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04 | 2015 The Hotel Expert THE MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL MANAGEMENT AND HOTEL PROCUREMENT The iceberg principle Hidden expenses: Travel expense accounting ties up enormous resources Touring Mumbai Porsche Consulting – that's process optimisation MICE location check Düsseldorf

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04 | 2015

The Hotel ExpertTHE MAGAZINE FOR TRAVEL MANAGEMENT AND HOTEL PROCUREMENT

The iceberg principle Hidden expenses: Travel expense accounting ties up enormous resources

Touring Mumbai

Porsche Consulting – that's process optimisation

MICE location check Düsseldorf

Tobias Ragge, HRS Managing Director

Dear Readers,

Travel Management, where are you headed? This funda-mental question has not just been occupying minds in the industry since recently. However, the disruptive force of technological innovations is likely to keep it high up on the agenda for some time to come too.

The realisation is always the same at the end of every event: Travel management (TM) has to get out of the (op-erational) engine room, and into the (strategic) captain's cabin. In order to get there, and to remain relevant, the role of TM cannot be limited to the individual task any more. The entire process chain upstream and downstream becomes its sphere of activity. Up to now, this step has been remarkable in its absence. This is also related to the fact that in most companies, there is hardly any aware-ness for the vast resources that the existing processes are devouring, and indirect costs are largely being ignored.

A joint study carried out by the GBTA Foundation and HRS on the topic of travel expense accounting is likely to change this dramatically. Because now, for the first time, there is a price tag hanging from processes which were generally accepted as inevitable up to now. In point of fact, time-consuming travel expense accounting processes with multiple manual entries and paper documents gen-erate avoidable costs to the tune of billions of euros (see study from page 8). "Choose an integrated approach!" is therefore the call from the instigators of the study. That means: The TM team sits down around a table with the finance, human resources and the other departments in-volved in their company to take a look at the entire end-to-end process. Taking a holistic view, from book-keep-

ing right up to the archiving of the receipts – they then optimise it together.

This year's Corporate Travel Forum (CTF) in Essen also revolved around optimising processes. While keynote speaker Matthias Tewes, a partner at Porsche Consulting, emphatically reminded listeners that the focus on the cus-tomer must always be at the core of every process opti-misation measure – including in TM – the contemplation of "Travel Management Formerly, Today, Tomorrow" cul-minated in a passionate (panel) discussion about the ad-equate reconciliation of man and technology (from page 14). The conclusion here too: Travel is changing, and for that reason the role of the travel manager has to contin-ue to develop from that of first violin into conductor, who stipulates to the orchestra of departments what should be played, and how from page 16).

We would like to support you as partners on this jour-ney and are working consistently as full-service provid-ers to further develop our solutions.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this new is-sue of The Hotel Expert.

Best regards,

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Tobias Ragge,

HRS Managing Director

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EDITORIAL

8The iceberg principleBusiness travel: Risks and side-effects

Maximum City Mumbai

MICE Düsseldorf

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28 34

Issue 04/2015

CHECK-IN News 4Reports from the industry.

COVER STORY The iceberg principle 8 Whether budget or luxury hotel – at the end, every trip has to be paid, invoiced and booked. For the first time, a study has proven that the direct costs are often merely the tip of a gigantic iceberg.

BUSINESS TRAVEL Maximum City Mumbai 18Chaotic behemoth or cosmopolitan global city? The jury's out on Mumbai. India's capital shines with the stock exchange, Bollywood and a dazzling hotel scene.

Mumbai: Facts & Figures 22

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT Porsche Consulting – that's process optimisation 14 There is still something in store for old-school travel management: An optimisation that comprises all the processes along the value chain.

Kaleidoscope 16 Impressions from the third CTF

For & Against 26Travel Management, where are you headed?

Business Travel: Risks and side-effects 28From duty of care to security management

MEETINGS & GROUPS Models, media and MICE in Düsseldorf 34Düsseldorf is not just the centre of one of the strongest economic regions in the world. Because of its international accessibility, selection of hotels and positive image as a fashion, banking and cultur-al metropolis, the city is the organiser of the largest number of top-notch trade fairs in the world today.

CHECK-OUT Always and everywhere 40 Business trip bookings via mobile devices will rise exponentially in years to come.

IMPRINT

Publisher: HRS Hotel Reservation Service Robert Ragge GmbH, Blaubach 32, 50676 Cologne Responsible for the content: Alexandra Barth, Head of Marketing & Communication HRS Group | Rainer Puster, phone +49 221 2077-5108 | [email protected] Coordination, editorial work and layout: publish! Medienkonzepte GmbH, Hanover Editor in Chief: Anke Pedersen Authors: Jürgen Baltes, Michael Braun Alexander and Mathis PausPhotographers: Dominik Asbach, Michael Pröck, Dhiraj Singh and other sources as listed Copyright: HRS 2015

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Contents

More technology Business travellers would like to get travel app rec-ommendations from their companies. This is one of the findings of the most recent survey conducted by the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). Only 17 percent of a total  of 521 respondents have al-ready received travel app recommendations from their companies. However, 91 percent of these re-spondents stated that the recommended apps were helpful. Around 95 percent of the participants in the study have a company smartphone. Navigation apps like Google Maps (54 percent) are the most popular, followed by airline apps (46 percent) as well as hotel booking apps like HRS (45 percent).

