CARLSON Wagonlit Travel has unveiled bold plans to more than halve the number of its UKoffices over the next three to four years.
The multiple has already reduced its network from 66 to 36 since 1994, and aims to have only 15 offices by 2003.
It is replacing traditional business travel centres with larger travel management centres which will be linked by telephone so that if lines are busy at one centre, calls will be routed through to another.
Carlson Wagonlit management claim this strategy will not lead to major job cuts. Instead, the company claims people’s jobs will simply change as they move from a desk-bound position to an account management role, on the road.
American Express is following a similar strategy but was not willing to reveal what number of locations it intends to have.
Commercial director Bernard Harrop said it has reorganised its business to suit different types of accounts – small to medium enterprises, large companies and multinationals.
A centre at Milton Keynes opened last September which is dedicated to large companies. It currently employs more than 100 staff but is expected to reach its full capacity of 150 at the end of the first quarter.
Centres in Croydon and Maidenhead, which employ 100 and 60 staff respectively, are dedicated to large multinational clients, which require dedicated teams.
Small to medium-sized accounts are dealt with at a centre in Newcastle, staffed by 60 people, where most account management is done via the telephone.
These main centres are supported by a network of traditional business travel centres in each of the regions, employing between 20 and 40 staff. Harrop said Amex was in the process of linking these together so calls could be flowed to another centre if one was busy, or if it was short staffed.
But the UK’s other travel management multiple, BTIUK Hogg Robinson, said it has no plans to significantly reduce its existing network. BTIUK Hogg Robinson managing director UK and NordicEric Brannan explained:”Although it’s illogical, people still prefer to have a local contact. We do not intend to follow Carlson Wagonlit and announce that we will only have a handful of offices in the UK.”
He said the company had already carried out some consolidation, merging offices in Cheltenham and Bristol, Epping and Cambridge and its south coast offices.