The French business travel market has had a busy autumn, and on 3 September AirPlus invited it to reflect on the major issues that are changing the landscape of business travel, its uses and its business models. These trends are summarised by AirPlus under the neologism of " travelution "It's a huge subject, against a backdrop of the 'new economy'. A huge subject, against a backdrop ofuberisation of business travelAs John Baird-Smith summed up in the preamble to this 10th Univ'AirPlus, "new entrants with prestigious and rather fun names are appearing", to emphasise that "the battle for content is raging". We are thinking, of course, of players like Airbnb, whose digital transition specialist Nicolas Colin pointed out was valued at 20 billion dollars, compared with 8 billion for the hotel giant Accor...
Another hot topic, two days after the entry into force of the GDS surcharge imposed by the Lufthansa groupThis is a move that could well call into question the current distribution model in the airline industry... "It goes against the grain of the traveller: the customer must be able to compare", said George Rudas on behalf of Amadeus. This goes against the passenger: the customer must be able to compare", George Rudas logically denounced on behalf of Amadeus, deploring "a technological step backwards". For his part, air transport economist Pascal Perri, while placing the German group's move in the context of tense negotiations with the GDS oligopoly, wonders: "Will Lufthnsa's offensive go all the way? I'm not sure...".
This Travelution is not sparing the hotel sector, which is being challenged by both the new alternative offers such as Airbnb, MagicEvent or Morning Croissant - alternatives considered credible by a large majority of the audience (78%) - but also by the business travel ambitions now assumed by a 'leisure' giant such as Booking.com. When asked about the possibility of extending the programme Booking.com Business When asked about diversifying the services offered by Booking to large companies, its Director for France, Spain and Portugal maintains the mystery: "We're not stopping at anything", replies Carlo Olejniczak. Neither, apparently, is Accor, which is launching its own marketplace to enhance the value of its online shop window. "A bigger shop attracts more customers", sums up Vivek Badrinath pragmatically. Aware of the hyper-power of the hotel platform - "Booking has as many hotels as we have rooms" - the Executive Vice President in charge of digital reaffirmed Accor's new ambitions in the digital arena, including for corporate customers.
This 10th edition of Univ'AirPlus will have provided food for thought for the many guests present, whether buyers, travel managers, suppliers or business travellers, who now intend to prepare effectively for 'Travelution'.