New record level

HRS is the largest hotel provider worldwide:

With more than five million bookable

rooms in all well-established global dis-

tribution systems (GDS) and as the sole

provider linked to Amadeus, Sabre and

Travelport, HRS is the worldwide frontrun-

ner. By integrating the Corporate Discounts,

companies and business travel agencies

alike can profit from special price reduc-

tions which HRS negotiates for corporate

customers with more than 40,000 hotels

worldwide. Because of the integration into

the GDS, travel agencies can reduce their

process costs for hotel bookings by around

50 percent (Dr. Fried & Partner, 2011).

The German Business Travel Association (VDR) has de-veloped a new MICE standard instrument, the "Manu-al for Drawing Up Event Guidelines". The document is designed to support companies in the individual de-velopment of their own event guidelines. The objec-tive of the manual is to make the topic of event man-agement more professional and thus reveal savings potential. The document can be accessed online by VDR members at www.vdr-service.de/leitfaden-mice (German only).

Hands-on help for members

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CHECK-IN

Heavenly surfing

Travellers do not want to do without internet on the

plane either. Four out of every ten internet users state

that they want to surf on board as well. Among the 30- to

49-year-old age group, almost every second respond-

ent (49 percent) actually wants to stay online during air

travel too, according to a survey carried out among 1,014

participants by digital association Bitkom. Bitkom General

Manager Bernhard Rohleder: "Particularly business travel-

lers do not want to be without the internet during a flight.

In the medium term, it will be just as normal to check

emails in the air as it is on the ground." Currently, only a

small number of airlines offer on-board internet access via

Wi-Fi. The airlines' services are accordingly expensive.

MICE market: Millennials demand a rethinkThe generation of people born between 1985 and 1995 are demanding more modern meeting planning and greater integration of advanced event tech-nology. This is the result of the Trends Report published by travel informa-tion company Skift. According to the report, Generation Y would like to see MICE events based on the principle

of open learning in the future: with a greater exchange of ideas in small groups, and fewer solo speakers. They would like to see technical aids com-plement events and contribute to im-proving the quality of events. These expectations, according to Skift, dif-ferentiate the Millennials sharply from preceding generations.

Midscale booking trend Moving towards the middle: Nine out of ten German business travellers stay in hotels in the three- or four-star accommodation category. This booking pattern is similar across all companies, ac-cording to the VDR Business Travel Report Germany 2015 carried out by the German Business Travel Association (VDR). Whereas in 2010, 8 percent of travellers still stayed in five-star hotels, this figure had declined to only 3 percent in 2013 and 2014. During the same period, stays in one- and two-star hotel businesses increased – from 4 to 6 percent. Overall, the business travel market posted growth of 4 percent and achieved a new record with 63.7 million overnight stays in hotels. HRS confirms the trend: In an analysis of mobile and non-mobile bookings, the hotel portal established that mid-range hotels are posting the most frequent bookings.

Distinction

Dramatic finale: At this year's presentation of the "Certified Star Award" in the Hotel Vier Jahresze-iten Starnberg on Bavaria's Lake Starnberg, the host also prompt-ly garnered the coveted trophy in the category for the Best Business Hotel with up to 150 rooms. The Atlantic Congress Hotel Essen won the most votes among the more than 3,500 in the same category from 151 rooms upwards. Land-gut A. Borsig (up to 150 rooms) and Hotel Schloss Montabur (from 151 rooms upwards) were named 2015 Best Conference Hotels. The Apartmenthotel Quartier m fend-ed off the competition in the Ser-viced Apartments category.

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News

Travel Technology Trends Symposium27/01/2016 | Kronberg/TaunusBeacon technology and the In-ternet of Things are the topics of the fourth Technology Sym-posium organised by the Trav-el Industry Club and Accenture. In lectures, the theme will be "Mobility in the Digital Age".www.travelindustryclub.de

Konferenz-Arena27/01/2016 | ZurichThe Swiss MICE market has chosen "Gender" as the top-ic of several lectures: Women in Leadership, Women's Quota and Career. Also on the agenda: Rates in the MICE business and trends in event gastronomy. www.konferenzarena.ch

Corporate Travel Forum & ITB Westhafen Event & Convention Center8/3/2016 | BerlinHRS and the Travel Industry Club (TIC) are holding the Cor-porate Travel Forum on the eve of the ITB. The sector meet-ing for corporate travel experts has chosen the topic of"Total Cost of Trip: Innovative solu-tions for travel management" this year.www.corporate-travel-forum.de

ITB Berlin – Home of Business Travel 9–11/03/2016 | BerlinBusiness travel expertise: At the "Home of Business Travel" on the ITB, the optimisation of travel management is the focus of attention (hall 7.1a, stand 100). Hosting the event are the German Business Travel Asso-ciation (VDR) and partners like Air Plus International and Busi-ness Visum.www.vdr-service.dewww.itb-berlin.de

Dates.

