MOVING FORWARD
THE BLOG FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL PROFESSIONALS
A Quick Guide To Group Travel
Booking flights for large groups can quickly become a headache! Utilising a group travel expert – like ours sister company, Gray Dawes Events – can relieve the stress for travel managers and make life a whole lot easier.
Gray Dawes Holidays Black Friday
Gray Dawes Holidays have some fantastic Black Friday offers available for four incredible destinations – Abu Dhabi, Antigua, Barbados and Bali.
YourTrip – Ancillaries
YourTrip, our powerful online booking tool, offers so much more than just the plane and train services you’re used to. Infact, YourTrip has the capability of handling almost every part of your trip, from booking hotels, car hire, ground transport, EU rail, Amtrak and car parking – all within the app and all compliant to your company’s travel policy.
Adapting to Endemic Covid-19
In the wake of the pandemic, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) have reproduced a fascinating report which highlights a range of opportunities for all stakeholders to collaborate in stimulating growth and aiding business travel’s recovery post Covid-19. We’ve studied the report – so you don’t have to – and present the key findings along with our own recommendations.
Plane to train
Sustainability is high on the global agenda. Following COP26 we look at how travelling by train instead of flying between European countries can make a sizeable impact on the carbon impact of your business travel.
Time For Change
The Business Travel Association recently commissioned independent consultants, Nina & Pinter, to look at the different relationship models which exist between corporates and TMCs. The result is an insightful paper, the purpose of which is to help support the industry in getting the best from their Travel Management Company RFP process.
GUEST POST: Laura Fairburn Discusses Service Waiting Times
We recently caught up with one of our Travel Consultants, Laura Fairburn, to find out what it has been like returning to a completely different landscape that she left 18 months ago and to find out if service times have been affected by the pandemic.
Lateral Flow Testing Replaces PCR Testing
As of 4am on Sunday the 24th October coronavirus travel rules were relaxed for fully vaccinated passengers and most under 18s who are either UK residents or from countries which have an approved proof of vaccine certification, regardless of their individual vaccination status.
Gray Dawes Partner Grapevine Win Multiple Accolades
We were delighted when one such partner, Grapevine, won the Innovation Faceoff at the Business Travel Show at the start of the month and the 8th annual Innovate Innovation Standoff just last week.
Travel Trends
We tasked Gray Dawes Consulting to look at the impact COVID-19 has had on our client booking behaviour. They discovered the pertinent trends in booking patterns, comparing pre and post pandemic periods, and have provided recommendations that can help shape your travel programme, particularly as 70% of businesses have now restarted booking travel.
Feeling Burnt Out?
Oh, burnout. If you’ve experienced it, you know how crucial it is to avoid it. If you haven’t experienced it yet, you must be new ‘round here. We explore the causes of burnout for busy travel professionals and propose what you can do to get back on your feet.
Time for a break
With the recent news that the traffic light system is set to be scrapped in favour of a straightforward green and red list, plus the announcement from the US that they’ll be opening their borders to the UK from November, many are starting to plan their next holiday.
GBTA Travel Manager Survey Results
The GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) recently surveyed 220 travel managers in the US and Canada to ascertain how they expect the management of business travel may change following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brexit Travel Checklist
Now that travel is starting to move back up companies’ agendas, we thought it useful to revisit some of the Brexit basics of corporate travel, to ensure you and your travellers are ready for what may have previously been a very straightforward trip.
Simply The Best
We’re absolutely thrilled to have been crowned champions at the prestigious 2021 Business Travel Awards, winning Travel Partner of the Year, Best European TMC. Find out how we blew the competition away to claim the title.
Changes to Travelling To The UK
As part of the Government’s ambition to build back a safer, fairer and more prosperous UK, the use of National Identity (ID) cards as a valid travel document to enter the UK is being phased out.
In The Know
Gray Dawes Consulting Manager, Aman Pourkarimi, delves behind the headlines to identify the most pertinent news stories from the corporate travel press and offer our analysis of what this means for businesses. Think of it as your travel cheat-sheet for staying in the know!
Introducing YourTrip Cares
YourTrip Cares provides safety and risk insights during the booking, “Stay Safe” alerts and notifications for those travelling and a centralised global monitoring solution for the back office.
On The Right Track?
Paris to Berlin in an hour? Welcome to the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe. We take a quick look at three groundbreaking ideas for the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe, which have been proposed by a number of pioneering companies.
Travel Tech Trends
In their recently published white paper, travel industry researchers and analysts, PhocusWire, present a fascinating insight into the current trends of business travel management following the pandemic and the invaluable role technology has to play in ensuring its success.
The McKinsey Report
McKinsey & Company, the world-renowned management consultancy, often produce brilliant analysis on travel and their latest report on how companies should be planning for the comeback of corporate travel is no exception. Our own head of Gray Dawes Consulting, Aman Pourkarimi, has studied the report (so you don’t have to) and below presents the key learnings along with his own recommendations for UK businesses.
Travelling to Present
There are many reasons why people travel for business. One commonplace purpose is to deliver a presentation. This might be to try to secure a potential new client, update colleagues at a different location, bring on-board new partners or deliver a keynote at a...
Passenger Locator Forms
All travellers must complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) online before arriving in the UK, even if they are only transiting through the UK. It’s free to submit the form and it may be completed any time in the 48 hours before arriving in the UK. Here we detail some significant and sensible updates the Department for Transport have made to the first page of the PLF and what it means for you.
Online or Offline
The Covid crisis has brought the question of how your travel bookings should be serviced under greater scrutiny. Regularly changing regulations and border closures mean that many bookings now require some hand-holding in a way they did not before.
A Day In The Life Of A Travel Consultant During The Pandemic
We recently caught up with our Operations Manager, Julie Hamstead-Wallis, to find out what a day in the life of a travel consultant looks like during the pandemic. Julie has been letting us know how the operations team have been ensuring all our travellers know their entry requirements, isolation, quarantine, testing, passenger locator forms and visa requirements pre-trip by using our great new Passkey product and the indispencible Traveller Toolkit.
Sustainability in Travel Top Tips
Environmental sustainability continues to rise on the agenda. As with every industry in the supply chain, the travel and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) industries contribute to corporate carbon footprints, and organisations are increasingly looking for ways to understand and reduce their environmental impact.
Zoom Fatigue
Zoom fatigue is the latest phrase we’ve added to our vocabulary since the pandemic forced offices up and down the country to close. The pandemic has forced us switch our cameras on and tune in to more video conference meetings than even. Even for those accustom to video conferencing pre-Covid, Zoom fatigue has become something people are increasingly aware and victims of.
Your TMC Relationship
Business travel has been decimated over the past 15 months but that hasn’t stopped some companies from changing their travel management company (TMC). Indeed, some corporates have taken the time when things have been quieter, to rethink their relationship with their incumbent TMC.
Striking A Balance
Given that many business-to-business and technology companies performed remarkably well during Covid, it’d be easy to say that Zoom has killed business travel. But the evidence shows the opposite.
Experience is Everything
In this article, Lesley Tyler, Head of Events Operations at Gray Dawes Group, reflects on the past 12 months, what corporate events will look like in a post-Covid world and how Gray Dawes Events can help your organisation create a memorable experience for your next event.
TRAVELLER TOOLKIT
Your first stop in navigating travel in a post-Brexit, Covid world.
GREATER THAN THE
SUM OF OUR PARTS
We don't just specialise in business travel you know.
We're a part of the Gray Dawes Group, an organisation with specialisms and expertise in many sectors. If you need help planning the holiday of your dreams, or showcasing an event that'll never be forgotten, then we've got you covered.
