Travel Matters - January 2016

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18 | CHAMBERS INSIGHT
NEW HORIZONS
NEW FACES
By the end of March this year, the Chambers
Travel Management name will disappear and
the group will re-brand as Corporate Travel
Management, the name of its parent company.
A full 15 months since the acquisition, it
will be time to take on the new identity that
will drive this former regional powerhouse
into the future as the European anchor of a
global travel management company.
“There was a strong heritage with the
Chambers brand and a lot of kickback
about re-branding straight away,” explains
Marketing Director Frits De Kok.
In the interim period, the marketing team
have been communicating the rationale for
the acquisition, the strategic goals for the
brand for the next five years and, crucially,
re-testing the company’s core values with
its client portfolio in client forums.
The first manifestation of the integration
Chambers has recruited a trio of new staff
over the last quarter, all of whom add great
expertise to the team.
We’re delighted to announce that Scott
Alboni has joined as Marketing Manager. He
hails from a marketing and brand manager
role in the private healthcare sector and
previously worked for an international
auction house Bonhams.
“Scott brings fresh eyes to our marketing
department at Chambers as he has a wealth
of knowledge in marketing strategies,
brand integration, design and system
automation,” said Frits de Kok, marketing
& events director, Chambers Travel Group.
surfaced last autumn with the launch of
SMART technology which emanated from
the parent company (see pages 4 & 5),
the re-branding the company website to
link the two brands and re-branding all
collateral.
At next month’s Business Travel Show,
the name change will have evolved to
combine both names but the final piece of
the jigsaw will be in position in March with
a formal launch party.
“This will maximise engagement with
existing clients and potential clients and
the industry supply chain”, explains Frits.
“That’s hugely important.”
The purple palette of Chambers will
finally make way for the multi-coloured
suitcase logo of Corporate Travel
Management, which represents its global
might and Chambers’ new elevated status.
“His energy, enthusiasm and experience in
branding will benefit us as we integrate with
our new owners, CTM in Australia.”
Paul Coates joined the company from
HRG in July as Fares Manager, a role that has
been separated from Customer Relations
to reflect the increasing importance of cost
saving on air spend with clients.
“Airlines are very good at manipulating fares,
the availability of booking classes in different
GDSs and across different points of sale,” points
our Paul. As a 31-year veteran of the industry
he reflects that, “Booking air travel today is
more complicated as there are more channels
to check andmore airlines flying tomore places
Frits de Kok
Scott Alboni Paul Coates Shelley Matthews
but we are one step ahead of our clients.
“We can usually offer a lower fare long
haul that’s comparable and sometimes on
the same flight.
“We can locate better fares from local
markets from our different offices around
the world, split tickets or offer savings by
flying just one hour later, for example.”
Shelley Matthews joined the senior
management team fromATPI last autumn as UK
Sales Director, and has been busy expanding
the sales team. Her remit covers any potential
business that originates out of the UK.
“It was a tough decision to move but
it was the right time as Chambers is a
fast-growing company with lots of exciting
things going on. I can bring my experience
to strengthen and grow the sales team and
consolidate the global sales strategy in the
light of the CTM acquisition.”