BTNonline.com The Corporate Traveler POLICY COMPLIANCE AND TRAVELER PREFERENCES SPONSORED IN PART BY:

® A SUPPLEMENTTO BUSINESSTRAVEL NEWS OCTOBER 2008 2008 RESOURCE GUIDE RESOURCE 2008

Contents October 27, 2008

Who Is Today’s Corporate Traveler? 6

Travel Policy Awareness And Communication 10

Traveler Compliance And Policy Enforcement 18

Service: Satisfaction And Value 21

Using Travel Technology 24

Cover, photography, layout design and information graphics by Eric Wong. Special thanks to Emily Lewis.

Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, October 27, 2008 3 BTNonline.com BTNonline.com

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CoTherporate Traveler BTNonline.com DAVID MEYER Editor-in-Chief (646) 654-4431 ([email protected]) LETTER FROM OUR SPONSOR CHRIS DAVIS Executive Managing Editor (646) 654-4437 s the end of the year approaches, the industry continues to face a ([email protected]) challenged environment. The economic slowdown that started in JAY BOEHMER the United States has made its way overseas. Uncertainty surround- Airline Editor (646) 654-4434 Aing the future price of fuel, movement in airline consolidation and al- ([email protected]) liances and tighter controls over contract performance measurement will MICHAEL B. BAKER impact air travel pricing and also have a ripple effect within other areas of Hotel, Expense/Payment Editor travel, including hotel, car rental and corporate meetings. All this equates (646) 654-4433 ([email protected]) to increased costs for buyers and fewer options for travelers. In this marketplace, continue to view travel as an investment SETH HARRIS Travel Management Editor and are doing everything to maximize their return. Our role is to help com- (646) 654-5716 panies adjust and manage their travel programs in a disciplined way by incorporating best practices, ([email protected]) optimizing policy and compliance strategies, and leveraging technology that make governance of ELISSA HUNTER policies feasible. Meetings, Ground Transportation Editor (646) 654-4432 As travel expenses draw attention from senior executives who recognize the need to balance trav- ([email protected]) el spending with the role it plays as an essential revenue-generating business function, companies ERIC WONG will employ strategies to maintain the frequency of travel while mitigating increased costs. At the Art Director same time, traveler satisfaction on the road is becoming increasingly important. This year’s Corpo- (646) 654-4439 rate Traveler survey reveals that while travel buyers are more cost-conscious than ever, they are ([email protected]) paying greater attention to traveler comforts from the mode of transportation to the choice of hotel. • We’re proud to partner with Business Travel News on the 2008 Corporate Traveler survey. We hope CONTRIBUTING EDITORS these findings provide insight into trends and preferences of those making purchasing decisions as AMON COHEN +44 (0) 1963-351-219 well as the corporate traveler impacted by those choices so we can help shape the future of our industry. PATTY DONMOYER ([email protected]) Hervé Sedky Vice President and General Manager, Advisory Services We welcome your letters, comments and feedback. American Express Business Travel Please contact the editor at [email protected]. For breaking news and original research, and to search articles since 1996, visit BTNonline.com.

NANCY LAZARUS Research Director BTNonline.com Highlights • SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES (847) 763-9050 UPCOMING WEBCAST ON-DEMAND WEBCASTS Fax: (847) 763-9037 >> Sponsor: American Express >> Sponsor: BostonCoach LIST RENTAL/POSTAL INFORMATION JULIUS SINGLE Business Travel Beyond Ground Transportation Basics: Strategy, (845) 731-2731 Today’s Corporate Traveler: Exclusive productivity and making the right impression BTN research highlights their wants, E-MAIL INFORMATION >> Sponsor: Amtrak WAYNE NAGROWSKI expectations and policy compliance Environmentally Friendly Travel Management: (845) 731-3854 Date: Wednesday, November 12 Incorporating practices into your corporate CUSTOM REPRINTS OF Time: 2:00 PM Eastern program 500 PIECES OR MORE: KRISTI FULKERSON, The YGS Group Nielsen(800) 290-5460,Business ext. 144Media PREMIUM RESEARCH ([email protected]) 2008 BUSINESS BTN EDITORIAL & SALES OFFICES TRAVEL SURVEY 770 Broadway 2008 BUSINESS TRAVEL New York, NY 10003-9595 Review of supplier BUYER'S HANDBOOK Editorial Fax: (646) 654-4455 performance in Techniques for managing All Rights Reserved key corporate business travel travel segments 4

PREMIUM RESEARCH

2008 BUSINESS TRAVEL SURVEY Review of supplier Techniques for managing performance in key business travel corporate travel segments

BTNonline.com Highlights PREMIUM RESEARCH 2008 BUSINESS TRAVEL SURVEY UPCOMING WEBCAST PREMIUM RESEARCH Review of supplier performance in key corporate travel segments >> Sponsor: BostonCoach 2008 BUSINESS Beyond Ground Transportation Basics: TRAVEL SURVEY 2008 BUSINESS TRAVEL Strategy, Productivity And Making The Review of supplier BUYER'S HANDBOOK Right Impression, featuring American performance Techniques for managing business travel Express’ David Balfour in key corporate Date: Wednesday, October 15 travel segments Time: 2:00 PM Eastern Who Is Today’s Corporate Traveler? BY DAVID MEYER by air that did not require them to spend any nights away from home. At 61 days total, that’s one-sixth of acing escalating airfares and substantial reductions the year on the road. in domestic airline capacity, frequent travelers who Overall, travelers said they complied with Fwork for companies that manage travel today are travel policies, including use of preferred vendors 90 taking fewer trips and spending fewer nights on the percent of the time in the past 12 months, with 56 road than in the past, but they are following their com- percent saying they always do, up from 45 percent in panies’ travel policies more than ever. While domestic 2002. Meanwhile, buyers agreed that their frequent travel is down substantially, there is an increase in in- travelers fail to comply with overall travel policy only ternational travel. 8 percent of the time. It has been six years since Business Travel News last Business travel buyers expect that they will see more took the measure of corporate travel policy compli- change in the amount of corporate travel, travelers ance, service expectations and technology use, along and expenditures next year compared with last year with business travel buyer insight on policy compliance than they had in the previous survey, with one-third and traveler behavior, and what we have found in 2008 rather than one-quarter predicting a decrease in the shows marked differences from our last and previous number of trips and travelers and nearly one-half rather studies. than slightly more than one-third forecasting an in- A year after Sept. 11, 2001, frequent travelers had cut crease in expenditures. back their nights away from home, but continued to Despite the changes, the identity of the corporate take 25 domestic and three international trips per year, traveler has not changed radically. Men still comprise the as original BTN r esearch showed they had done in 1996 majority of corporate travelers, although women now and 1998. make up slightly more than one-third, up from one- During the past six years, increased federal security fourth in our 2002 survey and nearly one-fifth in 1998. regulations and frequent airline delays have made fly- The corporate traveler’s average age dropped from ing even more of a hassle. Escalating airfares and fuel 49 years in 2002 to 41 years old today, with nearly surcharges, improvements in remote conferencing tech- one-third now between 25 and 34. The average age of nology and weakness in some traditionally travel-in- women business travelers is the same as for men. At 41 tensive vertical markets, such as the pharmaceutical years old, women averaged five years younger than in and technology industries, have eroded some business 2002. travel demand, culminating with this year’s economic The majority of travelers continue to be those with slowdown. senior corporate management and middle manage- As a result, even before the recent crash of Wall ment responsibility. Street investment banking companies and the ensu- Frequent business travelers had $113,300 in medi- ing financial freefall, frequent travelers—those who an personal income and $139,000 in household in- travel 10 times or more per year—this year reported come, while those who traveled less than 10 times this an average of 14 domestic and six international trips. year had $91,200 in personal income and $119,500 in Nearly half of the trips that travelers took were to household income. In 2002, median personal income make sales calls or meet with customers, one-quarter for frequent business travelers was a little higher, at were to conduct internal business, three were to at- $124,000, and median household income was about tend trade shows or conferences and two were for the same, at $138,650. The discrepancy in average in- training purposes. come between men and women travelers, however, Nights that frequent air travelers were away from remained the same at $20,000. home on business fell from 94 in 1998 to 68 in 2002 Nearly one-fifth of travelers worked for manufac- and again this year to 55. Again domestic nights away turing companies, nearly one-sixth worked for con- declined and international nights grew from 2002, sulting and firms, nearly one-seventh when frequent business travelers spent 10 nights away worked for high-tech companies, another one-seventh from home versus 14 this year. Despite the rebound, it worked for financial and insurance companies and still doesn’t approach the 22 nights frequent business close to another one-fifth of travelers who responded travelers spent in other countries in 1998. to this survey worked for aerospace, defense, pharma- Frequent travelers also made six other business trips ceutical, medical, chemical, petroleum, communica-

