The business travel industry is being challenged to change its perspective from cost-led to traveller-led policies.
The challenge is being laid down by travel management company Clarity in a new manifesto entitled Hearts and Minds.
The firm wants the procurement community to take a traveller-centric approach, shifting focus from a purely cost-driven mentality of previous years.
Chief executive, Pat McDonagh, will discuss how businesses can capture hearts and minds, looking at areas such as sentiment and statistics, wellbeing and profit, and freedom and security.
Ahead of the manifesto launch later this month, McDonagh said “We’ve seen a distinct shift in traveller expectations over the past few years, with more emphasis being placed on experience and trip satisfaction.
“Yet there still seems to be hesitance from some travel managers to move with this, with concerns over cost and control often being cited as reasons not to adapt to this new way of travelling.”
Manchester-based Clarity will outline ideas for a mutually inclusive traveller and procurement programme.
“This is something we feel very passionate about,”McDonagh added. “We’ve always seen ourselves as disruptive and this manifesto is certainly that.
“With the arrival of NDC, the rise of the on-demand economy, increasing safety concerns and a desire to actually achieve the much talked about work life balance, we are asking the industry to sit up and listen.
“Traveller centricity does not mean losing control or additional cost. In fact, we’re confident of the opposite – happy travellers are easier to control and more likely to stick to a policy which they feel treats them fairly.”