Corporate Buyers are well-represented by GBTA, Travel Agents have ASTA. It’s time to have a corporate travel association for “Suppliers” 

Prologue: 

The Corporate Travel Industry continues to grow its numbers proportionately to the challenges faced by travel buyers and travel services providers (I won’t label them as suppliers). In addition to TMCs there are many more TSPs who also perform a critical role in our industry.

I’ve been in the travel industry long enough to remember the original name of GBTA was NPTA (National Passenger Traffic Association) and then NBTA (National Business Travel Association). The original local chapter in NYC was “men-only” but before my time.

When I was in my late 20’s I was one of the five founders of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), which (unlike GBTA, which was a buyer-focused association) treated all members equally. That didn’t last too long.

Two Are Not Always Better than One

The two associations competed for membership, sponsorship and conference attendance. At the time, when I was the VP of Finance for ACTE, I suggested that the two associations “find a way to collaborate instead of compete.” That idea was met with both skepticism and criticism. GBTA had thousands of members, ACTE had hundreds and after two decades of representing both sides (buyer and providers), ACTE had financial challenges and was purchased by GBTA. I did make an offer to buy it (to preserve it, not to run it) but was out-bid.

I looked up the ACTE website today and it’s for sale.

Effectively, we’ve lost the only competitor to GBTA and as a result, only the voice of the buyer is heard round-the-world. Yet it’s the Providers (Sponsors) who fund the conferences and convention. 

Time for the Voice of the Supplier/Provider 

I have been a member of GBTA going back three decades and also served on their Board of Directors as well as the GBTA Foundation. I’ve attended all but one conference (my youngest son was due to be born the same week as convention) and continue to volunteer for various GBTA initiatives. Their role is crucial to showing the value of managed travel. But what about the rest of us?

The broad category of Supplier/Provider includes airlines, hotels, ground transportation, payment systems, data consolidators, OBTs, TMCs etc. It’s time that we created an Association of Corporate Travel Suppliers (Solutions, Providers). The value of this second association is multi-faceted:

• Market Influence: A competing association drives innovation, improves standards, and pushes companies within the industry to improve. Its value lies in its ability to maintain a competitive environment that stimulates growth.

• Member Value: If the competing association is made up of organizations and individuals with shared interests or goals, its value can be measured by how much it improves or influences its members’ outcomes, whether through networking, resources, advocacy or education.

• Innovation: Attending a large travel convention with thousands of attendees costs a startup company thousands of dollars they may not have to invest at early-stage. A trade association of travel services providers should reduce the barriers to entry and provide access to innovative companies without the initial funding to pay for a $25,000 booth at a trade show. I would be in favor of having a small number of “scholarships” for startup tech companies that have gained some attention from other events like Business Travel News’ Tech Talk, Business Travel Executives’ T&E Summit, and TAMS.

• Networking: There are various studies of the “cost of a sales call” ranging from $500 to $5000 and I think it’s closer to the latter if you include travel costs. Smaller travel services companies can network with fellow entrepreneurs as well as corporate buyers more efficiently than at a one-to-one meeting where the sale cycle can take 12 to 18 months for one client.

How Does a New Association Get Started?

When the five original members of ACTE got started, we operated on a shoe-string budget with donations in-kind from the four buyers that were part of our original group. They donated services like printing/postage, office space and nominal funding. Soon thereafter two of the Global Travel Agencies (they were not 

yet called TMCs), American Express and Hogg Robinson Travel donated the seed money to enable ACTE to hire its first staff person and rent a small office. It took off from there and lasted two decades.

I’m not looking for a role in this new association other than to help with the initial funding and volunteer my time. It’s up to the hundreds if not thousands of travel service providers to also see the value of a new representation of the “supply-side” of corporate travel, as I have no doubt they have the funding to invest in an organization that’s focused on their success, not just their attendance.