Under normal circumstances, it would be logical to ask whether your governance is in line with that of Rob Greyber. We can imagine that your presidency will necessarily be unprecedented, given the context...
Ariane Gorin - Today, all our energies are focused on helping our corporate customers through the crisis and preparing for the future. At the moment, it's not so much a question of strategic priorities as of providing the best possible support for our customers.
Nevertheless, if we could put the health crisis to one side, what would be your roadmap as the new President of Egencia?
Ariane Gorin - For me, the priority is always to be as close as possible to our customers. customersWe will listen to them to understand their needs. The other major focus is investment in theinnovationWe are also developing new technologies, using our data to bring real added value to our customers in terms of understanding their travel programmes, making the best possible use of the Internet, and developing new products and services.artificial intelligence to offer an optimised solution for the traveller, save time when booking... In this sense, we can count on the power of the Expedia groupIn addition, there is the volume of travel, and the knowledge and skills in travel-related innovation. Finally, there is the Egencia team. Even after the departure of Rob [Greyber], we are fortunate to be able to count on teams with a lot of experience, and I intend to do everything I can to ensure that every day they do a job they can be proud of.
Can we consider that these Egencia teams have gone from being over-active at the start of the crisis to being out of work now that business travel has ground to a halt?
Ariane Gorin - That's not the case: there's still a lot of interaction with our customers, and we're continuing to work on innovation. In the last month, we have released several new functions. There's the Travel Tracker, for example, which enables companies to find out where their employees have travelled. With the coronavirus, there was a specific demand: to know where people had been in the recent past. So we created a feature to look back on the Last 30 daysand identify who has travelled where. The tool also allows you to locate these movements not only by city, but also by drawing a geographical area on a map to identify potential risks. We have also added functionality to our Help Centre. We've made a lot of innovations to the product, working with hotels and suppliers to offer companies as much flexibility as possible. In terms of interaction with our customers, our teams account management and our sales teams are still very active. Even if people aren't travelling, we're not standing still: we're there to help companies, providing them with advice on how to stay well-informed about the situation, adjusting their travel programme, reviewing the rules on travel policy... And in terms of commercial activity, I think that the situation is going to push companies whose travel programme was not managed, in particular the small organisationsto adopt a travel policy that includes a special section on "duty of care.
Has this crisis enabled you to identify new needs?
Ariane Gorin - We are always ready to listen to our customers to find out, for example, what types of reporting are the most relevant from their point of view. An agency like Egencia is very well positioned because we own our technology, which allows clients to adapt their travel policy in real time, or obtain the latest information on travellers' locations. Other players in the market provide the service, but will rely on a third party for online booking tools (OBT), and this implies a delay between the moment when the need for a feature is identified, and the moment when it is developed. We are fortunate to be able to evolve rapidly.
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Who are the few business travellers who still travel, and how many are they?
Ariane Gorin - I can't give any figures today, but it mainly concerns the public sector, education, health, energy and transport. We also have many partners in China, and we are closely monitoring the situation there. A few days ago, STR has published data showing that between mid-February and mid-March, the Chinese hotel occupancy rates has risen from 10 to 20%, then to 50% over the past two weeks. We are therefore beginning to see a recovery in China, which should then spread to other markets.
Do you think that this crisis will lead to the disappearance of certain business travel agencies and a consolidation of the market?
Ariane Gorin - I think that in a crisis like this, players whose value proposition is not clearly identified, or whose financial situation was already uncertain, are going to be all the more vulnerable, and may not recover. Many governments are mobilising to save companies and jobs. But yes : the business travel landscape is set to change.
What are your plans for business travel after Covid-19?
Ariane Gorin - I'm optimistic: although it will take time for the business travel sector to return to the same travel volumes, Egencia is well positioned. Nobody has a crystal ball to say how long it will take to recover. But last year we published a study in which companies genuinely saw business travel as a key business driver. strategic investmentWith a customer retention rate 50% higher, employee satisfaction 35% higher... Even though many employees are converting to the teleworking At the moment, companies will always recognise the importance of business travel: it's good for their growth, it's essential to see the customer face to face, and teams need to get together. Even though travel habits are changing, I remain optimistic that people will start travelling again, and business travel will remain a strategic tool for companies.
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Can we really count on a return to the same volumes of journeys?
Ariane Gorin - Some of the trips that used to take place will no longer happen. But other things will be invented. Perhaps travellers will take fewer planes, but more trains. We sometimes wonder how long it will take us to return to previous volumes. Will it take a year? Two years? I don't know. But seeing people face to face is always a good way of forging links and growing your business. So I'm optimistic.
