At risk of sounding a bit like Lady Whistledown from Bridgerton, I sit at dinners, on conference panels and among my peers and hear often of the challenges of a travel manager.

The ever-growing list includes access to content, global instability causing regionally volatile pricing or lack of air schedules, fractious UK rail networks and the shift to modern retailing across both the aviation and accommodation sectors.

But, something that also arises more often than not is the issue of below-par travel TMC service levels, especially in relation to our largest global TMCs.

Instead of listening to what can be done to suit a client, there is often a feeling that travel managers are told by their TMC how it is and what simply cannot be done.

A wise man (my father) once told me about one of his old bosses who was challenged on a growing unhappiness among clients, and whose response was: “All my customers are happy. Just some of them will be less happy than others.”

Lax attitudes

Of course, this was long before Fred Reicheld and Bain & Company created Net Promoter Scores and the measurement of how well an organisation treats the people whose lives it affects. But this attitude still feels apt today, where mediocrity appears to be accepted and those that are unhappy are left unhappy as there is always an opportunity for a new “happier” customer around the corner.

I am also reminded of a quote from an unattributed Chief Executive Officer on a course at Cranfield School of Management in 1996, who said: “Satisfactory underperformance is becoming accepted as the norm and that is not acceptable.” That ‘satisfactory underperformance’ describes a plateau where people – and by default the companies and departments they work in – aren’t necessarily failing, but they aren’t excelling either.

Fresh approach

As the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority approves American Express GBT’s acquisition of CWT, there are still a lot of questions with regards to whether there is a monopoly being created, and whether it leaves corporates with fewer options. One may well validly argue ‘yes’ to both of these questions, but I cannot help but feel it is a massive opportunity for the tier of TMCs below the behemoths.

These more agile TMCs have succeeded in implementing greater access to content. They have been quicker to react and are now reaping the benefits of not having to keep answering that time old question “Why can I see it cheaper online?”.

These TMCs are acting as true facilitators and integrators to companies, allowing for greater efficiencies and cost avoidance techniques. These TMCs have customer service running through their veins, and don’t regard their customers as a number but as a partner in their ‘family’.

So, while I do not believe the TMC is dead, I do think that the big guys should be looking over their shoulders and taking action to ensure they are fit for the future, not just technologically but at the human service level too.

Formerly Global Travel Manager at Endeavour Mining, Calum Hawley recently launched BTC Global with his wife Lucy. It’s a buyer consultancy helping corporates manage unmanaged travel programmes. Hawley is Chair of the GBTA’s Aviation Committee Europe and a judge for The Business Travel People Awards.