6 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News CoTherporate Who Is Today’s Corporate Traveler? Traveler tions or entertainment companies. flew six or more times a year for strikingly similar. by articulating tighter and more Business Travel News derived business in the past 12 months, in- BTN e ditors created a separate comprehensive travel policies and these findings from two surveys cluding a subset of 252 frequent survey, hosted online by Equation, increasing enforcement meas- designed by editors and conduct- travelers, defined as those who which BTN invited a randomly se- ures—increasingly including the ed in September 2008 by BTN and traveled by air 10 times or more in lected group of qualified business implementation of mandates. This third-party research house Equa- the preceding year. travel buyers to answer. BTN and emphasis on cost control helps ex- tion Research of Boulder, Colo. Re- While there are some differences sponsor American Express sought plain an increase in the number of sults for the traveler survey were between frequent and less fre- to entice further participation in the companies employing pre-trip re- tabulated from responses provid- quent business travelers, most of research from buyers by offering porting processes and systems. ed by a panel of 511 travelers who the results for the two groups are them a chance to win one of ten For the most part, improving $50 American Express gift cheques. communications and expanding Trips, travelers, spending outlook As a result of those efforts, 235 the use of travel management business travel buyers completed technology has increased aware- Change forecast for the next 12 months the survey questionnaire. ness and compliance. Such tech- Business Travel News thanks nology includes pre-trip reporting No American Express Advisory Services and online booking tools as well Increase Decrease Change for making this original research as enhanced travel agent systems possible and Travelport for its addi- and is augmented by the growing Number of trips 28% 34% 39% tional support for this effort. BTN use of mobile-device-based travel Number of travelers 25% 33% 41% also wishes to thank the 511 cor- services. Travel expenditures 47% 29% 24% porate travelers and 235 business These systems make it easier for travel buyers who provided the in- travelers to see a broader range of dustry with this glimpse into their booking options with a more clear activities and expectations. understanding of which suppliers While the majority of corporate the company prefers them to use, Nights away from home travel buyers—including travel, pro- and they make it harder to book Average nights away from home during air business trips in the past 12 months curement, finance and human re- arrangements that are out of com- sources executives as well as small pany travel policy. All 10 trips business owners and corporate Equipped with such tools and travelers or more CFOs—still see cost savings to be as increasingly urgent communica- important as service, pressures from tions from senior executives to re- Trips without nights away 4 6 soaring fuel prices and plummeting duce costs, it is no wonder that to- Domestic nights away 27 41 stock values have hit business trav- day’s corporate traveler is more International nights away 10 14 el budgets like a one-two punch. likely than ever to be aware of and Tough times call for dialing up to fully comply with company-spec- business travel policy restrictions ified actions. Business travel destinations Business travel destinations Average number of business trips taken by air in the past 12 months Average number of business trips taken by air in the past 12 months

All 10 trips All 10 trips travelers or more travelers or more

Business trips 13 20 Business trips 13 20 U.S. destinations 9 13 U.S. destinations 9 13 Canada 1 2 Canada 1 2 Europe 1 1 Europe 1 1 Asia/Pacific 1 1 Asia/Pacific 1 1 Mexico 0 1 Mexico 0 1 Central/South America 0 1 Central/South America 0 1

