Finding a Travel Manager 101
 
Travel is now the second largest controllable cost for a company behind salaries and benefits, and as such is deserving of focus and careful management.
 
Many smaller companies in today’s dynamic business environment would be well advised to take a look at their travel expenditures if they do not have a travel management company, and explore ways in which to get better value for their travel dollar and in fact take more control. The problem is where to start?
 
Finding a travel management company entails doing some research; reading the current and back issues of BTM is a good starting point; talking to companies who have a travel manager also a good idea as well as taking a look at the website of The Association of Travel Management Companies for details of the leading players. There are also a number of consultants who operate in the travel space, providing services to corporate Australia.
 
However a word of caution- not all consultants have the level of knowledge or expertise in the complex travel environment. Unlike the stringent and very costly state-based licensing and federal bonding requirements for Travel Management Companies, business consultants have no such regulation and therefore should be checked out as a matter of good business practice.
 
The ATMC has a series of guidelines which members have collaborated upon to provide corporate travel buyers with confidence that a business consultant has the requisite knowledge to add value. These guidelines include the following minimum criteria:

• Enters into three way confidentiality agreements between customer TMC and business consultant.
• Confirmation of the fact that the consultant is independent from ownership or influence by any supplier, and is therefore truly unbiased.
• Transparency in fees, and who pays them to the consultant
• Provides a service which is backed by a methodology including standard templates and processes
• A minimum of 5 years in business consulting with demonstrable past customer referees
• A minimum of 5 years direct involvement in the travel industry
• Full participation in industry bodies such as BTTB, ABTA, ACTE.
• Has a commitment to ethical practice at all times.

A professional consultant will provide unbiased travel industry advice and assistance to a company for a fee and Travel management companies will fully cooperate. Increasingly TMC’s are taking a harder line with consultants who don’t meet the core requirements above, and corporate travel buyers should be guided accordingly.

Copyright Rob Dell ATMC President 2006. All rights reserved