Corporate Travel Manager role is expanding, says Cvent report

Cvent has published its 2020 Cvent Travel Managers Report – UK Edition, offering new insights into what corporate travel managers in the UK are looking for. The report was based on a survey of 200 UK travel managers conducted in January 2020. It can be found at this link. Among its key findings were that star ratings and venue reviews are having an increasing impact on how venues are sourced. It also found that corporate travel managers (CTMs) are leveraging more external resources to make decisions and have more complex concerns than ever before. Chris McAndrews, Vice President of Marketing for Cvent Hospitality Cloud, commented: “CTMs have more complex roles. 86% of respondents are responsible for not only organising travel, but also sourcing venues for their company’s meetings and events. There is a strong call to action for hotels to address these concerns and support the changing needs of CTMs in order to secure more MICE business.” Other findings included: – 38% said lack of transparency on the part of hotels and venues when quoting pricing is their top challenge when negotiating with hotels. – 51% said that hidden costs not stated during negotiations is a top reason for excluding or removing hotels from their travel programmes – More than half (51%) of CTMs said last room availability is essential if hotels want to be included in their hotel programme, but differences arise when broken down by generation. – 49% of respondents plan to increase the number of hotels in their travel programmes, whilst another 49 per cent also plan to increase room nights.