MOVING FORWARD
THE BLOG FOR BUSINESS TRAVEL PROFESSIONALS
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.
Guest Post: Presentation Tips
Presentations don’t have to be painful! They don’t even have to include a PowerPoint (shock!), and they should never, EVER be dull. So with that in mind, here’s seven tips from Square1 to make your presentations pack a punch…
Why It’s Time To Try European Rail
Find out why travelling around Europe via train is quickly becoming one of the most popular options among business travellers and why it can have a positive impact on the environment, traveller wellbeing and your travel spend.
Shape of the Future
The cost of a trip, whether that is in terms of funds, planet or people, is going to be increasingly under scrutiny in the future and travel managers will need to educate bookers and travellers about just how their business travel fits into the organisation’s overall strategy.
Global Travel Taskforce Report
Published on 9 April 2021, the government’s Global Travel Taskforce report sets out the recommendations for a safe return to international travel. Here, we present a detailed overview of the Transport Secretary’s report – all the salient findings and key proposals you need to know and what they mean for business travel.
Business Travel Podcast
In the UK, more than 30 million people have been vaccinated; in Norway, the number is just 800,000. Yet there are two ends to any business trip so even if everyone in the UK is vaccinated it does not mean that other countries will be ready to welcome them. In this podcast, the panel discusses how this fragmented picture will affect business travel recovery.
The Plane Truth
A new study reveals employees are impacted more than company profits by the lack of business travel due to COVID. The survey reveals some surprising information about the true impact of business travel on companies, those employees who do the traveling, and even some thoughts on what the future of business travel might look like.
Guest Post: Personal Branding
Did you know that award-winning marketing agency, Square1 is part of the Gray Dawes Group? Square1 previously offered a guest post on getting COVID-19 communications messaging right, and today they’re back with their view on personal branding…
Changes Could Lead to Better Atlantic Air Travel
In recent years there has been a considerable focus on cutting emissions from aviation to stop global warming. This article explores what changes can be made to improve Atlantic air travel for the better.
New Supersonic Jet
A new supersonic jet in development aims to cut the flight time from London to New York to just 90 minutes.
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