Tweet
FT: The big story: Cash crisis sounds wake-up call
The big story: Cash crisis sounds wake-up call
By Roger Bray
Published: November 7 2008 17:58 | Last updated: November 7 2008 17:58
The long suffering road warrior, reading a list of ways to save money on trips suggested by American Express Business Travel, might be forgiven the urge to rebel.
“Employees that stay together save together,” says the international travel management company in a 10-point plan to offset the impact of the financial crisis, issued from its New York headquarters. Some companies, it claims, are already asking employees to share hotel rooms.
But while waiting for a colleague to finish shaving before using the bathroom may seem an economy too far, evidence is mounting that companies around the world are seeking to reduce the cost of business travel. How are they going about it?
When KDS, the online travel and expense management provider, asked its clients how the downturn was hitting them, 54 per cent said they expected to have pruned travel costs by next March and 36 per cent said they had cancelled trips already booked.
A survey by the Brussels-based Business Travel Coalition of corporate travel managers in 17 countries found that just over a quarter had implemented emergency cutbacks in recent weeks, over and above those made earlier this year. Of those, about one third had banned all trips temporarily. Roughly one in five had ordered cuts in travel spend, 45 per cent of those demanding reductions of 10 to 20 per cent. The findings indicated that there had also been a significant swing towards the use of low-cost airlines, while 30 per cent of managers said their companies were planning “above normal” investment in technology that might obviate the need to fly, such as video conferencing equipment.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ace7d03e-a...077b07658.html
The big story: Cash crisis sounds wake-up call
By Roger Bray
Published: November 7 2008 17:58 | Last updated: November 7 2008 17:58
The long suffering road warrior, reading a list of ways to save money on trips suggested by American Express Business Travel, might be forgiven the urge to rebel.
“Employees that stay together save together,” says the international travel management company in a 10-point plan to offset the impact of the financial crisis, issued from its New York headquarters. Some companies, it claims, are already asking employees to share hotel rooms.
But while waiting for a colleague to finish shaving before using the bathroom may seem an economy too far, evidence is mounting that companies around the world are seeking to reduce the cost of business travel. How are they going about it?
When KDS, the online travel and expense management provider, asked its clients how the downturn was hitting them, 54 per cent said they expected to have pruned travel costs by next March and 36 per cent said they had cancelled trips already booked.
A survey by the Brussels-based Business Travel Coalition of corporate travel managers in 17 countries found that just over a quarter had implemented emergency cutbacks in recent weeks, over and above those made earlier this year. Of those, about one third had banned all trips temporarily. Roughly one in five had ordered cuts in travel spend, 45 per cent of those demanding reductions of 10 to 20 per cent. The findings indicated that there had also been a significant swing towards the use of low-cost airlines, while 30 per cent of managers said their companies were planning “above normal” investment in technology that might obviate the need to fly, such as video conferencing equipment.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ace7d03e-a...077b07658.html
.... I am still waitlisted on a couple of QF flights, been a couple of months now. And waiting for another SQ award seat in J to pop up. Then again these are during peak periods.
).
Comment