More Companies are Consolidating Meetings, Events and Travel Programs

July 24, 2015

One-half of Travel Buyers currently have or are in the process of creating a consolidated meetings, events and/or travel program, according to new research from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). This marks a 14 percent growth in adoption over the past five years including a 28 percent increase in completed consolidation.

The study, “Meetings, Events, and Travel Programs: Consolidation Drivers and Barriers,” sponsored by Lanyon, surveyed more than 200 North American and European Travel Buyers or Travel Intermediaries. It revealed Buyers with consolidated programs almost all say their travel (96 percent) and meetings (94 percent) programs are consolidated, while less than half say the same of their events program (43 percent).

Improving visibility and transparency of meetings, events and/or travel costs is the most cited driver and goal for consolidating individual programs, and nearly four out of five buyers feel their company has been successful in this area. Survey respondents report each of the goals for consolidating are met by a strong majority of those with fully consolidated programs.

“Popular goals and drivers for fully consolidated programs include better leveraging and maximizing spend, obtaining better negotiated rates and dynamic pricing, and increasing efficiencies and improving service for stakeholders,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA Foundation vice president of research. “Four in five travel buyers find all facets of consolidated programs appealing, so it’s no surprise they are increasing in popularity.”

Technology in Meetings, Events and Travel Programs

Strong majorities of buyers are satisfied with the meetings, events and/or travel management technology used at their company. Consolidated programs are more likely to use management technology than non-consolidated programs (48 percent and 39 percent, respectively).

Even for non-consolidated Buyers, there remains a strong interest in a number of additional features and functionalities when it comes to management technology for their travel programs. More than four out of five Buyers want accurate negotiated hotel rates displayed in the GDS, searchable hotels for receiving and negotiating RFPs and to learn about hotel rates and amenities secured by other companies. However, while there is a huge interest in the features and benefits management technology can bring to a meetings and events program, only one non-consolidated buyer reports currently using such technology.

“We were excited to support GBTA with this important research, as we’ve believed for a long time in the consolidation of meetings, events and travel as a way to provide total transparency around all costs and data to drive savings,” said Kevin Iwamoto, Lanyon’s V.P. of Industry Strategy and former GBTA president and CEO. “It’s clear from this report that those that have achieved consolidation are reaping significant rewards, and that software is core to achieving these outcomes. However, many have still not yet seen these benefits. At Lanyon, we are committed to sharing our best practices in order to knock down the barriers and help more companies in their journey to consolidation.”

Methodology

This study is based on an online survey of Travel Buyers or Travel Intermediaries with 120 respondents based in North America and 95 respondents based in Europe. The North American survey was fielded via email to GBTA members and non-members from May 5–15, 2015, and the Europe survey was fielded via an email sent by GBTA affiliates to their GBTA members from May 5–18, 2015.

GBTA Research Manager Kate Vasiloff, Lanyon Vice President of Industry Strategy Kevin Iwamoto and Sr. Manager, Global Travel Operations for Amgen Craig Banikowski will delve into greater detail on the study’s findings in an education session at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 27, as part of GBTA Convention 2015 in Orlando.

The study is available exclusively to GBTA members by clicking here and non-members may purchase the report through the GBTA Foundation by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.