GoldSpring Consulting Partner Will Tate
“Adversity
does not build character, it reveals it,” said novelist James Lane Allen. While
we all are coping with tremendous adversity, we are also unlocking ingenuity in
all areas of travel management.
During the
past week, GoldSpring facilitated a series of buyer discussions. More than 100
buyers shared their current challenges, along with solutions achieved during
this incredibly difficult time. Here are the highlights.
Projects Continue
We are in an
unprecedented time in travel management. Almost all companies, employees and
contractors are hurting severely from both health and economic circumstances. We’re
in a new place where we will live for a while.
That said,
the initial hustle brought on by this crisis has subsided. Travelers are quiet,
online booking tools are up and working, duty of care responsibilities have
likely been handled, and hotel and airline partners are not chasing market
share.
The
collective buyer pulse—at this given moment—is calmer. We took care of getting
travelers home or relocated, we have set up our home offices and we are now
settling into how work from home actually functions. Work, albeit from remote
locations, is ongoing.
Tactical
work is now migrating to strategic. Buyers now have the time and focus to
ensure strategic initiatives are measured and deliberately executed. Smart
buyers are keenly aware that while things are down now, they will upturn.
When they
upturn, it may be at a fairly rapid rate, likely creating new stress on a very
drained travel supplier infrastructure. Travel buyers realize many of the
world’s travel suppliers may be out of business and therefore they must be
prepared for the return.
Many shared
they have prioritized strategic reviews of their key travel management
categories. While pricing for the various categories is certain to change
dramatically, they are working to evaluate their current providers and systems versus
other market capabilities.
They
understand tweaking the process during these low transaction volumes means less
risk to their organizations and provides time to course correct where needed. They
also want to be in front of the oncoming wave.
Partnership
Value Is at an All-Time High
The travel
supply chain is decimated. Travel supplier revenues not only fell off a cliff, they
are mostly non-existent. This distress is now finding its way to the buyers in
the form of heightened safety concerns, changed service configurations, reduced
account management, reporting inconsistencies, property closures and changing
fee structures.
Partnership
success has been demonstrated for all the above. Keeping travelers and
management informed with rapidly changing situations builds trust and
proactively directs the messaging. Re-assessing the “so what” of supplier needs
builds more impactful reporting, discussions and analysis.
Directing
business, when possible, to struggling partners is valued more than ever. Collaboration
with key suppliers has enabled a new level of traveler tracking and assistance,
elevating the duty of care role inherent in the travel management value chain.
Suppliers
Will Be Creative
Incumbents
are working extremely hard to retain clients. At the same time, potential new
suppliers are eager for new business. Rapid, creative answers are now the
required norm, not just nice to haves. Suppliers are well into entertaining new
ideas to manage through this crisis.
Success has
been realized with realigned priorities, reworked deliverable timelines and
open dialogue on what must versus what might constitute urgent
requirements. Finding the smoothest runway, wherever possible, has yielded
adjustments which are creating unseen values for all parties.
Cash has
always been business oxygen, but never like now. Buyers able to offer pre-paid value
to their key suppliers will find never-before-seen pricing. Add that to
incremental volumes from supplier consolidation and you have increased mutual
value that is truly unique.
The travel
industry has already proven its resiliency during 9/11. Its people are uniquely
suited to collaboration, creativity and problem solving. Buyers and sellers
continually build mutually winning approaches as challenges arise. Travel
professionals routinely manage one-off challenges with innovation and a spirit
of hospitality and fairness that is the hallmark of our industry.
This is why
I know and trust the character that is being revealed.