment companies, including his. "When you find a good agent
who gets it, you don't want to lose that. Some work from home, and sometimes we
prefer that." When a National Football League game goes into overtime or a
golf tournament is delayed, 50 or more tickets might have to be rebooked, he
explained.
Changes Aplenty
GET participants said suppliers could expect "five to
seven itinerary changes prior to ticketing" as well as last-minute or
middle-of-the-night cancellations and changes. Such companies expect hotels "to
waive no-show fees," said Witherspoon.
Hotel bookings often are made under pseudonyms, which makes
it challenging to reconcile bills and payment, Stone said.
Such companies may use nonpreferred suppliers "because
artists insist on it," Rudy noted, which further complicates payment and
reconciliation matters, not to mention supplier relationships. As such, buyers
or travel agents must make payment arrangements and explain to preferred
suppliers why marketshare variations occur.
Despite all the travel and booking challenges, Rudy
emphasized that "our business is very lucrative. Not only are we buying
first-class seats, we're buying suites, ordering room service and clearing out
the mini-bars. There is a lot of money spent. There are airlines and hotels
that say, 'We want your business.' "
Nevertheless, GET buyers want suppliers to prove it. They
identified policies and practices they would like to see the "ideal
airline" and "ideal hotel" adopt to better serve the entertainment
sector. Buyers during the past year identified the wishlist in meetings in New
York, Paris and San Francisco, as well as on conference calls.
The Ideal Airline
The ideal airline "understands that market shares may
vary due to talent preferences, no first-class cabins" or the fact that
the exact seat demanded by a client is not available, Rudy explained. Some clients
only fly first class. Instead of flying coach to Indianapolis, a client might
opt for a first-class seat to Chicago and then be driven to Indianapolis.
Rudy said he understands that "airlines are all about
market share. But it's something we can't control. Market shares are going to
vary. Talent may only fly Airline X and we may not have a deal with that
airline. Too bad. We have to book that one, even if full fare is twice as much.
Airlines need to understand that ahead of time."
Some travelers insist on a specific seat on all flights. If
the seat is unavailable, the traveler "will change flights and even
airlines." Rudy said his team has asked "airline reps who understand
the business to call the person in seat 2A to ask if they would move."
An ideal airline also would offer special excess bag fees
across its network. One traveler could check as many as 25 bags. Media crews
typically check 15 bags, Rudy said. "Not every airline will offer a media
bag rate. We could be paying $6,000 to $8,000 just in excess bag fees, on top
of the higher airfare. We may pay higher airfares and pay less per bag because
it's less money overall."
Guaranteed meet-and-greet services, even if companies must
pay for it, also is on the wishlist for the ideal airline. Especially when they
have paid for the service, such companies expect the service to be guaranteed,
Rudy said.
"It would be great to have a sales rep available at all
times, so when we're having an issue on the other side of the world we can go
somewhere where they don't turn their BlackBerry off," he added.
The Ideal Hotel
"The ideal entertainment hotel," Witherspoon said,
"has a dedicated entertainment rep to acknowledge that this is a special
area. There is a huge gain to your hotel from entertainment—we buy suites and
high-end rooms. But the rep needs to understand the business."
"There aren't that many dedicated hotel reps,"
Rudy said. "I could probably count them on two hands. We hope that more
hotels get it." However, he noted that he doesn't have the time to deal
with inexperienced hotel reps who hold the entertainment sales title but lack
insight on the needs of the clientele.
One rep who "gets it," Witherspoon said, is
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group entertainment accounts director Robin Clark, who
made a career in the segment after starting with a small hotel next to a
concert venue. The buyers, Clark said, "pointed out that it's not for the
faint of heart. But it's very lucrative to my hotel group and me."
"Entertainment buyers look at someone like Robin, who
may change hotels or chains, and we will follow her from hotel to hotel because
she understands the business," Rudy said. "She will make things go
right, or at least provide good recovery" should something go awry.
News Happens
Buyers also asked suppliers to recognize drivers of their
business, especially news events. After the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
near Tucson, Ariz., Rudy said his company purchased a few hundred room nights
within two months. A year later, the hotel asked for the business again. "We're
not coming back," Rudy said.
Concert tours often occur on a two-year cycle. When an
artist's career takes off, companies attempt to maximize exposure—and travel—as
fast and long as possible, panelists said.
"Acknowledge and accept the challenge if you want to
service our business," Rudy told suppliers. "A good rate is just one
part of the equation in a hotel relationship. It's the rate, great service and
awareness of needs and differences."
This report
originally appeared in the August 2012 issue of Travel Procurement.