8 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News Travel Policy Awareness And Communication BY JAY BOEHMER varied, with the majority of companies technology into its travel program to stein this month said that the travel that employ intranets simply commu- provide a forum for travelers not just forum remains the most highly traf- s the backbone of corporate nicating the basic travel policy tenets to view policy, but also to solicit advice ficked forum on the company’s inter- travel programs, policy drives to employees. and recommendations from other nal network, averaging more than A preferred supplier agree- Cisco Systems is among the large travelers and broadcast their own 4,000 views per month. ments, reins in unnecessary spend- companies taking a deeper plunge views on travel-related issues. The Cisco said the approach has pro- ing and sets corporate expectations into more advanced forms of travel- company rolled it out earlier this year duced a high level of engagement for business travelers. er communication that go beyond a to a warm reception from its employ- among its tech-savvy traveler popula- Many companies take a multi- static top-down corporate intranet. ee base. Director of global travel, tion, but several travel buyers and pronged approach to putting policies The company has adopted Web 2.0 meetings and events Susan Lichten- corporate travel management con- in front of their travelers—using some sultants said one low-tech tactic to that are corrective and others that are get policy down to the employee lev- preemptive, delivering messages el is to turn every manager within the through emerging technologies and company into an arbiter of policy and also using decidedly low-tech means the most effective extension of the of communications. travel manager. Despite all the tools in the toolkit “We’ve become accustomed to that allow buyers to communicate having a Web page, putting things the company’s will, a divide remains up and that’s all that has to be done. between travelers’ knowledge of pol- I, as a travel manager, don’t have to icy and the expectations of corporate exert much effort because I already travel managers. A company can have put it up on the Web,” said Norm the best policies on paper, but their Rose, president of Travel Technology utility is only as strong as travelers’ Consulting. “I think that’s the minor- awareness of them. ity of travel managers, but it is a According to Business Travel News’ symptom of thinking the technology surveys of 511 travelers and 235 cor- is going to solve the problem when it porate travel buyers, travelers paint really is basic communication—go- themselves as more likely to be “very ing down from the CEO to his direct aware” of policy than travel buyers reports, to the divisions, and down think. Still, the majority of buyers said to as low a level that has budget re- their travelers are “aware” or “very sponsibility—to make that clear.” aware” of travel policy. Sematech manager of corporate Corporate travelers gain their travel and meeting services Bill David- knowledge of corporate travel poli- son said that his company employs cy from a wide array of sources, in- an “all-of-the-above approach” that cluding human resources, senior man- includes the corporate intranet, train- agement, supervisors or co-workers ing meetings, alerts and other forms and through e-mail, the corporate in- of communication. tranet, training sessions and period- “Of course, we have the travel pol- ic newsletters. icy intranet site where our entire trav- Corporate intranets or portals have el program is on pages there. We also become a favored method for deliv- have the ability to submit announce- ering policy at most companies, with ments to go out to everybody,” he 71 percent of travel buyers saying said. “Basically, when somebody es- they rely on the intranet for commu- sentially logs on to their PC at Semat- nicating policy and an additional 7 ech and launches Internet Explorer, percent planning to deploy policy via they come to a Sematech corporate corporate intranet in the next year. home page full of news, and we have The depth of those portals remains the ability to drop announcements

10 Monday, October 27, 2008 CoTherporate Travel Policy Awareness And Communication Traveler right there. That broadcasts it to everybody. manages the budget.” Means of finding out about Then, of course, we have staff meetings that Policy communications also work their way up corporate travel policies go on throughout the building from the high- the chain, as Sematech’s Davidson said his most est level. Perhaps the CEO discusses a policy frequent travelers keep in touch with him— change with all of his senior vice presidents and providing a barometer of where Sematech trav- Human resources 32% directors, then those people take it to their staff elers’ questions and concerns lie. Senior management 31% meetings. It definitely assimilates through the “I think we do a good job of getting the Supervisor 23% building through one of those methods. Our word out. The people who do travel a lot pick Travel manager 16% own travel agents school travelers all the time, up on that and pay attention to it. They’re pret- Co-worker 13% telling them when something changes.” ty savvy guys, the ones who do pay attention to Travel agent 10% With the support of senior management, their travel,” Davidson said. “They’re already corporate travel buyers must deputize man- reading about everything and up to speed on agers throughout the company to foster com- it. I get notes all the time from people saying, E-mail 31% pliance and communicate policy, some consult- ‘Hey, I read the passport rules are changing,’ Corporate intranet 29% ants said. or someone will say, ‘Don’t we have to do some- Meeting 24% “In a way, corporate travel manager is a bit thing about the Western Hemisphere Travel Ini- Training session 21% of a misnomer, because you’re not really man- tiative?’ Then, I post some kind of an announce- Online booking tool 17% aging travel. You’re negotiating contracts, build- ment addressing those questions. It really works Newsletter 13% ing policy, communicating policy, providing in- two ways: They’re telling me about something Telephone 12% telligence to people to help them manage their they want to know about, and that’s how we PDA 6% budget,” according to Rose. “The person who formulate policy sometimes. Certainly, we make manages travel is the traveler’s boss, whoever announcements when things like that do hap-

Frequency of communications to Travelers’ knowledge of whether travelers about travel policies, company has preferred suppliers preferred suppliers and procedures Yes No Unsure Airlines 59% 37% 4% 10% Hotels 64% 30% 6% 27% Car rental cos. 66% 29% 5% 22% Chauffeured services 33% 55% 12% Buyers Corporate card cos. 70% 25% 5% 18% Travel agencies 65% 30% 5% 23%

Travelers’ knowledge of and satisfaction 12% with specific preferred suppliers 27% 25% Travelers 14% Knowledge* Satisfaction** 23% Airlines 91% 4.4 Hotels 87% 4.4 Car rental cos. 88% 4.3 Chauffeured services 72% 4.2 Corporate card cos. 87% 4.3 Weekly or more often Quarterly Travel agencies 84% 4.1

Monthly Twice annually Annually or less often **Based on a five-point scale, with 5 as the highest and 1 the lowest * Of those respondents who say their company has preferred suppliers

12 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News CoTherporate Travel Policy Awareness And Communication Traveler pen. They’re experiencing all kinds municating travel policies on a of relevance to that,” he said. “It policies applicable to the trip be- of things. They’re the ones on the quarterly basis. doesn’t connect in that time peri- ing booked. ground.” More important than frequen- od. That timeliness is critical, be- While e-mail notifications and Travel buyers vary on the fre- cy is timeliness, said Brian Hace, cause when you do the random intranets can spell out policy be- quency with which they relay pol- vice president of client service for communication, it has no context fore booking and travel manage- icy messages to corporate travel- Carlson Wagonlit Travel North for most travelers.” ment companies and booking tools ers, with 10 percent claiming they America. “If an e-mail goes out to- Hace and others said booking can spell it out at the point of sale, communicate dispatches weekly day saying I can’t fly on a specific tools and travel management com- sometimes the awareness of poli- or more often, 22 percent doing airline, the average traveler who is panies have focused policy com- cy comes later—and those lessons so monthly and 23 percent com- booking in January won’t see a lot munication at the point of sale— can be harder learned. when the message is most likely “In some cases, policy messages to hit its target effectively. don’t find their way to the travel- Company use of corporate intranet to “Many companies have agen- er until it’s too late,” Salcito said, communicate travel policy and procedures cies that have their travel polices noting that some travelers are embedded in the agency system. made acutely aware of policy only The booking tool has the policy when the audit department calls Yes, use corporate intranet for embedded in the system,” presi- with a red-flagged expense report. communicating travel policy 71% dent of travel management con- Sematech’s Davidson said, “If it’s No, do not currently but plan to sultancy Management Alternatives travel arranging, the traveler prob- within 12 months 7% Carol Salcito said. “There’s a strong ably finds out about it before he No, and have no plans to do so 10% emphasis on point of sale.” takes his trip. If it’s an expense pol- Do not have corporate intranet 11% Travel management companies icy, they find out the hard way.” have employed technologies to Still, according to this Business preemptively head off policy infrac- Travel News research effort, a wide tions. In addition to the point of gulf remains between traveler and Traveler awareness of current sale, travel management compa- buyer awareness of policies. For nies have devised tools that deliv- example, while 81 percent of trav- company travel policies er policies to travelers’ inboxes af- el buyer respondents said their trav- ter booking trips. el policy governs corporate card In one recent example, CWT this usage, only 32 percent of travel- 0% year released Policy Messenger, ers were aware of such policies. which in addition to enabling com- Similar patterns hold true for vari- 15% panies to send out-of-policy notifi- ous air policies, hotel policies and 40% cations at the time of booking, also ground transportation policies, Buyers allows travel managers to spell out where in each case traveler aware- 45% Ways companies use intranets to communicate policy and procedures 1% 5% Buyers Travelers

