How did you choose your business travel agency?
Juliet Thanwerdas - We needed to centralise bookings and monitor travel expenditure. The criteria focused on the agency's leadership and its openness to the public. start-up culture from BlablaCar. This choice was made before I arrived, but I've got to grips with the Egencia tool and I appreciate the responsiveness of its support service.
What is the added value of an agency today?
J. T. - Today, I can't see myself without a travel agency. It allows me to set the parameters of our tool according to the needs of my customers. travel policyto centralise expenditure and track travellers. It's also very useful for me to be advised by an account manager so that I can see where I stand in relation to companies of a similar size and culture, and identify areas for improvement. We have also become aware of our responsibility as an employer. We need to know where our travellers are, and our agency reports allow us to do this.
the travel agency must move towards greater immediacy and open up to new entrants
What changes do you expect to see in the agency offering?
J. T. - The dividing line between business and leisure travel is becoming increasingly blurred, with travellers looking for an experience similar to the one they find in leisure. I therefore believe that travel agencies must move towards greater immediacy and opening up to new entrants. The whole sector is aware of this need. It's a real challenge for business travel agencies. A TMC could today integrate a player like AirbnbBut I'm well aware that the challenge is enormous.
What is the role of a Travel Manager in 2017?
J. T. - It is impossible for me to speak on behalf of the entire profession. The role of the Travel Manager depends very much on the type of travel, its volume, the budget, the maturity of Travel Management and, above all, the corporate culture. As far as I'm concerned, purchasing and supplier negotiations represent a small part of my activities. We still don't have enough volume to enter into standardised negotiation processes. When the volume is significant enough for a hotel or an air route, we set up partnerships. I've been particularly involved in the setting up a travel policy and structure. When I arrived in 2015, there was no travel structure. Bookings were therefore mainly made via leisure channels. So for over a year, we have been focusing on putting in place a travel policy, the SBT settings offered by Egencia, and the introduction of a communication to ensure that the tool is used and that the travel policy is complied with.
How did you go about it?
J. T. - We've put the emphasis on fun, on the "fun"with a "Wall of best travellers" [wall of the best travellers], but also the "serious"This is done through quarterly reports that enable us to track the progress of our KPIs [performance indicators] in terms of travel. We also looked at the duty of careI have also set up an insurance and assistance programme for business travel. We are still in a phase of structuring business travel management.
What about the "Worst travellers"?
J. T. - Not everyone is setting an example yet. Communication is very important, and we're going to continue to focus on that. One of our values can be summed up as follows: "fail, learn, succeed". Rather than slapping the fingers of bad travellers, we will change the travel policy if necessary. We don't want to frustrate anyone. We are well aware that compliance with the rules and booking processes presupposes that employees are satisfied with the way things are done. Under no circumstances do we want to frustrate our employees.
find the right match between our travel policy and travellers' wishes
How does the status and mindset of a start-up influence the way business travel is managed?
J. T. - If employees are to adhere to the new rules, it is important that there is a genuine taking everyone's wishes into account and our corporate culture as a whole. As it happens, our corporate culture revolves around the "Fun & serious"and empowerment.empowerment". So when we set up our travel policy, we focused our message around these values. We have to find the right balance between our travel policy and what travellers want. For example, we realised that the use ofAirbnb by our employees was generating a large volume of expense claims. So we set up a Airbnb Business during the summer of 2016, enabling us to satisfy our travellers while centralising payments and ensuring tracking reservations.
Don't you feel you're losing control over travellers who are tempted by leisure booking systems?
J. T. - Not so long ago, we had virtually no control. We're making slow progress, but we know that there are still reservations.off channel"and this is a very difficult to capture. We will achieve this step by step, taking measures such as making it impossible to switch to expense reports flights or hotels booked outside the recommended channels. Having said that, I'm lucky enough to be part of an open-minded company, grateful for the travel structure that saves them time. The introduction of rules speeds up the decision-making process. We no longer waste time wondering whether it's right or wrong. This time saving is crucial, all the more so in a company that has retained a start-up spiritand where everything happens very, very quickly.
Isn't the role of Travel Manager under threat once these rules have been defined and put in place?
J. T. - We take on new employees very regularly. So we often have to remind them of these rules and processes. In a company like ours, where the employees are young, mobile and very aware of what's going on in terms of new technologies, someone has to be in charge of monitoring the most appropriate tools to put in place. With themes like botsthe bleisureOur role is still necessary to manage this flow of business travel, which is changing both in terms of volume and type.
Could the Travel Manager eventually be replaced by a bot?
J. T. - I don't think so. The Travel Manager's tasks involve think strategicallyAnd I don't have the impression that bots can do that. That said, in a company like BlablaCar, where it's becoming very rare for people to pick up the phone, the bots system could be relevant for changing a ticket, or offering assistance for a ticket already purchased via the SBT.
we have put in place a system that is clear, understood and respected
Is BlablaCar's travel policy flexible or restrictive?
J. T. - When I joined BlablaCar, I was in charge of booking for employees for four to six months. This enabled me toobserve certain trends in terms of behaviours, so I thought it would be a good idea not just to define guidelines, but also to identify the good practice. Our travel policy sets out a general framework in around fifteen powerpoint slides, with one theme per page. It's not Times New Roman in font 12! We have also set city caps, and deadlines for advance bookings.
How do you check that these rules are known and applied internally?
J. T. - We monitor compliance with the rules of our Travel Policy - communicated to everyone via our internal information-sharing tool - on a one-off basis when bookings are made and then via monthly reports that we have designed and which show us trends in compliance with this travel policy. What's more, from what I hear in the company on a daily basis, there is a growing awareness of the importance of complying with our travel rules. Behaviour is changing in the right direction. This reassures me that we have put in place a system that is clear, understood and respected.
Also in this issue: Travel agencies: new challenges, new opportunities
