Nikki Regan, Direct Travel, Director of Commercial Strategy, on TMC commercial models

“We need to move away from transactional costs and look more at outcomes. So, when a customer comes to us and wants us to work with them, we ask them for their KPIs, what are they trying to achieve, is it to bring down the cost of their travel, is it customer satisfaction? And if they say it’s actually the traveller journey and traveller satisfaction that they want to be really great, why not incentivise us to help them deliver on that rather than on a transaction fee.

Tiffany Casson, Inntel Corporate Account Manager, on accessibility

“The challenge in our industry is that we have pockets of brilliance – and that has come on leaps and bounds in the last three years – but where we fall down is with the end-to-end solution. There are some wonderful things happening within the airline industry, some wonderful things within rail, and even accommodation and meetings and events, but we also need to take a step back and think to ourselves, okay, I need to make a booking, as a travel management consultant, so what are the questions that would be really helpful to ask?”

Donna Fitzgerald, Executive Growth Officer, Clarity Business Travel, on supplier empowerment

We are here to work collaboratively with you (suppliers). We want to work in partnership. We see it as a three-way partnership between ourselves, the customer, and yourselves. I think the successful relationships are when there’s understanding what everybody’s objectives are in that chain, and making sure that we align and use and evolve all of those objectives. It’s sounds really simple, but it’s not, because usually we’re at different points of the journey. And then I also think what we’re starting to see is a removal of autonomy with our relationship partners. So, we’re having conversations about what we need and why we need it and why our customers need it, but it seems to be probably increasingly difficult to get a decision at the relationship level that we have, so we would ask for you to take that back within your own businesses, to ask ‘Where’s the empowerment? Is it there? Is it driven down to the levels that we have here in the room today to help us move things forward at the pace we need to move forward.”

Simone Buckley, Enterprise Growth Lead, Amadeus Cytric, on the power of AI

So Amadeus technology sits right across the ecosystem, and one of the things that we have is biometrics across the airports. We also have AI that’s been deployed probably for five years at airports, and what that AI does is watches the footfall coming through the airport. It manages flow. If you take that technology and you apply it to somebody who needs special assistance services, or somebody who needs a channel opening for them in fast track, or whatever that might be, then AI should make it much easier and simpler to travel and to give way more advanced information to both the suppliers and the travellers

Justin Penny, Head of Supply EMEA, Flight Centre Travel Group Europe, on the role of AI

I think one of the most important things, and we’ve heard the word here a lot, is trust, and all the things that we talked about today, and we talked about previously the world of AI. I think the concept of trust is something that is going to keep us (TMCs) in our jobs for hopefully probably most of our careers in the room. Because I don’t see a world where everyone’s going to implicitly trust AI, and whether that’s in the legal world, whether that’s in the TMC world.  That issue of trust is what’s going to make sure that we continue to do what we do. I just think we’re going to be a lot more productive as a result of it.

Andrew Clarke, Commercial Director, BTA, on NDC

“I don’t think there’s as much infighting now. I definitely think we’ve seen a lot more collaboration. I think having conversations like this at events like this, not just the BTA but other associations, is so important. The more we talk about it, the easier it is to find solutions. If nobody wants to talk about it, we’re never going to find solutions, and we’re always going to be at civil war. So, I think that’s the point is that the collaboration is key.

Tamer Uysal, Senior Manager, Sales Strategy and Distribution, American Airlines, on distribution

We always talk about the capabilities of NDC and modern retailing but I believe we haven’t reached the full capabilities yet on the offers side. As TMCs, you guys are sitting on a tremendous value. Your marketplace is so valuable and you know your customers best, and you know the unique value proposition that can be offered to a unique subset of your customers.  There is a huge financial benefit if you can come to us and we can create dedicated offers for your clients, whether that’s maybe adding on lounge access or fast track. I think there is huge room for development on that.

Clive Wratten, Chief Executive Officer, BTA, on the cost of business travel in the UK

“With the hotel levy, we are pushing back hard on a tax grab that would have hit business travel first and hardest. We did some research and found that when you add up the hotel levy (tourist tax), congestion charge, air passenger duty and airport drop-off fee, a business person taking an Uber from a hotel in London to Heathrow is paying three times as much as they would in Paris of Frankfurt.”

Matt Gatenby, Senior Partner, Travlaw, on AI

I think lawyers, like everybody else, grapple with all the issues around AI.  In my opinion, you need to see AI as a tool, or a resource. And if you are using it, it’s like any other tool – a hammer, chainsaw or whatever – you get the benefits, but if it goes wrong, if it does something that isn’t as you planned, you are totally responsible as well. So, consider this: I’m a lawyer, and if you come to me and you say, “We’d like you to do a job” and I say, “I can absolutely do that, but here’s a disclaimer about the fact that I sometimes do things wrong, and actually I’m not always very good”. Would you still want to go ahead?  

Steve Richards, political journalist and broadcaster, on the direction of the industry’s government lobbying

Andy Burnham and Louise Haigh, the First Secretary of State, are obsessed with transport – in particular trains – and about getting business people to use trains. No other PM has been this interested in transport and this could be an opportunity for your sector. With the implementation of a tourist tax on hotel stays, Andy Burnham has devolved this power to local authorities so engagement will need to be a local level.