New GBTA Study Shows More Companies are Consolidating Meetings, Events and Travel Programs

Technology Playing a Key Role in Knocking Down Barriers to Consolidation

ALEXANDRIA, VA – July 23, 2015 – One-half of Travel Buyers currently have or are in the process of creating a consolidated meetings, events and/or travel program, according to new research from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). This marks a 14 percent growth in adoption over the past five years including a 28 percent increase in completed consolidation.

The study, Meetings, Events, and Travel Programs: Consolidation Drivers and Barriers, sponsored by Lanyon, surveyed more than 200 North American and European Travel Buyers or Travel Intermediaries. It revealed Buyers with consolidated programs almost all say their travel (96 percent) and meetings (94 percent) programs are consolidated, while less than half say the same of their events program (43 percent).

Improving visibility and transparency of meetings, events and/or travel costs is the most cited driver and goal for consolidating individual programs, and nearly four out of five buyers feel their company has been successful in this area. Survey respondents report each of the goals for consolidating are met by a strong majority of those with fully consolidated programs.

“Popular goals and drivers for fully-consolidated programs include better leveraging and maximizing spend, obtaining better negotiated rates and dynamic pricing, and increasing efficiencies and improving service for stakeholders,” said Joseph Bates, GBTA Foundation vice president of research. “Four in five travel buyers find all facets of consolidated programs appealing, so it’s no surprise they are increasing in popularity.”

Technology in Meetings, Events and Travel Programs
Even for non-consolidated Buyers, there remains a strong interest in a number of additional features and functionalities when it comes to management technology for their travel programs. More than four out of five Buyers want accurate negotiated hotel rates displayed in the GDS, searchable hotels for receiving and negotiating RFPs and to learn about hotel rates and amenities secured by other companies. However, while there is a huge interest in the features and benefits management technology can bring to a meetings and events program, only one non-consolidated buyer reports currently using such technology.

Even for non-consolidated Buyers, there remains a strong interest in a number of additional features and functionalities when it comes to management technology for their travel programs. More than four out of five Buyers want accurate negotiated hotel rates displayed in the GDS, searchable hotels for receiving and negotiating RFPs and to learn about hotel rates and amenities secured by other companies. Use of management technology among non-consolidated buyers in their meetings and events programs, however, is almost non-existent.

“We were excited to support GBTA with this important research, as we’ve believed for a long time in the consolidation of meetings, events and travel as a way to provide total transparency around all costs and data to drive savings,” said Kevin Iwamoto, Lanyon’s VP of Industry Strategy and former GBTA President and CEO. “It’s clear from this report that those that have achieved consolidation are reaping significant rewards, and that software is core to achieving these outcomes. However, many have still not yet seen these benefits. At Lanyon, we are committed to sharing our best practices in order to knock down the barriers and help more companies in their journey to consolidation.”

Methodology
This study is based on an online survey of Travel Buyers or Travel Intermediaries with 120 respondents based in North America and 95 respondents based in Europe. The North American survey was fielded via email to GBTA members and non-members from May 5 – 15, 2015, and the Europe survey was fielded via an email sent by GBTA affiliates to their GBTA members from May 5 – 18, 2015.

GBTA Research Manager Kate Vasiloff, Lanyon Vice President of Industry Strategy Kevin Iwamoto and Sr. Manager, Global Travel Operations for Amgen Craig Banikowski will delve into greater detail on the study’s findings in an education session at 10am on Monday, July 27, as part of GBTA Convention 2015 in Orlando.

The study, Meetings, Events, and Travel Programs: Consolidation Drivers and Barriers, is available exclusively to GBTA members by clicking here and non-members may purchase the report through the GBTA Foundation by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.

CONTACT: Colleen Gallagher, +1 703-236-1133, cgallagher@gbta.org

About Lanyon
Lanyon believes that when people come together, amazing things happen, relationships are built and business gets done. The Company is a leader in cloud software for managing corporate meetings, events, and travel programs that simplifies meeting and event planners jobs, while helping hotels better connect with corporate clients. Lanyon’s unmatched software — and the data it provides — helps thousands of organizations and hotels around the world to better engage their customers, reduce costs and grow revenue. Customers include 80 percent of the Fortune 100, thousands of small and medium businesses, and more than 100,000 hotels around the world. For more information visit www.lanyon.com and connect with us on Twitter @Lanyon.

About the GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. Collectively, GBTA’s 7,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA provides its growing network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts with world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media. The Foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA’s members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, see www.gbta.org and www.gbta.org/foundation.

About the Global Business Travel Association
The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA’s 9,000-plus members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA and the GBTA Foundation deliver world-class education, events, research, advocacy and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts. To learn how business travel drives lasting business growth, gbta.org