Travel Matters June 2018

Paul Coghill (right) collects his award from sponsor Colin Stewart, Director UK for Air Europa. A handful of CTM staff were recognised in this year’s People Awards 2018, the annual awards scheme run by The Business Travel Magazine which recognises individuals and teams for their exceptional work over the previous 12 months. In the TMC category, Paul Coghill won Reservations Consultant of the Year as he demonstrated excellent customer service, a can-do attitude, and the ability to go the extra mile for both colleagues and customers. In addition, four other CTM employees were nominated in three other categories: John Richmond for Account Manager of the Year, Joe Hardy and Shelly Mathews both for Sales/ Business Development Manager of the Year and Victoria Deprez as MICE Manager of the Year. A panel of independent judges – headed by chair Mark Cuschieri of UBS– determined the winners in 16 categories following a record number of entries. GUIDANCE ON NDC CTM SCORES AT INDUSTRY AWARDS www.travelctm.co.uk 18 | CTM INSIGHT WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU We value your opinions and ideas on the contents of Travel Matters. Please email marketing@ eu.travelctm.com with any feedback on the magazine or any ideas you may have for future articles. A re-brand for Redfern Travel – known best for its best-in-class, proprietary automated, end-to-end booking system – was unveiled on 2nd July. It will be known as Corporate Travel Management. The move completes the acquisition of the Bradford-based company late in 2016 into the CTM fold. Following the successful integration, CTMs clients will now benefit from more domestic travel options in addition to globally negotiated supplier rates and access to increasing NDC content. They will also have access to market-leading technology including Lightning, a content-rich online booking tool, and CTMs SMART travel portal with its cutting-edge user interface design. Michael Healy, who has served as general manager of Scotland for the past two years, has taken on responsibility for CTM’s operations in the north of England due to his knowledge and expertise in the public sector. He has already been instrumental in leading the implantation of government business since Redfern/ CTM was awarded a place on the Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) agreement for Public Sector Travel and Venue Solutions. “It was obvious from the outset that Redfern was a perfect fit for CTM,” said Healy. “There are so many synergies between the two companies, not least our focus on optimising the customer experience through innovative technology and service. “We have spent the last 18 months aligning the two businesses to integrate our offerings and teams so that we can present the strongest mix of solutions possible to the market, and we are delighted to ‘officially’ welcome the Redfern team to the CTM fold.” Healy added, “The acquisition and subsequent rebranding of Redfern gives CTM an even stronger presence in the UK market, and allows us to deliver a complete online and offline service offering to our clients that can be scaled to any business need, including access to the most competitive specialist SME and online offerings in corporate travel.” NDC does not mean direct connect, highlights a new Briefing Paper from the Aviation Committee of the GBTA called Clear To Land. Airlines will have the choice to consider direct connect or work with aggregators (GDSs or SBTs or TMCs) who will connect to airline APIs to offer a one stop shop for their travel agent partners. The Briefing Paper also shares nine tips to help keep abreast of the changes, including asking primary airlines about their plans for API distribution and their direct/indirect strategy to help see what’s coming, and asking technology partners about their development plans to consume API content in air. NEW LOOK FOR REDFERN