27% Communicate basic travel policy 93% 50% Communicate preferred suppliers 68% 30% Travelers 67% Links to online booking system 62% 43% Links to expense reporting system 61% 41% Provide access to company’s preferred hotel rate directory 56% 31% Provide incentives for using preferred suppliers 8% 20% Somewhat Other 8% 0% Very aware Aware aware Unaware None of the above 1% 14%

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Travel Policy Awareness And Communication JOHN DEJESU, Publisher Tel: (646) 654-4461 Fax: (646) 654-4456 ([email protected]) ness falls short. Though frustrating to some travel travel management,” Rose said. “Meanwhile, you go NORTHEAST/MID-ATLANTIC buyers, it shouldn’t be surprising, Rose said. back to the company and they’re thinking about sell- JILL ALTMAN, Account Director—Eastern Region Tel: (646) 654-4453 Fax: (646) 654-4456 “Here’s the bottom line: While the National Busi- ing and profits. It is not on people’s minds. The only ([email protected]) ness Travel Association and the Association of Corpo- time it’s on people’s minds is when they try to do some- MIDWEST/WEST/INTERNATIONAL rate Travel Executives provide tremendous value to thing out of policy. You’ve got to keep in mind the fo- EDIE GARFINKLE, Advertising Director Tel: (805) 383-1326 Fax: (646) 390-7759 their constituents, at the same time, you walk away cus of the people you’re trying to manage. They’re ([email protected]) from a conference thinking everybody is thinking about not thinking about this in the same way you are.” CANADA CYNDY FLEMING, APR Media Ltd. Tel: (416) 363-1388 Fax: (416) 363-2889 Buyers’ and travelers’ assessments of breadth MEXICO VERONICA CASTRO, Cass Media of corporate travel policies Tel: 5255-5605-1757 MACAU/HONG KONG/CHINA STEPHEN HUTTON, Hutton Media Limited Included in policy Mandated* Tel: 852-2528-9135 Fax: 852-2528-9281 JAPAN ASAKO KUBO, Pacific Business Inc. All Travel Buyers Travelers Buyers Travelers Tel: 81-3-3661-6138 Fax: 81-3-3661-6139 Use corporate card 81% 32% 49% 44% KOREA JUNG WON SUH Pre-trip approval 64% 29% 42% 48% Tel: 82-2-3275-5969 Fax: 82-2-3275-5960 Use automated booking tool 66% 36% 26% 31% MALAYSIA/PHILIPPINES/THAILAND Book through agency 75% 36% 57% 34% ANNIE BLANCHARD, Media Services Tel: 632-645-7296 Fax: 632-645-1853 Air Policy SINGAPORE LAVENDER TAN, AL Media Ltd. Purchase air travel through Tel: 65-469-9321 Fax: 65-469-8028 a travel agency 72% 38% 53% 29% • TRAVEL GROUP Purchase air travel through NELLA VELDRAN, Vice President a travel department 57% 37% 42% 24% • Use automated booking tool NA 35% NA 29% MARKETING Use preferred airlines 70% 39% 24% 30% JENNIFER PEPPER STAM, Sr. Marketing Manager Tel: (646) 654-7263 Registered Traveler ([email protected]) membership reimbursement 21% 28% 9% 23% SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Accept the lowest convenient (847) 763-9050 Fax: (847) 763-9037 airfare of any airline 92% 39% 47% 30% LIST RENTAL/POSTAL INFORMATION Book in advance to JULIUS SINGLE (845) 731-2731 obtain the lowest fare 93% 47% 38% 29% E-MAIL INFORMATION Use nonrefundable tickets 85% 43% 36% 20% WAYNE NAGROWSKI (845) 731-3854 CUSTOM REPRINTS OF 500 PIECES OR MORE: KRISTI FULKERSON, The YGS Group Hotel Policy (800) 290-5460 ext. 144 ([email protected]) Use preferred hotels 78% 47% 28% 26% PRODUCTION Use any hotel, but limited JOHN SARTORIS, Group Production Director to a price point 55% 41% 17% 31% Tel: (646) 654-7294 Fax: (646) 654-7318 Use automated booking tool NA 36% NA 23% JANY KAPLAN,ielsen BusinessProduction Media Manager Purchase hotel through a Tel: (646) 654-7310 Fax: (646) 654-7318 travel agency 71% NA 32% NA BTN EDITORIAL & SALES OFFICES 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003-9595 All Rights Reserved Ground Transportation Policy Use preferred car rental companies 84% 42% 47% 30% President: Greg Farrar Senior Vice President, Human Resources: Michael Alicea Use preferred chauffeured Senior Vice President, Marketing: Mark Hosbein services 38% 27% 14% 18% Senior Vice President, Finance: Derek Irwin Use automated Senior Vice President, Entertainment: Gerry Byrne Senior Vice President, Marketing, Media & Visual Arts: Sabrina Crow booking tool NA 35% NA 23% Senior Vice President, Retail: David Loechner Senior Vice President, Online: Linda McCutcheon * Percent of those companies that included in policy Senior Vice President, Building & Design: Joe Randall Senior Vice President, Central Services: Mary Kay Sustek Vice President, Licensing: Howard Appelbaum Vice President, Manufacturing & Distribution: Jennifer Grego Vice President,Audience Marketing: Joanne Wheatley 16 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News Traveler Compliance And Policy Enforcement BY ELISSA HUNTER oda. “You need to justify that you The company also tweaked its are notified when they try to book need to make this trip. It needs to be ground transportation policy, asking out of policy, either by a travel agent n a climate where corporate budg- for a revenue-generating purpose employees not to use navigation sys- or by a flag on the company’s online ets are being tightened and travel only, no other reasons.” tems unless necessary and to refuel booking tool. Istands out as one of the largest con- New York City-based EdisonLearn- rental cars prior to returning them, “They know our policy really well trollable expenses, corporate travel ing last year also implemented a pre- EdisonLearning senior manager of and call us if someone is trying to managers increasingly are looking at trip approval process as part of an ini- travel and corporate services Jennifer book first class. We try to catch things everything from pre-trip approval tiative brought on by company COO Borth said. before the money is spent,” accord- processes to flagging noncompliant Jeff Wahl to bring more discipline to In addition to the pre-trip approval ing to Borth. behavior at the point of sale in order its policy. process, noncompliant travelers also “You see a lot of companies mov- to drive higher adherence to travel ing toward pre-trip approval,” said policies and preferred vendors, even Salcito. “I won’t say that it’s the ma- as the policies themselves grow more jority, but I’ve seen quite a few.” restrictive. EdisonLearning also offers approval “Of course there’s a tightening of forms for travelers who book out of the policy, but there is more of an policy, such as an exception form to emphasis on measuring the compli- notify travelers who book travel on- ance of the policy,” according to Car- line using a tool not approved by the ol Ann Salcito, president and owner company that they will only be reim- of Norwalk, Conn.-based Manage- bursed one time. ment Alternatives. According to the BTN survey, most Travel managers are “mandating travel managers—44 percent— all aspects of their policy,” she said. choose to inform travelers they have “They’re reducing the class of travel. violated policy based on a post-trip They’re reducing the types of hotel audit. The second-most popular op- properties where they’re staying. tion was notifying travelers via their di- They’re reducing the size of the cars rect supervisors, implemented by 42 that they’re allowed to drive and the percent of respondents, with 38 per- amenities that go into the cars.” cent saying they alerted travelers Of the travel buyers surveyed by through their expense reporting sys- Business Travel News, 34 percent said tem. Pre-trip approval and pre-trip their travel policy has become more notification systems were used by 20 restrictive, while 61 percent said their percent and 14 percent of respon- policies had stayed about the same. dents, respectively. Of those who had more restrictive “Typically, it’s before the money is travel policies, budgetary restrictions, spent,” said Salcito. “Once the mon- advance purchase for air travel and ey is spent, sadly, what are you go- reducing travel by cutting the number ing to do about it? Very few compa- of trips were the top three methods nies take it as far as not reimbursing. of doing so. They’re making certain at the point The current cost-cutting climate of sale that people are being alerted last month spurred Sunnyvale, Calif.- properly as to the right way to travel based Spansion Inc. to require addi- according to their policy.” tional levels of approval in order for Travelers said that they complied employees to travel, whether domes- most with expense reporting and air tically or internationally. travel policy, but buyers said that “If you need to travel in this envi- those who never fail to comply with ronment, you have to jump through air policy was 28 percent, only 2 per- a lot of hoops to do it,” said Span- centage points higher than hotel pol- sion global travel manager Yasuo Son- icy, the area of greatest noncompli-

