Business Travel News - March 3, 2008 - (Page 3)

NEWS Reporter’s Notebook: Masters Consider Travel 2.0’s Value BY JAY BOEHMER Heston said the program is based What TRX president and CEO on a traveler survey “with an interTrip Davis called the “democratiza- active component to enable traveltion of information,” Web 2.0 appli- er insights.” Heston described the cations for corporate travel, domi- model as “controlled chaos,” where nated much of the early portion of traveler submissions are screened February’s Masters Program in before being posted and the travel Washington, D.C. department itself builds some conThough several buyers during a tent. Heston said the model supports panel discussion said they have yet travel policy and “I hope it will supto embark on Web 2.0 initiatives in port and enhance preferred supplitheir travel departments and ques- ers.” Heston said the ultimate goal tioned the value of such offerings, is integration with its self-booking Thomson Corp. has tool, “since travelers moved from idea to For the latest breaking news, now must go to a sepsee btnonline.com/bn action. arate site from where “We get a lot of feedback from they post insights to book.” travelers,” Thomson worldwide travOne supplier in the audience exel manager Cindy Heston said. “We pressed concern that criticism of wanted to put that into a format that preferred suppliers could comprowould be insightful from a commu- mise marketshare agreements, to nity perspective.” That desire led which Heston replied that it’s betThomson’s travel department in the ter to hear travelers’ thoughts bepast year to gain IT support and de- fore they elect not to use preferred velop an in-house social networking suppliers. The platform is not simply for travelers to log complaints, Heplatform for corporate travelers. ston added, but rather offers insights to other travelers. “If we ask them to comment, and we’re asking for insight, we have to be ready to take action,” she said. On the supplier side, Raj Singh, president and COO of Concur Technologies, said the expense and booking company opened a platform for customers to communicate with one another online. Concur operated the module privately, and just recently opened it to the public, Singh said. TRX’s Davis summed up social networking industry sentiment: “There’s a little bit of a mood of, ‘It’s nice, but ’ ” He expects such applications to gain traction. “Get yourself ready,” he said. “One year’s time, it will hit you hard if you’re not.” ◆◆◆ “As GDS fees for airlines go down, fees for hotels are rising, in some cases by double-digit numbers,” said Marriott senior vice president of ecommerce Shafiq Khan. “We believe ERIC WONG THOMSON’S CINDY HESTON Building a social network. that if these trends continue, we’ll be put in a situation similar to the one the airlines were in recently. That is something we should avoid.” Khan said transactions through direct channels cost about $3, with GDS distribution more than double that. Though Khan said he wants to get the two closer in line, Marriott is only in the “very preliminary” stage of addressing it. “One of the biggest missing pieces in the previous round [of GDS cost cuts for airlines in 2006] is that corporate travel managers were not at the table,” Khan said. “You need to be there with us.” He said Marriott has worked with clients to lower distribution expenses, but did not give detail, citing confidentiality. “We all have distribution processes, one that every customer buys through,” Khan said. “I’d suggest looking at the entire process—every Continued on page 25 CONTENTS March 3, 2008 Issue 654 Vol. 25, No. 3 ON THE RECORD To pursue BA and Virgin payments through a class action suit is going to be a question of whether the juice is worth the squeeze. CALDWELL ASSOCIATES PRESIDENT JOHN CALDWELL, PAGE 4 Inside Track: Continental gives SEC M&A outlook . . . . 4 10 Profiles In Travel Management: Powering savings . . . . . 6 LOWER-TIER LAW BTN Research: Deploying midprice strategies. . . . . 10 Xerox’s Wilt limits Aviation: WestJet’s Bureau woos corp. Canada . . . . 12 lodging options. Lodging: Hotel revenue up, but growth to slow . . . . . 14 ONLINE Meetings Today: Quantifying attendee feedback . . . 15 DATA Corporate Travel World: Blakey to keynote . . . . . . . . . . 16 Annual Midmarket Travel Technology: Super-PNRs further evolve . . . . . . 17 Buyer Survey Executive Dashboard: Saturday-stays reborn. . . . . . . . 18 Washington Wire: Amtrak tightens security. . . . . . . . . 26 see btnonline.com FIND DAILY NEWS UPDATES AND MORE AT WWW.BTNONLINE.COM BTN (USPS 0728-870, ISSN 8750-3670) is published monthly, except semi-monthly in March, May July, September and October by Nielsen Business Media Inc.,770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003,tel.646-654-5000,and is distributed free of charge to qualified corporate travel buyers and travel agents specializing in business travel in the United States and Canada. 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Business Travel News is a trademark owned exclusively by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Copyright © 2008 by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Reproduction of this magazine,in whole or in part,is prohibited unless authorized by the publisher.Editorial and advertising offices:770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003.For address changes (please include mailing label), single copy sales ($10 per issue including shipping and handling, prepayment required), subscription information, and other customer service inquiries,write to Business Travel News,P.O.Box 1187,Skokie,IL 60076,or call 847-647-7987 outside the U.S. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to BTN, P.O. Box 1187, Skokie, IL 60076. Printed in the USA. CORRECTIONS In a story on traveler tracking (BTNonline, Feb. 4), BTN flipped the words “pre-trip” and “post-trip,” thereby incorrectly characterizing Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s plans. The sentence should have said: “In coming months, Carlson Wagonlit Travel plans to fill some of the data holes by integrating pre-trip ticket data into its traveler-tracking systems, which are primarily populated with post-trip and profile information, according to Leisha Lindsay, senior director of global product management and reporting.” BTN misidentified Eos Airlines as Eos Airways in its 25 Most Influential Executives Of 2007 write-up of founder and chief commercial officer Dave Spurlock (BTNonline, Feb. 4). Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, March 3, 2008 3 http://btnonline.com/bn http://btnonline.com http://WWW.BTNONLINE.COM http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - March 3, 2008

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008
Industry Masters Eye Travel 2.0
BA, Virgin To Pay For Surcharge Collusion
Inside Track: Continental Gives SEC M&A Outlook
Profiles In Travel Management: Powering Savings
Buyers Embrace Midprice Hotels
BTN Research: Deploying Midprice Strategies
Aviation: WestJet’s Bureau Woos Corp. Canada
Hotels Foresee Slower Revenue Growth
Lodging: Hotel Revenue Up, but Growth to Slow
Meetings Today: Quantifying Attendee Feedback
Corporate Travel World: Blakey to Keynote
BCD, HRG Expand Super-PNR Tests
Travel Technology: Super-PNRs Further Evolve
Executive Dashboard: Saturday-Stays Reborn
Washington Wire: Amtrak Tightens Security

Business Travel News - March 3, 2008