Corporate travel experts share insights at special event in Athens, Greece

The event was attended by decision makers from 18 HRG business travel agencies, from 12 selected markets of Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe.

We started out by highlighting the changing needs of modern corporations and showing how agencies can adapt their business model to survive in the new corporate digital economy, by transitioning progressively into ‘corporate travel consultants’. Presentations showed that this can be achieved through the successful implementation of Business Process Automation & Optimization methodologies and the use of solutions such as the Amadeus Business Management Platform.

Secondly, the event demonstrated how business travel agencies could integrate the online model into their core business, to help protect themselves from the growing disintermediation other players are creating between Business Travel Agencies and their customers. In this regard, corporate self-booking tools were highlighted as one of the key solutions in helping Business Travel Agencies safeguard their customer loyalty, by helping companies address the increasing need of cost-optimization and travel policy compliance.

This discussion segued into a presentation on Amadeus e-Travel Management and a testimonial from HRG Greece on how the solution has facilitated some big local wins for them, which was then followed by an energetic question and answer session.

Finally, a presentation was given on the importance of content availability and how this could differentiate a business travel agency's offering to its customer base. Richness and availability of Amadeus Air, Hotel, Low Cost Carriers, and Rail content was presented as one of our key differentiators, emphasizing why we are the right partner to support business travel agencies in securing these new business opportunities.

So far, we have received very positive feedback from some of the participating attendees. From Marin Kostadinov, HRG Bulgaria, we were pleased to hear: "Usually very hesitant about such events about connecting a GDS and Business Travel Agencies. But I found this event very useful and some interesting prospects for new business".

Were you at the event? Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below or sending us a tweet with your feedback.