18 Monday, October 27, 2008 CoTherporate Traveler Traveler Compliance And Policy Enforcement ance in buyers’ eyes. lowest and if it wasn’t approved ice hotels as its preferred tier for you’ll only be reimbursed up to the “On the air side of things, peo- by the travel department, we may employees. cap for the day,” Borth said. ple have their own personally pre- shave off your expense reimburse- “If you’re over the cap and not Even after a trip, travel managers ferred airlines and they’ll do every- ment,” according to Sonoda. in one of those types of hotels, are taking steps to inform travel- thing in their power to fly that “We’re actually shaving off peo- particular airline because of their ple’s expenses if they have an unau- frequent flyer miles,” Salcito said. thorized upgrade. Hotels are hard- Travel policy restrictiveness Travel buyer respondents said er to police because air for us is Restrictiveness of company travel policy compared with last year the area with the least compliance charged to our central billing ac- was hotels, with employees failing count used by the travel agency. If Buyers Travelers to comply with such policies an av- you go outside of it and you sub- More restrictive 34% 38% erage of 12 percent of the time. mit any kind of expense for air, I’m Less restrictive 5% 8% They also rated the frequency of involved in approving it or review- About the same 61% 54% noncompliance with online book- ing that expenditure for every ing tool policy at 11 percent. transaction.” The average rate of noncompli- The rental car category also ance for the overall travel policy comes under the magnifying glass. was 8 percent, according to re- If Sonoda sees a pattern of cars be- How companies’ travel policies spondents. ing returned without being refu- are more restrictive For Spansion, lack of transparen- eled, he has rental car companies cy around hotel rates has led to in- pull more detailed data. If one trav- cidences of unauthorized room up- eler is responsible for the incidents, Budgetary restrictions 66% grades. Sonoda now has published Sonoda will approach him or her. Advance purchase for air travel 52% the company’s preferred supplier Lodging and meal caps are the Travel reduction by number of trips 51% rates and will review bookings in main areas of policy noncompli- Travel reduction by number of travelers 47% the case of discrepancies. ance for EdisonLearning. The com- Restrict number of meeting attendees 47% “Our policy says if it’s not the pany has designated limited-serv- Restrict number of meetings 42% Use nonrefundable tickets 37% How companies’ travel policies Use lower class of hotel, car rental 30% Use low-cost carriers 27% are less restrictive Other 16%

Company willing to pay more for travel 50% Greater/wider choice in travel arrangements 30% Other 20% Incidence of noncompliance: Buyer assessment Frequency with which employees failed to comply with company travel Ways buyers inform travelers that policies, including use of preferred vendors, in the past 12 months they have violated policy More Average Never Than 20%

Buyers Travelers Hotel policy 12% 26% 15% Online booking tool 11% 37% 15% Notification based on post-trip audit 44% 23% Pretrip reporting process 9% 59% 6% Through direct supervisor 42% 44% Corporate card policy 8% 42% 7% Expense reporting system 38% 29% Designated travel agency 8% 45% 7% Travel agents 25% 10% Air travel policy 7% 28% 6% Online booking system 22% 18% Car rental policy 6% 31% 5% Pre-trip approval system 20% 14% Expense reporting system 6% 58% 4% Pre-trip notification system 14% 14% Other 10% 4% Overall travel policy 8% 16% 8%

Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, October 27, 2008 19 CoTherporate Traveler Compliance And Policy Enforcement Traveler ers that they have violated com- Spansion’s accounts payable de- Incidence of compliance: pany policy. partment to use when they deter- Traveler assessment Los Angeles-based business- mine they need to approach a trav- ethics management firm LRN ran- eler who appears to not be in Frequency with which employees complied with company travel domly selects a handful of expense compliance. Rather than presume policies, including use of preferred vendors, in the past 12 months reports to audit. If a traveler is non- that all atypical charges inherent- Average NA Always compliant, his or her manager is ly are noncompliant with policy, notified and, in a few instances, the scripts indicate that the trav- Air travel policy 91% 3% 60% the traveler is made to reimburse eler should have the opportunity Expense reporting system 91% 2% 66% the company, said Evey Borrelli, to justify the charges in question. Car rental policy 89% 5% 58% LRN manager of travel and events. “We get the travel submitter in- Hotel policy 89% 4% 53% “We’ve promoted more that we volved in letting us know whether Corporate card policy 88% 10% 56% Online booking tool 87% 9% 50% Pretrip reporting process 86% 15% 49% Designated travel agency 84% 12% 50% We’re going to audit and, if we catch you outside of poli- Overall travel policy 90% 2% 56% cy during the audit, there will be some ramifications. Actions against employees who do not comply with travel policy EVEY BORRELLI • TRAVEL AND EVENTS MANAGER • LRN

