The Perfect Trip: a Recap of Concur Fusion 2012

Concur staff, clients, and partners descended upon Orlando May 8-11, 2012, for the annual Concur Fusion conference to explore trends and cutting-edge developments in travel technology. Representatives from Travel and Transport were among the 1,600 travel industry professionals (a record number of attendees), making Concur Fusion the second largest U.S. travel conference behind the annual GBTA convention.

Concur Fusion offered a great variety of sessions, but several key themes emerged, including integrating cloud technology and continued evolution of mobile technology for both Concur Travel and Concur Expense. Intended to create a true traveler-centric experience, this integration involves offering customers the opportunity to book and track expenses for GOGO inflight Internet while traveling. Furthermore, Concur Fusion cast a vision of “The Perfect Trip” – a business trip simplified and streamlined thanks to customer-centered technology. This video shows what this “Perfect Trip” might look like.

Beyond technological advancements, the conference also centered on several cornerstones of the travel industry, including service and account management. Sessions focused on methods for heightening organizational dedication to service, including implementing staff bonuses based on service and creating additional service-related positions.

Additionally, presenters stressed the value of bringing “unmanaged” travel back into the managed travel program. Concur estimates that 55% of hotel bookings are still not consolidated within a managed program. To combat this statistic, Concur plans to offer travelers the option of adding bookings outside of a managed travel program to TripIt. These reservations can then be tracked in Concur Expense, making reporting data available. Companies considering this solution would need to weigh the cost of the technology versus the potential benefits of tracking the unmanaged reservations.

Travel and Transport has a deep, long-standing partnership with Concur, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate in order to offer the best customer-focused technology and services. If you attended Concur Fusion 2012, we would love to hear about your experience!

This is the third year that Travel and Transport has recapped Concur Fusion on our blog. Read about the 2010 and 2011 events.

Create a Memory - Experiences in Tahiti

Officially known as the French Polynesian islands, Tahiti and her 120 islands are speckled over the eastern Southern Pacific.  The islands span over 1.5 million square miles.  Nothing compares to the exotic blend of two cultures: Polynesian warmth and French chic.  The landscape will melt your heart with the breathtaking views and romantic settings.  These islands offer an intoxicating array of resort experiences, enchanting new islands to explore, adventure sports, nature, and of course -the famous black pearls.

In the islands of Tahiti you will be surrounded by majestic mountains, aquamarine waters, sugary beaches and dramatic sunsets.  It’s no wonder they are often called the “islands of romance” – the lush scenery and available adventures are ideal for rejuvenating.  Tahiti is known as a wonderful paradise with a wide range of adventures to embrace; diving and snorkeling in waterfalls, canoeing and hiking, four wheeling across the valleys!

Janine Magnuson and Barb Weigel of Travel and Transport Vacations recently visited the islands for a learning seminar and were charmed by the some of the friendliest people on earth.  French is the national language, which is romantic in itself! They toured many hotels and especially loved the over-the-water bungalows.  The ride to Moorea was 30 minutes and the tour of Moorea was one of the highlights of the trip.  They witnessed Tahitian food preparation in a cultural experience course, along with tattooing, sarong making and dancing.  Visiting Bora Bora is another part of a trip to Tahiti not to be missed.  Janine was even able to go to the world famous restaurant Bloody Mary’s!

Shopping for a black pearl was another enjoyable experience.  They learned about quality, color and pricing before settling on their perfect pearls which were set in to necklaces.  The water bungalows are also unique to this area and the fun was not lost on our agents.  They stayed at Le Meridien Bora Bora which has a turtle sanctuary.  They even photographed sting rays below their double glass floor!  Boats provide service from the airport to the hotel as well as to the restaurants and shops.  Even flying on Air Tahiti Nui flights provided a lovely French Polynesian touch with free meals and champagne, movies and a Tahitian flower presented at the beginning of the flight!

If Tahiti is a destination you have been thinking about, now is the time to put that thought in motion!  

See some great photos of this trip on the Travel and Transport Vacations - Ames, Iowa Facebook page.

Whitepaper: Optimizing Global Travel Data

Travel and Transport is excited to offer our latest whitepaper, developed in conjunction with the BTN Group entitled Optimizing Global Travel Data.

In an increasingly globalized economy in which businesses are
continuously driving down costs and increasing productivity, it stands to reason that an increasing number of travel managers have globalized their travel programs—or will soon be on that path. When managed successfully, globalized travel programs offer a number of benefits.

Making the Connection: Travel and Transport’s Growth and Success as a Traveler-Centric, Service-Focused Company

Chicago: Site of Travel and Transport's 2012 Corporate Conference. Photo used under CC License by anneh632 (Flickr) Last week over 100 Travel and Transport managers and executives ventured to the Windy City to attended our annual Corporate Conference. With 13 first time attendees at the conference the adrenaline and excitement could be felt in the air. Everyone was eager to network, bond as a team and hear what our future holds as a Travel and Transport employee owner.

The theme of the conference was ‘Making the Connection’. Our President and CEO, Bill Tech explained to the group that the conference was designed to help us all focus on creating new ways of working together, cross mingling our talents and sharing our knowledge base with our fellow employee owners. He said, “We are a team. Focusing, collaborating and creating together will make us a stronger, better company.” By the smiles in the room you could tell that we were all ready to connect!

In Bill’s opening remarks regarding his vision for the company, he emphasized that we will continue to grow our company and we anticipate seeing Travel and Transport grow 2-3 times our current size within the next 5 years. As we currently sit at over $50 million in new business in 2012, Bill was excited to announce the posting of 10 new job openings in our Sales, Account Management and Operations departments as well as additions to our agent team to support our tremendous sales efforts. Beyond internal growth, we will continue to look for acquisition opportunities. Bill was quick to point out however, that our unique culture is not one that can be replicated in the market place and we will make sure that any acquisition we make is one that is strategic and that makes good sense for our entire company.  

Bill also spoke of our technology offerings and explained to the group that we must maintain our belief in creating proprietary solutions while at the same time working with 3rd party providers to strengthen our offerings. This strategy will allow us to become more of a traveler-centric company; one that provides options to travelers so that they feel empowered in their travel decisions yet allows for travel managers or procurement teams to keep a firm control on the overall travel program.

Bill emphasized our continued dedication to our global solution. Our partnership with RADIUS will continue to grow and thrive as we work together to create solutions and integrate data in a way that is truly beneficial to our clients. These solutions will be customized for those just embarking on a multinational program or created for those that have a mature global program in place.

Most importantly Bill emphasized that we must continue to focus on what has become our company's mantra – that customer service must remain at the forefront of all of our minds. All of our employee-owners must continue to understand that this strength is one that needs to be constantly nurtured. We will continue to differentiate ourselves in the market with our focus on quick response times and follow-up that is meaningful to our clients. We cannot lose focus on this foundation from which our company was built.

The week was jam packed with amazing presentations by our internal departments as well as a day-long procurement seminar presented by Will Tate, Senior Vice President, Management Alternatives. Though many may have been skeptical to read our agenda and see an 8-hour session on procurement, the comments that were revealed after the seminar were very powerful. Many great takeaways were conjured up during this session with action plans being created in our team meetings.

It is always inspiring to have time with fellow colleagues to focus on how we can all connect to become better and create new ways of doing things. Keep your eyes open for many new initiatives from Travel and Transport that truly show how we are making the connection.