The guy sitting next to me on a long, long-haul flight was eager to play an extended game of one-downmanship. Having impressed upon me that he had scored a bargain buying his shiny new Breitling, and assured me that I had overpaid for my ipod, his conversation turned to travel.
‘How much is that seat that you’re sitting in?’ he inquired. I hesitated, knowing that however low my figure, this guy was going to come in lower.
‘Go on, go on,’ he persisted with cheerful insistence.
I quoted a vague amount for my air ticket, and, you’ve guessed it, he shot back with something at least $100 cheaper.
‘You know all seats are different at different times of the day,’ he continued. ‘Flexible or fixed schedule, One-way or return. This site or that. And never, ever, ever buy from the airline. Same with hotels. Same with hire-cars. Same with… same with everything!’
He had a point. When you’re spending your own money, you will usually spend some time searching out the best deals online. So why aren’t more companies abandoning their expensive travel habits for something a little more in tune with the times?
For my money, part of the problem lies with the budget travel websites. Like many e-commerce sites, they are often clunky, slow and idiosyncratic. But worse, they are geared to the leisure market, rather than the business traveller. They seem to be targeting the getaway couple with a couple of hundred dollars to spare rather than the companies who spend hundreds of thousands a year on travel.
One of my favourite sites will wrap up your order for a flight, hotel and hire car with the message ‘Here is a summary of your holiday’. Now that doesn’t look good on the receipt when it’s time to submit expenses. No matter how careful you’ve been to find the best deals, it still leaves the impression back at head office that business travel is just one big jolly.
Travel is one of the most easily-manageable costs for any business. Going online can reduce those costs. It’s as simple as that. Adopting the click-and-save approach to business travel might be a challenge for those companies where how you travel is a status thing. Let’s be frank here, you don’t really need the club lounge, the in-flight wine list, the fawning courtesy of flight attendants, the dinky little toiletries and a huge flat screen to do a better job. It’ll make you feel a whole lot better, but no-one can really argue that it adds anything to a company’s bottom line.
Economic downturns always change, and perhaps should change, the ways that companies and their employees behave. Let’s take the lost art of bargaining. I recently encountered a woman in a British hotel reception bargaining hard to have a free breakfast included in her room tariff. She was a well-heeled business-type, not a hard-up backpacker. Perhaps, as an American, she was horrified at the cost of the coronary-inducing calorie-fest that we know and love as the Full English Breakfast. (Gradually gaining a reputation as the Big English Rip-Off).
The hotel staff seemed confused by the businesswoman’s attempt to open a negotiation. It wasn’t in their training manual. The principle of Keep the Customer Satisfied was outweighed by Take Every Penny They Have.
After a few minutes of one-sided negotiation, the duty manager saw sense and granted the woman a free breakfast, though not without a degree of condescension. The Brits still have The City, Aston Martin and Wimbledon, but sometimes struggle with customer service when and where it counts.
Of course, there is the radical solution to business travel: don’t do it. Videoconferencing can offer the face-to-face experience without the hassle and expense of getting on a train or a plane. What better way to underline your company’s green credentials than by heading for the videconferencing room rather than the airport? (Just remember to switch off the lights and the plasma screens when you leave).
Which brings me back to the talkative guy on the plane. He told me it had been a tough few months, but that he was looking forward to a corporate pow-wow in Malaysia, with managers from the US and Europe flying in for a week of blue-sky thinking and relaxation. And the agenda for the week-long jamboree in Kuala Lumpur? Cutting costs for the lean times ahead. Sigh.