Positive growth trend

The MICE market will continue to grow worldwide in 2016. This is the

forecast of the study "Meetings & Events Forecast 2016" compiled by

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT). According to the study, the strongest

drivers of growth are new technologies as well as meetings apps. At

the same time, rising hotel prices and stricter cancellation conditions

are dampening expectations, the study says. Because of the faltering

economic situation, it was difficult to make a forecast for the Asia-Pa-

cific Region, the study states. On the other hand, North America and

Europe are well positioned in an international comparison. In South

America, demand for conference accommodation will rise on account

of the Olympic Games.

Saving is outTransformation in travel management: Al-though companies are still taking a very cost-driven approach when it comes to busi-ness trips, the latest survey carried out by American Express Global Business Travel and business travel association ACTE among 350 travel managers nonetheless show that this attitude is gradually changing. In future, employees' travel and booking behaviour will be increasingly taken into account, ac-cording to the survey. Improved commu-nication between travel management and business travellers will be a prerequisite for this. In this way, costs and productivity will be harmonised better with one anoth-er. However, according to the study, there is often a lack of suitable measurement in-struments and systems for evaluating busi-ness travellers' opinions and experiences.

Digital rail cardAs of now, the German rail card, "BahnCard", is also available as a smartphone ticket. In future, the dis-count card offered by German national rail service operator Deutsche Bahn will be accessible digital-ly via smartphone and will thus replace the phys-ical card at ticket inspections during the train trip. Customers will need to download the "DB Naviga-tor" app in order to be able to use the new service. Anyone who already has a "BahnCard" can connect it through the menu item "bahn.bonus" in the "DB Navigator" app. The mobile service applies to the "BahnCard 25" and "BahnCard 50" options.

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CHECK-IN

Top conference hotels

Awards for Klimahaus Bremerhaven and Audi-Forum: Germany's best conference location in 2015

is Klimahaus Bremerhaven 8° Ost. That is the result of the "Special Conference and Event Locations"

competition that takes place every year. Awarding the prize is Thomas Kuhn, publisher of the year-

book "Besondere Tagungs- und Eventlocations" (Special Conference and Event Locations). The Vogel

Convention Center in Würzburg and conference centre "Das Wormser" in Worms follow in second and

third place. In the "Event Locations" category, the Audi-Forum Neckarsulm saw off the competition

from Atelier Zimmermann as well as Stadthalle Reutlingen. This year, too, the winners were chosen

by conference decision-makers as well as event agencies in an online vote.

The European Parliament has passed a new regulation on credit card fees: According to this, traders and service providers will no longer be permitted to demand extra fees for credit card payments in future. What is known as the EU Payments Services Directive PSD II must be implement in the entire European Union by the end of 2017 at the latest. However, the new rules of the game will not apply to all types of credit cards, but only to those in which at least two banks – that of the trader and that of the customer – are involved and for which the invoicing is carried out through the card owner's private account. Particularly corporate credit cards are affected in this re-gard. The German Business Travel Association (VDR) is advocating a general ban on credit card fees.

Rising stress levels

Business trips are turning into a test of nerves: Around 45 percent of all busi-ness travellers are complaining about in-creased stress levels while on the road. That is one-fifth more than in 2014. One out of every two frequent travellers who are on the road several times a month state that they are perceiving an increas-ingly hectic pace, according to the Ger-man Travel Association (DRV) in its study "Chefsache Business Travel 2015" (Busi-ness Travel as a Management Priority in 2015 - in German only). The major caus-es of stress are smartphones and exces-sively long travel times from the hotel to appointments, the study found. In addi-tion, 44 percent complained about hav-ing to be constantly reachable. Further stress triggers are empty mobile bat-teries (35 percent), lack of cash in local currency (18 percent) as well as a lack of orientation at their destination (17 percent). The DRV sees failings in trav-el planning here: All too often, the price was still the sole decider when choos-ing accommodation. Yet many sources of stress could be minimised with better planning in travel management.

