“Things may still be uncertain, but travel is back,” Reed & Mackay CEO Fred Stratford told corporate clients at an event yesterday.
Speaking to around 50 travel managers and buyers at a Client Assembly at the Westin London City, Stratford said: “It’s not only the booking volume data that tells me that. Walking around our London office, a stone’s throw from where we are today, I can feel the buzz as we build for the future. And it’s the same in our offices across the globe. The phones are busy. Incredibly busy.”
He said as travel returns, the conversations around wellbeing, inclusion and sustainability have evolved.
“The expectations of society at large have shifted,” he said.
“We need to travel safely, sustainably, and with people’s wellbeing at the front of mind. We’re seeing ‘work-from-anywhere’ grow as a trend, and a new type of business traveller emerge in the form of an international commuter.
“Our expectations of the role that technology should play, and the simplicity that it should bring to the travel and booking experience have developed. And so, the way in which we build and manage travel and engagement programmes is evolving too.”
He promised clients innovation “with the additional firepower and technology-led vision and insight that being part of the TripActions Group brings”.
But he added: “That means more than just putting a Covid-19 layer on top of existing service and technology. It means in many ways re-imagining how we deliver exceptional value, because things have fundamentally changed.”
