The Ten Posts that got the industry talking

Before Qantas’ new distribution channel started on August 1st 2019, we ran ten “countdown” posts on LinkedIn that got over 10,000 viewings. Each post considers a different aspect of the new NDC distribution channels being unfurled globally.

In the absence of any assistance for travel buyers regarding NDC from TMCs, GDSs or the airlines, we take the front foot and raise ten issues that we think still need answering.

The market is shifting to a new distribution model, and the only people being left out of the equation are the buyers. Nobody is making these changes so that you will pay less for your air travel.

Our video adds the mission control transmissions from Apollo 13 for some extra flavour.

The First Webinar on NDC in Australia

What is Qantas’ NDC-based New Distribution Platform all about?

What is its main purpose? Why are airlines around the globe doing this? How will it serve or harm the interests of travel buyers?

What are the financial impacts, on whom? What impact will it have on TMCs and then their clients?

Hear three distribtion experts, Martin Cowley, Tony O’Connor and Meg Salter discuss the issues. Click on the image to go to the download site.

The Jam Packed Sixth issue of Business Travel Quarterly

We edit and manage the Business Travel Quarterly ezine, published by btTB and the GBTA.

The latest edition features three articles on accommodation management, an interview with the new Virgin Australia CEO Paul Scurrah, news and comment on the two big market moves by Qantas, and our article on TMC tendering. It is practical and useful information.

Click on the image to go to the download site.

If you have any issues or areas you want covered in BTQ, or want to contribute an article, please let us know.

How To Run An Airline Tender

In no other supply category is there such a large gap between the words and numbers that you receive in the offers from suppliers, and the information that you need to assess those offers.

Airline offers don’t even come close to enabling accurate calculations and comparisons. What you get is a set of discounts with conditions. Fair enough. But what do you apply them to? And how available are they. These second and third layers can make a big difference to the outcome.

And then there are the soft benefits and service and qualitative differences to cover. You need a good model.

what’s behind very low TMC fees?

This webinar delves into the revenue sources and business models of the TMC to better understand commercial fee offers that seem to be below operating costs. Indeed, there have been numerous incedences of zero booking fee offers.

We are joined by KBB Partners of New York to consider the explanations and implications.

The webinar features charts showing generic fee levels in the market, and takes a look at TMCs’ revenue from airline, hotel and other commissions. That doesn’t seem to explain it. Yet TMCs are profitable businesses.

Every travel buyer should know the business model of the TMC given its central and influential position at the junction of the travel supply chain.

see and hear our recent webinars

Click on the images to go to the PASA download sites, open to all PASA and GBTA members.

The webinars are: “Day Zero for NDC in Australia”, “How to Tender for Airlines” and “How Fare Mark-Ups Increase Your Travel Costs”.

The Perils of Personalisation

Personalised booking systems are the “big new thing”. But could they be personalising you away from best value fares and rates? Is the algorithm really your friend?

A Conversation With My Daughter

… about Procurement. The procurement role and value was laid bare by the questions of a fifteen year old. Exactly what is it that procurement does? She made me think.

How to Lose a Tender

Advice to suppliers based on the faux pas and follies I've seen over the years, that's also useful to procurement managers wading through the torrent of words in tender responses.

spreading the word

The travel tender process in particular presents an opportunity to include other staff and foster  a broader understanding and appreciation of procurement throughout your organisation.

Travel Management for Smaller Companies

Several TMCs are focussing their sales efforts on smaller businesses. Here are several tips on the main things SMEs can do to get good deals under the heat of the sales spotlight.

Ten Things to Really Avoid

Here are ten things that happen in the travel supply chain that you really want to avoid, prevent or at least be aware of.

TMCs Suffer Too

Hidden fare mark-ups are obviously bad for the client.  But they're also bad for airlines, and even for the TMC. That's everyone in the market place.

Worth its weight in Category Knowledge

A conflicted and opaque supply chain like travel needs a lot of category knowledge to manage well. Here we discuss where to get it, and how to keep it. Too often organisations acquire the know-how and lose it.

GBTA Global Convention Presentation

This presentation was delivered in San Diego in 2018 under the Airocheck banner.

It explains hidden arbitrary fare mark-ups … what they are, how they occur, the systems that enable them, their prevalence, and the impact on the travel buyer hip pocket.

Airocheck is Butler Caroye’s sister company that conducts detailed fare, fee and rate audits using irretutable settlement data-of-truth.