Buyers Travelers trust you, but we’re going to audit this is a valid expense or a viola- and, if we catch you outside of tion,” Sonoda said, adding that Exception reports to a supervisor 63% 43% policy within the audit, there will payment will be denied on subse- Nonreimbursement for travel expenses 43% 46% be some ramifications,” according quent offenses. Exception reports to the traveler 36% 33% to Borrelli. “When the travelers “The auditing part is all manu- Formal reprimand 20% 37% contact us to make their travel al,” according to Sonoda. “We Other actions 8% 3% arrangements, they are supposed have pretty simple, transparent No actions taken 8% 10% to have already gotten approval travel patterns. We have manufac- from their managers.” turing plants. We have offices. Pret- Sonoda has created scripts for ty much 80 percent of our trips are going to the same destinations.” EdisonLearning also will elevate Extent of global travel policy the conversation if a corporate traveler repeatedly does not com- 2% Policy only applies to U.S.-based operations ply with policy. “If it’s something that’s consistent, we may let the 8% Policy only applies to operations division head know or try to find in U.S. and a couple of other countries out if there’s more to the story,” 9% 30% Global policy with country addenda according to Borth. that only can be stricter Buyers and travelers concur on 12% Buyers Global policy with country addenda the top two actions companies take when employees don’t com- Policies in all countries with ply with travel policy: sending ex- significant travel spending 16% 22% ception reports to supervisors—as Policies in all countries with significant nearly two-thirds of buyers and travel spending with some common principles more than two-fifths of travelers Policy only applies to said—and not reimbursing travel some U.S.-based operations expenses—as more than 40 per- cent of both groups said.

20 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News Service: Satisfaction And Value

BY MICHAEL B. BAKER able than the overall scoring, accord- tracking satisfaction. Jennifer Fried- Both Davidson and Thueson said ing to Davidson. man, head of global marketing for they viewed keeping those satisfac- solid majority of travel buy- Similarly, Brigham Young Universi- business travel at American Express, tion scores high as part of their job ers actively measure the sat- ty-Idaho travel coordinator Katherine said the agency conducts e-mail sur- description. “Obviously, as a customer Aisfaction levels of their com- Thueson said her department surveys veys after trips to measure satisfac- service provider, I want them to be panies’ travelers, viewing traveler for employee satisfaction, both after tion with booking experiences and happy,” Davidson said. “It’s also re- satisfaction as a measure of their own booking and after the traveler has re- services. flective on me, my performance and performance as well as a tool to im- turned. Areas explored include “We’re very interested in the no- whether I’m doing my job.” prove compliance with corporate trav- promptness, quality of reservations tion of measurement,” she said. “We Thueson said the scores were a el policy. documents, pricing of available fares believe it’s important to take both good way to show the worth of a More than two-thirds of buyers and problem resolution, she said. perspectives—the corporate client managed travel program to supervi- track traveler satisfaction with their Agencies, meanwhile, also are and the traveler—into account.” sors. “We’re not in a mandated situ- travel agencies and online booking ation here,” Thueson said. “The re- tools, and 60 percent measure trav- quest at the university level was for eler satisfaction with travel suppliers, us to earn our keep, and this is a according to Business Travel News’ good way to see how our services are survey. Just under half said they meas- viewed.” ured the performance of their travel As travel buyers find themselves department. increasingly applying procurement “Like anything else, you can only practices to travel management, feed- manage what you can measure,” said back on satisfaction becomes even Bob Brindley, vice president of BCD more important to buyers. Advito’s Travel consulting arm Advito. “It’s very Brindley said that, from the perspec- difficult to manage travel and drive tive of agency performance, buyers for improvements if you have no way also include traveler satisfaction as to judge what the current perform- one of the metrics in service-level ance is.” agreements with agencies. The predominant methods among Dublin, Calif.-based Sybase, which buyers for measuring employee sat- has housed its travel department un- isfaction, according to BTN’s survey der procurement for several years, are employee surveys as well as e- uses an online internal traveler sur- mail and online surveys, with 67 per- vey to measure suppliers. Results are cent of respondents saying they used averaged on a spreadsheet to deter- those methods. mine preferences. “The e-mail and online surveys are The buyers, however, said the sur- by far the easiest way to do it,” Brind- veys alone do not paint the full picture ley said. of traveler satisfaction. Sematech’s Bill Davidson, manager of corpo- Davidson said he also allows immedi- rate travel and meeting services for ate feedback throughout the year, ei- Austin, Texas-based Sematech, said ther via the travel portal or simply by his company uses a variety of survey leaving communication lines open. methods to measure traveler satisfac- ”I get almost as much out of that tion levels. The company’s agency ran- as I get on the annual survey,” he domly solicits feedback from travel- said. “I know most of the travelers, ers, largely about agency and they don’t have a problem with performance, which is the area that picking up the phone and letting me is most directly under Davidson’s con- know if they’re dissatisfied.” trol, but travelers also respond to With the advent of social network- questions about various suppliers and ing sites in recent years, some buy- experiences under the travel policy. ers have incorporated the technolo- The written feedback provided in gy to handle traveler feedback in an those surveys ultimately is more valu- even more robust manner. San Jose,

