Tell us about Talma’s rapid expansion and growth in Europe

Europe is and will always be one of the most strategically important markets for Talma and it was keen to expand in the region by acquiring the right travel management companies – ones with strong reputations, deep local expertise and exceptional service cultures – and then to invest in those. We acquired Norad Travel and then Blue Cube – two businesses with an unbelievable legacy and a phenomenal level of client retention – and now we’re in a period of significant investment and change. My role, since joining seven months ago, has been to integrate the businesses together and to create an aligned and consistent approach to market.

How do you achieve that global consistency?

Fragmentation remains one of the biggest weaknesses in the traditional travel management model. Many organisations operate through franchise or affiliate structures, which can create inconsistent servicing, disconnected reporting, diluted accountability, and varied client experiences across markets.

Talma has taken a different approach. Our global footprint is built around fully-owned offices in major international travel hubs, giving us direct control over operations, service delivery, governance and strategic execution across markets
When you overlay that with Talma’s global systems, processes, platforms and next-generation travel technology, you’ve got something on another level.

What’s special about Talma’s technology?

Technology has been one of the most important accelerators of Talma’s growth.

We have invested heavily in next-generation infrastructure, combining strategic partnerships with proprietary technology to create a far more connected travel ecosystem. Earlier this year we expanded our existing partnership with Spotnana into Europe, which allows us to create an agile, transparent and fully-connected travel ecosystem, giving our clients greater control, smarter insights and flexibility. It really does set new standards for modern travel management in the region and already we’re seeing that our existing clients – and potential new clients – are genuinely intrigued about what this is going to look like. There is a real sense of excitement.

Alongside this, our proprietary agent desktop, Voya, is transforming the servicing experience for our teams, allowing them to access content from multiple sources through a single interface and removing the inefficiencies of switching between disconnected systems.

Our clients’ travel policies can be embedded directly into workflows, ensuring servicing decisions remain aligned with programme objectives, approval frameworks and traveller requirements. For clients, this means faster servicing, better content access, stronger policy alignment, reduced friction, and a travel programme that combines automation with expert human decision-making.

How important is the ‘human’ side of your business?

Our people are vital to our growth. We have some unbelievable talent and through a reorganised and realigned structure, we’ve had the opportunity to invest and bring new people in to take us to that next level. In doing so, we have looked outside the traditional TMC space, to help us drive innovation and to bring a new approach.

So, Rachel Morrish has joined us from Addison Lee as our Operations Director, bringing a fresh perspective as a supplier, and that has been revolutionary for how we operate. Clare Clifford is our Director of People. She started in the leisure travel sector but has then worked outside of the industry. Gemma Sparrow joined us from the Advantage Travel Partnership to become Head of Business Development, Leisure. They’re all bringing so much to the team. We’ve also seen several people take up opportunities in our global operations teams and others were identified as future leaders and were promoted.
This strategic growth is allowing us to nurture talent and a big part of this is building the right environment of trust to attract and retain talent, which then creates and protects long-term relationships with our clients and suppliers. We currently have a 98.1% client retention rate across our European portfolio, which reflects both the strength of our client relationships and the consistency of our delivery.

How will you maintain this high client retention rate?

Ultimately, retention comes from deeply understanding each client’s business culture, priorities and operating environment, and building programmes that align accordingly.

We don’t see ourselves as simply a transactional TMC. We operate as a travel management solution, combining best-in-class traveller-facing and back-office platforms with high-touch specialist services to create genuinely personalised programmes for clients.

I believe the key to our future success is the mindset shift of our people. Whether it’s our finance, sales or operations teams, we need to ask, ‘Why do we turn up every day and do what we do?’.

It’s about understanding that what we do allows our clients to do what they do, whether that’s to attend a meeting, to close a big deal, to build relationships internally or to attend conferences. Whether we’re getting them to New York or Johannesburg, Bristol or Newbury, we are facilitating growth for our clients, who need reliability, responsiveness and consistency.

When I started at Talma, the first thing I did was to go and speak to our existing clients and I was genuinely surprised by the high level of customer satisfaction. Without fail, even before I’d sat down in the chair, our clients were telling me how great we were, and the dominant theme that shone through was trust. They saw us as a trusted partner and an extension of their business, who enables them to do what they do best.

Our strategy is to stay ahead of the curve. It’s not to simply to become a larger TMC, it’s to redefine what a modern global travel management partner looks like. Our vision is to be Europe’s most trusted travel partner and I’m so excited to be part of that.

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