Travel Matters - January 2016

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CHAMBERS INSIGHT | 19
worth talking about
Look out for three dates in London this year
for Chambers Chatter events. These will
run in March, June and September and the
specific dates, venues and themes will be
flagged up in the next issue of Travel Matters.
Designed to facilitate education and
thought leadership, Chambers Chatter
certainly delivered on both those promises
during the last UK event of 2015, in
September.
Moderated by Martin Ferguson, and with the
theme of Managing your TMC, the event was
an animated discussion on all the hot topics
currently vexing the corporate community.
Data and duty of care disgruntled the
audience but perhaps the most useful
debate focused on Lufthansa’s €16
surcharge for fares booked via a GDS, as it
helped to spell out the ramifications for the
corporate community.
“A lot of people don’t understand the full
extent of it,” said audience member Ken
McLeod of Advantage Travel. He believes that
TMCs should be doing more to explain the
impact of the surcharge.
“If Lufthansa get away with it, it will spread
to other airlines and the price of doing
business will soar. The €16 charge could
easily become €20,” he says. “Corporates
need to investigate more,” he concluded.
Client delegates found theevening illuminating
and these are some of their comments;
“Nice to have all parts of the travel
management chain present. Honest and
open discussions. The quality of attendees
was very high; can’t wait for the next one.”
“The evening allowed me to talk to other
travel managers and travel industry experts
who I would not normally meet. These
conversations expanded my network and
travel industry knowledge.”
“As a Travel Manager you can become
isolated and set in your ways. The vibrant
exchange of opinions encourages different
ideas and approaches, as well as
awareness of innovative technology and
ideas/strategies.”
Any travel managers interested in
attending this or future seminars or
wishing to suggest seminar topics,
should contact Scott Alboni on
A TOUCH OF PURPLE
EYES ON THE PRIZE
This month Chambers will discover if the
record number of award nominations for
the UK Business Travel Awards will convert
to prizes.
The company has been nominated in
four categories, namely
• Best Travel Management Company
(£50m-£200m sales annually)
• Best Travel Team
• Best Travel Technology Product
• Best Sales Account Management Team
“The fact that we have made the shortlist
with all four of our submissions is testament
to the calibre of our people and Chambers’
innovative and bespoke approach to looking
after our clients,” said Chris Thelen, CEO,
Chambers Travel Group. “Having won Best
Travel Management Company for three
years’ running, I am hopeful of making it an
astounding four years!”
SEE US AT THE BTS SHOW NEXT MONTH!
Plunge into a technological world on Stand No B520, see demos of Smart,
experience our tech bars & discover what else is happening at Chambers.
Chambers’ annual client party at Vanilla
in London was anything but vanilla. The
company’s purple branding imbued the
venue, with liquid nitrogen cocktails
and ice cream concoctions bubbling and
smoking in the Purple Parlour and Virgin
Atlantic crew creating their signature
Redhead cocktails in their Upper Class
Virgin Lounge.
Another hot party accessory - an ice
sculpture incorporating a Vodka Luge -
added a frozen fun factor. It drew in the
brave with waiting mouths, with certain
(anonymous) guests managing to drink for
22 seconds! Definitely an ice breaker.
Not to be outdone, The Voice hopeful
Jamie Johnson belted out hits and filled
the dance floor.