Monday, October 27, 2008 21 CoTherporate Service: Satisfaction And Value Traveler Calif.-based Cisco Systems used tion going forward,” she said. tive than they had been in surveys. willing to pay for was hotel room the format for its travelers, and its Only 21 percent of respondents Amex’s Friedman said the Internet access. travel forum has become the com- to BTN’s survey employed employ- agency also employs focus groups Currently, most midprice prop- pany’s most viewed site. ee focus groups and meetings. Ad- with travelers, particularly when it erties include Internet access as Amex’s Friedman said the use of vito’s Brindley said focus groups’ acquires a new client and wants to part of the room rate while most such technology would become drawback is that they rely on small explore the existing corporate cul- upscale hotel properties charge for more common looking in the near sample sizes. ture and policies. The results gen- it, but those hoteliers are becoming future. “We’re not only refining BYU-Idaho’s Thueson, however, erally are of more of a qualitative more willing to include Internet ac- our existing techniques, but we are said her department conducted nature that can help to develop a cess in negotiated deals even at looking at implementing these new one and found it quite insightful, as hypothesis, she said, explaining, properties where it is not included techniques to understand satisfac- travelers were more communica- “It’s really not the same as quanti- in rates. tative research for marketing and Only 45 percent of buyers said pattern predictions.” they would be willing to pay for Company view of cost versus service Ticket stuffers as a tool for meas- inflight Internet access. At Semat- uring satisfaction largely have dis- ech, Davidson said that is under Buyers appeared, mostly as a result of trav- discussion, as are all the various air- eler migration to electronic tickets, line services that increasingly are Cost is most important 17% Advito’s Brindley said. being moved to a la carte pricing. Cost is a little more important 21% In order to improve satisfaction, “If productivity can be enhanced, Cost and service are equally important 53% buyers in BTN’s survey indicated a we’ll pay for it,” Davidson said. Service is a little more important 6% willingness to pay an additional fee Fewer buyers are willing to pay Service is most important 3% for a few amenities and upgrades. for upgrades less directly related The only amenity that an over- to productivity, such as bigger cars, whelming majority of buyers were better inflight meals and higher levels of hotel rooms. Travelers Upgrades for which companies and themselves, however, showed more of a willingness to use their travelers would pay an additional fee own money to improve their com- fort during travel. As budgets are tightened dur- Buyers Travelers ing difficult economic times, buy- Hotel room Internet access 78% 60% ers might be less willing to pay for Inflight Internet access 45% 55% such upgrades, Advito’s Brindley Better airline seat assignments (more legroom, window) 35% 56% said. The degree to which policies Better inflight meals/snacks 19% 49% might be tightened is not known at Upgrade to a better car 12% 45% this point, he said. Upgrade to a better room or better room view 6% 52% “In a healthier economy, there Better inflight entertainment services 2% 40% would be more of a willingness to pay for some of those service lev- els,” according to Brindley. “In the Areas in which companies Tools companies use to measure satisfaction measure satisfaction

Buyers Buyers Travel agency performance 72% Employee surveys 67% Booking system performance 67% E-mail/online surveys 67% Travel supplier performance 60% Employee focus groups/meetings 21% Travel department performance 49% Ticket stuffers 1% Other 5% Other methods 5%

22 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News CoTherporate Traveler current environment, there will be pressure to minimize those extras. Some will say that they want to keep their best people and see those extras as a positive thing.” Some of those changes could be short-term until the economy rebounds. “It’s going to come down to company culture,” Amex’s Friedman said. “Things that are considered luxuries might help to maximize the value of a trip for a traveler who has a lot of meetings with important clients. The math might make sense.”

If productivity can be enhanced, Best Western Owner Columbus, OH we’ll pay for it.

BILL DAVIDSON • MANAGER OF CORPORATE TRAVEL AND MEETING SERVICES • SEMATECH Fax. Email. When weighing service against cost, about half of the buyers in BTN’s survey said the two are equal- Conference call. ly important in making decisions. Less than 10 percent, however, said service outweighed cost in their All before the travel program decisions. When it comes to signing a con- tract, particularly in a difficult eco- first cup of coffee. nomic environment, Advito’s Brind- With free high speed Internet,* in-room coffee/tea and ley said that cost more often would hotorcontinental breakfast at all locations,** we help be the key decision driver in cor- the business traveler feel at home. Our rewards program, porate travel programs. Gold Crown Club® International, makes it easy to earn points “Many will say both are impor- toward rewards. And with 4,000*** hotels in 80 countries, tant, but cost usually trumps serv- doing business on the road has never been easier. ice,” according to Brindley. “In se- THE WORLD’S LARGEST lections between travel vendors, BestWesternforBusiness.com | 1.866.574.6468 HOTEL CHAIN® vendors with the perceived higher service usually wins out, but only *Free high speed Internet access in North America only. High speed Internet access may not necessarily be available in all guest if the costs are equal. Service ends rooms or public areas. **Either continental OR hot breakfast available (many complimentary). ***Numbers approximate and can vary. Each Best Western® hotel is independently owned and operated. Best Western and the Best Western marks are service marks or registered up being the tiebreaker.” service marks of Best Western International, Inc. ©2008 Best Western International, Inc. All rights reserved.

BTN Columbus Ad 4-08.indd 1 Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, October4/28/08 27, 12:14:062008 PM 23 Using Travel Technology

BY SETH HARRIS largest of the six respondent groups. more and more people are moving are going to do that.” According to Egencia senior vice up that curve,” said Jennifer Fried- In adapting to frequent delays, itin- ith many tar- president for North America Rob man, American Express Business Trav- erary changes and an increasingly mo- geting increased traveler Greyber, these respondents were el vice president of global marketing. bile workforce, some travel buyers Wproductivity and cost sav- “working all the time or were net- “Travel management functions with- are providing travelers with the means ings opportunities, some travel buy- working for business” while they in corporations are getting more inter- to integrate their mobile devices to ers are beginning to integrate new were focused on the “efficiency of ested in these technologies because capabilities offered by online book- technologies into their corporate trav- their trips and are more senior in their they are looking to promote produc- ing tool providers, travel manage- el program. These include using hand- organizations.” tivity and satisfaction. If they believe ment companies, expense tool held devices in communications “With all new technology, there these technologies are going to help providers and mobile travel software strategies, adding remote conferenc- are the early adopters and there is people on the go and be more effec- providers. ing capabilities and revamping cor- that curve until people catch on, but tive and resolve their questions, they Law firm Reed Smith has begun a porate travel intranets. Meanwhile, limited test for select frequent trav- traveler respondents to Business Trav- elers with mobile travel application el News’ 2008 Corporate Traveler sur- service provider WorldMate, accord- vey reported widespread use of these ing to global travel manager Rosanne emerging technologies. Russo. The tool enables Russo and Road warrior handheld device us- the firm to communicate with trav- age has well surpassed critical mass, elers through e-mail notifications, in- with 92 percent of corporate travel- dividualized flight notifications, itin- er respondents reporting they use erary population capabilities and the mobile phones while traveling on ability to notify the user of co-work- company business and 64 percent re- ers on the same flight or in the same porting that they use personal digi- location. “It gives you a little more tal assistants. real-time or as-real-as-it-can-get in- In the past year, many online book- formation regarding your own travel ing tool providers, travel manage- and it keeps it in your itinerary and ment companies and expense man- calendar,” said Russo. agement tool suppliers have begun When CareerBuilder.com transi- offering mobile capabilities for itin- tioned to a managed travel program erary delivery, travel alerts and other with Orbitz for Business earlier this travel information. Other suppliers, year, the Chicago-based online re- including airlines, now are offering cruitment company communicated similar services through mobile de- the OrbitzTLC mobile application ca- vices, in addition to direct online pabilities to its travelers and urged booking through their Web sites and, them to opt into the service and in in some cases, boarding passes their profiles to “specify to whom, through mobile devices and person- where, when and how they want al digital assistants. alerts to be delivered,” said vice pres- Travel management company ident of global Bill Egencia last month released a survey Razzino. of 2,400 business travelers from Although Razzino does not track Canada, England, France, Germany OrbitzTLC usage levels, he said em- and the United States who travel at ployees are “very aware” of it, and least three times annually on busi- he knows from his own business trav- ness. Twenty-three percent of the re- eling experience that the data sent spondents relied heavily on constant from Orbitz for Business are more connectivity to their companies timely and accurate than those that through mobile devices and laptop are being delivered directly from air- computers. Twenty-eight percent of lines, especially when it comes to gate respondents from the United States change notifications. fell into this category, the second Some of the largest travel spending

