February 2010
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CWT keeps you informed
CWT Traveler Trendbarometer: We’re moving forward again! more
CWT study on Travel Management Priorities for 2010: The economy is on the upswing, but saving money is still important more
Door-to-door service: Up to 30 percent less transfer costs more
CWT Traveler Trendbarometer: We’re moving forward again!
At the start of the new year – a year that will hopefully bring renewed economic growth – we wanted to find out whether your travel schedule will change in comparison to 2009. This is what you told us:
- Yes, I will travel more in 2010: 31.6%
- No, my travel schedule will remain the same: 42.1%
- Yes, I will travel less in 2010 than in 2009: 26.3%
Nearly 75 percent of Traveler readers will therefore be traveling more or just as much as in 2009: that’s the clear majority. These results confirm forecasts that economic development will in fact stabilize again in 2010, and may even take a turn for the better. They are also a signal that, after having to implement strict savings measures, companies are once again placing higher priority on business trips for their employees – after all, personal relationships with business partners are too important to put at risk through a lack of personal contact.
Saving on travel spend is nevertheless still an important goal for many businesses. Companies will be taking a closer look at their travel policy and monitoring employee compliance more carefully. The details of corporate travel policy naturally play an important role here. This includes for example any changes in the class booked for air travel – which happens to be the topic for our new question for the CWT Traveler Trendbarometer:
Has your company changed the prescribed booking class for flights in order to save money?
CWT study on Travel Management Priorities for 2010: The economy is on the upswing, but saving money is still important
Optimizing hotel
expenditures, improving compliance with travel policy, making simple bookings
easier, and taking advantage of potential savings on flights and other modes of
transport – these are the priorities that travel managers have set for 2010.
These were the findings of an online survey of 169 travel managers that CWT
conducted between late September and mid-November 2009. The surveyed companies
are based in the Asia–Pacific region, Europe, Latin America and North America,
work in various industries and have travel budgets of at least five million USD.
But the travel manager survey was only part of the new study; the other part comprised an analysis of the business travel market in 2009 and yielded results that were quite dramatic. Air travel was down, causing airlines to introduce surcharges for what used to be free additional services, as well as in-between classes as a way of compensating for the decline in Business Class bookings. The hotel industry likewise sustained some serious losses: accommodations were not filled to capacity, leading to a drop in room prices and hence in average revenue per room. It was only on the rail market that things looked somewhat brighter in 2009, with many business travelers switching from air to high-speed train travel for flights under three hours.
2010 is so far giving cause for some cautious optimism. According to the International Monetary Fund, the global economy will grow again by four percent this year and, with it, business travel activities. The results of the CWT study clearly demonstrate that, as the market picks up, saving money is particularly important – but so is a well-managed corporate travel program.
The complete study Travel Management Priorities 2010: Decisive Opportunities for Success is available online on the CWT-website.
Door-to-door service: Up to 30 percent less transfer costs
Imagine traveling to meet a business partner, arriving somewhere at
a train station or airport – and being greeted by someone nice who has come to
pick you up and drive you by car to your appointment. Getting your bearings,
looking for a taxi, using public transportation – all that is no longer
necessary. Perfect service, don’t you think? And it’s not expensive or difficult
to organize – because this service is available right now from CWT, with
convenient online booking. German Transfer is the name of the company providing these transfer services, and CWT is the first travel chain having a cooperation with German Transfer and having integrated its services into a dedicated online business travel portal. Now companies can book transfer rides when they book air and rail travel on CWT-direkt.de, the travel portal for small- to medium-sized businesses. And CWT is rapidly integrating the transfer booking option into its other systems as well, for use by key accounts.
CWT clients not only benefit from the convenience of German Transfer’s customized transport services; they can also reap significant savings. By taking advantage of fixed-price agreements on frequently traveled routes and shared vehicles – for example with colleagues from the same company – clients save up to 30 percent on overall transfer costs. Organizing ride sharing is no problem because the system shows which colleagues have booked a transfer at the same location and about the same time and combines journeys if desired – a function that even works across companies. The fare is divided by the number of passengers and charged to their respective credit cards, which serves to ensure complete transparency. Another plus is that when several people share a vehicle, carbon emissions are reduced.
German Transfer has been organizing transfers throughout Germany since 1997 – with a fleet of 3,000 vehicles operated by some 220 independent concessions. Clients save more than 20 percent on travel, profit from easy web-based booking and invoicing processes, and measurably reduce their carbon footprint.