Business Travel News - April 6, 2009 - (Page 1)

APRIL 6, 2009 INSIDE IATA Doubles ’09 Airline Loss Forecast . . . . . 3 GetThere Bundling Demand Mgmt. Tools . . . 4 Concur Enables Mobile Booking, Expense. . . 8 Hotel Room Rates Drop Globally . . . . . . . . 17 GDSs, TMCs Enhancing Brazil’s Travel Tech. . 21 6 18 TRAVEL ADAPTS HOTEL CO. AIMS TO BOOZ REBIRTH FOR FAST LANE Hillary Dallas, Jack Lane Hospitality’s Lever reshape Booz Bill DeForrest disAllen global travel. cusses growth plans. BTNonline.com Buyers Aiming For Bag-Fee Relief Hotels Adjust Corp. Rates BY JAY BOEHMER Massive travel volume drops at many corporations have resulted in subsequent hits to travel program back-end revenue streams, primarily corporate card rebates, hotel commissions and value-added tax reclaim. Continued on page 26 Corporations vary as to how they view such back-end revenues. For some, they are reported as part of the general revenue stream attached to the department’s profit and loss statement. Others use them to offset BY SETH HARRIS According to a recent BTN survey of 197 corporate the costs of running the corporate Green travel management has not waned despite a travel buyers, 39 percent said they consider such is- travel program, including technolosoured economy and travel buyers’ focus increasingly sues in their buying processes, up from 29 percent in gy, consultant engagements and turning to finding cost savings. Buyers have made en- 2008. Yet, that hasn’t directly translated to the final se- travel manager salaries. vironmental awareness part of such broader travel-curb- lection process, as only 16.5 percent of this year’s reWhile back-end commissions and ing demand management initiatives as remote confer- spondents said they select a vendor based on environ- rebates may pale in comparison to encing deployment, and suppliers’ green credentials mental positions, an increase from 11 percent last year. a company’s overall travel budget or Continued on page 10 Continued on page 24 continue to mature. Some corporate travel buyers are Buyers who negotiate with carriers finding limited success in mitigating to reduce/eliminate checked-bag fees the cost of checked-baggage fees through negotiations with their preferred airlines, and an increasing No 68% Yes number plan to make that a part of 2009* 32% corporate contracting discussions this year. Most buyers claiming such successes largely are gaining reductions No in checked-baggage fees by secur88% 2008 Yes ing more frequent flyer elite status 12% designations for their travelers, shielding them from such charges. The outright elimination of the fees Source: A BTN survey of 215 *Projected corporate travel buyers through negotiation remains elusive, but buyers, airlines and consultants said there are opportunities to turn soft-dollar benefits into hard-dollar savings. “We’ve not seen anybody have success in negotiating reduced or eliminated baggage fees across the board. Zero success,” said Dan Pirnat, TRX Battling Bag Fees BY MICHAEL B. BAKER Buyers who negotiated 2009 rates in rosier times for hoteliers now have new opportunities for savings with targeted renegotiations, as some hotel companies have implemented mechanisms to adjust corporate rates to reflect market declines. Meanwhile, analysts are elongating their forecast for a hotel buyer’s market, with hotels this year now expected to see their deepest rate drops in decades. A recent analysis showed hundreds of benchmarked booked rates were coming in below levels negotiated in October and November, said Neysa Silver, director of hotel consulting in the Americas for Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s Solutions Group. Bob Brindley, vice president of BCD Travel’s Advito consulting unit, said as data comes in from the first quarter of the year, renegotiating opportunities would become clearer. Continued on page 22 Travel Cutbacks Shear Back-End Revenue BY SETH HARRIS Postmaster: Newspaper Handling/Periodicals Postaage Economic Blues Don’t Fade Rise Of Green Travel Mgmt. http://www.BTNonline.com http://www.koreanair.com http://www.koreanair.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - April 6, 2009

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009
Contents
Inside Track: Carriers Await Joint Venture Approval
Profiles In Travel Mgmt.: Booz Allen Restructures
Forum: Iwamoto, Whitesage on Recession’s Impact
Aviation: TMCs Deploy FlightStats’ Travel Alerts
Lodging: Global Rates Drop; Lane CEO DeForrest
Travel Mgmt.: Cos. Advance Brazilian Tech

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009