24 Monday, October 27, 2008 CoTherporate Traveler Using Travel Technology corporations also are exploring Procter & Gamble planned to expand it globally by year-end. ogy manager Brian Tarble acknowl- what role mobile travel technology embark on a two-year communica- Although suppliers have altered edged the proliferation of mobile can play in their programs. BAE tions and travel productivity initia- their technology developments to device use for corporate travel, but Systems manager of travel admin- tive focused on revamping its cor- incorporate mobile technologies said there are no plans to make it istration Melissa Grimes said the porate travel intranet and the and are offering various customer a managed competency within the company would consider any tech- introduction of some mobile com- service applications, some corpo- company’s massive program. In- nology that would increase pro- munication technology strategies rations have left the option to link stead, Tarble’s emerging travel tech- ductivity and “that can make us in June, said global travel service to mobile technology to the travel- nology focus is on implementing work smarter and not harder by manager Debbie Gittinger at May’s ers, while embracing other tech- new analytical tools and manage- getting rid of paper and having the Association of Corporate Travel Ex- nologies gaining traction in the cor- ment information systems to in- data integrity that we need. For us, ecutives and Corporate Travel porate travel market. crease the program’s productivity that would be really big. There is World conference in Washington, Oracle global data and technol- and manage costs. a lot we can’t do unless we are D.C. The initiative included deliv- hard-coded into an Internet line ering more information on individ- because of our firewalls.” ualized travel plans with flight sta- Company mandates of travel program BAE Systems promotes the use tus updates, travel alerts and basics, according to buyers of suppliers’ mobile products on international travel requirements the road for flight status updates and “anticipatory” alerts sent to and other notifications and pro- travelers’ handheld devices three Online booking tool 36% vides instructions on how to sign hours prior to takeoff regarding Travel management company 58% up for the capabilities through the flight status changes from P&G’s Corporate card 56% corporate travel intranet. On the travel management company. Oth- expense side, the company is con- er messaging included enroute sidering implementing Concur’s changes and itinerary population. mobile capabilities to approve ex- The initiative began with U.S. trav- pense reports in 2009. elers and the company planned to Systems buyers’ companies currently use

Travelers’ preferred method of All Large booking business trips respondents companies*

Online booking tool 71% 96% Car Online expense reporting tool 58% 92% Air Hotel Rental Data warehousing/ decision support tools 26% 52% Pre-trip reporting tools 35% 50% Corporate booking tool 17% 16% 15% Corporate travel department * With more than $30 million in 2007 U.S. booked air volume Online 28% 27% 27% Telephone 5% 8% 7% E-mail 5% 3% 5% Travel agency Distribution channel share Online 9% 9% 9% Telephone 5% 3% 3% of annual transactions E-mail 2% 2% 2%

Directly with supplier Corporate travel department 75% Online 17% 16% 17% Corporate booking tool 57% Telephone 2% 3% 3% Travel agency 47% E-mail 1% 1% 1% Directly with supplier 25% Third-party Website 9% 10% 9% Third-party Website 28% Colleague in destination city 2% 1% 1% Business process outsourcer 12%

Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, October 27, 2008 25 CoTherporate Using Travel Technology Traveler “It’s really taking traditional an- “We really rely on that not only Traveler technology use today and alytics that most companies would for our information,” according to in the next 12 months pay outside consulting teams to do Tarble, “but we also use that for and trying to bring it in-house by real-time alerts to the travelers be- putting together the correct tools cause we are in a very self-service needed so industry experts within environment at Oracle.” Use Will use the organization can do the analy- More than in previous years, Personal/company technology sis on their own,” said Tarble. “That travel buyers have found them- Laptop computer 91% 5% requires developing new dash- selves having to deal with manag- Personal digital assistant 64% 15% boards and integrated reporting to ing remote conferencing, as many Mobile phone 92% 4% where you can manipulate some companies aggressively pursue bal- Videoconferencing 53% 27% what-if scenarios with slide rules ancing the rise in travel costs and and variable changes. It’s also a the pressure of other economic im- Airline technology matter of trying to get some more pacts. According to the Business Onboard laptop power 52% 26% analysis and using technology and Travel News survey, 53 percent of Airport checkin kiosk 80% 13% reporting to be more consultative corporate traveler respondents said Electronic seat selection 78% 14% to the travel team and the compa- that they currently use the tech- Automated electronic upgrades 60% 22% ny’s lines of business.” nology and another 27 percent said While some travel buyers have they plan to use it in the next 12 Hotel technology cited mobile devices as important months. Business center services 69% 14% tools for advancing travel manage- One notable adopter of video- In-room, high-speed Internet 83% 10% ment communication strategies, conferencing is Hewlett-Packard, Automated checkin kiosk 61% 18% many programs are adding more which manufactures and sells its Automated checkout 76% 15% content and communication chan- own Halo videoconferencing tech- In-room voicemail 67% 13% nels onto their corporate travel in- nology. As of this summer, one of Interactive TV 44% 21% tranet travel pages. the company’s business units had Tarble administrates the travel added eight pairs of videoconfer- Car Rental technology intranet, which houses single-sign- encing rooms in a year, which ac- Satellite navigation systems 56% 22% on capabilities, enabling employ- counted for a 25 percent reduc- Automated toll-payment device 41% 24% ees to access the online booking, tion in trips in a top citypair and a expense and profile management 40 percent reduction in overall trav- Information technology systems. el spending, said HP global pro- Online booking system 77% 10% In addition, there are links with gram manager of travel and meet- Electronic expense reporting 62% 19% more than 300 pages of cus- ing services Jyrki Haavisto. Corporate intranet travel page 49% 21% tomized travel information, such Midmarket organizations also as safety and security alerts and have entered the remote confer- visa requirements, Tarble said. encing realm. Nine months ago, Swedish roller bearings and seals Buyer plans to buy booking and expense tools supplier SKF Group implemented a global videoconferencing pro- gram that included the installation Will purchase Will develop internally Neither of facilities in several offices in the United States, according to SKF 8% 10% 9% 6% USA corporate purchasing manag- 8% 17% er Linda Plassmeyer. While the company is expand- ing the deployment of the initia- 86% 82% 74% tive in Europe, Plassmeyer said there are policies in place. That said, Plassmeyer acknowl- Integrated tools Online booking only Expense reporting only edged, “even though we have the equipment, it is very hard to change the way that people are used to doing things.”

26 Monday, October 27, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News