New rules

7

News

The study

In the study, the GBTA Foundation and HRS surveyed a total of 533 trav-

el managers worldwide. Of these, 42 percent were in Europe, 38 percent

in North America, 12 percent in Latin America and 8 percent in Asia. The

survey was conducted from 22 September to

6 October 2015. The GBTA Foundation is the research organisation of

the international business travel association GBTA. The entire study can

be downloaded free at:

corporate.hrs.com/en-uk/solutions/payment-solutions.

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COVER STORY.

Minimising travel costs is the noblest task of a travel manager. But whether budget or luxury hotel – at the end, every trip has to be paid, invoiced and booked. For the first time, a study has now proven that the direct costs are often merely the tip of a gigantic iceberg.

TEXT: JÜRGEN BALTES

Beneath the surface

How long does an employee actually need, on average, to complete his travel ex-pense report? And how long do the hu-man resources and the accounts depart-

ments need to check and further process the forms and receipts? How many reports are incorrect? What time and effort is required to correct these? And what costs does all of that generate within the company? Questions, questions, questions – and probably very few travel managers or con-trollers could answer them. The reason is that these processes are simply not questioned in most companies.With the support of HRS, the largest business travel organisation worldwide, the Global Busi-ness Travel Association (GBTA), has now taken a look behind the scenes of all these processes. The result: The direct travel costs that are visible are only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath them lies as-tonishingly high administrative expenditure. For example, employees take on average a full 20 min-utes to write the report for an single business trip with overnight stay in a hotel. A whopping €53 is

what it costs companies on average for each re-port – from booking through payment, compiling the accounts, including the receipts and approval right up to payment and archiving.And that is not all: Almost one in every five re-ports is actually incorrect as well. A further €47 in costs are then incurred for the correction pro-cess. In large companies, these figures are actually significantly higher – on average, €89 for prepar-ing a report and €72 for correcting errors. These are amounts which should make many people in responsible positions sit up and listen who up to now predominantly had an eye on their direct travel costs – without looking to see what was be-low the surface.Practical experience shows that the results of the study are by no means just random conjecture. "Trouble with travel expense reports was almost a regular occurrence for me," a former consultant at a global consulting firm reports, for example. In one case, the Polish hotel on the invoice had written the international name of the company in-stead of the correct Polish company name; in an-P

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GBTA study

other case business-related and private ancillary expenses were not distinguished clearly enough. "I had no choice but to request an new invoice," the consultant reports – with the associated time and effort on the part of the traveller, the trav-el expense depart and the accounts department.

Dissatisfaction with settlement processesIt is no wonder that many travellers are dissatisfied with the settlement processes within their compa-nies. In a survey taken earlier this year, the GBTA Foundation had already discovered that although 71 percent of business travellers surveyed were satisfied overall with the handling of their business trips within their company, only 55 percent were satisfied with the travel expense accounting. For example, travellers complained about the lack of control over their own reports and the manner in which these had to be completed.The results of the current survey among travel man-agers revealed a similar picture. They saw a need for optimisation particularly in the preparation of the reports and in receipt administration. Next on the list were the error checking and the approval process. The crux lies primarily in missing and in-correct information. For a total of 77 percent of travel managers, missing receipts as well as miss-ing or incorrect expense report forms were the larg-est hurdle on the way towards greater efficiency.Basically, inefficiencies and potential sources of errors arise everywhere paper is used, where its

content has to be recorded and transferred onto forms. And paper is still in widespread use worldwide, particularly in Europe: While the United States has already made considerable progress in elec-tronic processes, for example the use of scanned and original electronic receipts as well as the mo-bile recording of receipts using smartphone pho-tos, paper still dominates by a wide margin in Eu-rope, where receipts are still being submitted on paper in four out of every five companies. Joe Bates, Vice President, Research and Strate-gic Initiatives at the GBTA Foundation, has a clear opinion on this: "The way in which travel ex-penses are settled is currently undergoing rap-id change," especially because of new technolo-gies, providers and payment methods in business travel. "What was still considered best practice in a company only five years ago can already be outdated today."For example, trip payment methods. Generally, flights are booked using a corporate or central travel department credit card. Thus these expens-es are also usually incorporated directly and al-located precisely into the travel expense report. The effort required for processing and checking the data is minimal. In the case of hotels, howev-er, the converse applies. They are usually paid us-ing corporate cards or employees' own personal credit cards, in some cases they are even still paid out of cash advances.

Travel expense reports: Breakdown of time and costs

20min

€53 18

min

Time expenditure per report Costs per report Time expenditure corrections

19 %

Proportion of incorrect reports

Source: GBTA Foundation and HRS survey

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COVER STORY.

The example of one of the large German statutory health-insurance companies shows the effect that converting the payment process can have. Last year, this company had switched the pay-ment of the hotel rooms booked through HRS to its Airplus compa-ny account, such that these expens-es are now transferred directly from its corporate bank account. The travel manager there states that time and effort for settling and checking the company's ho-tel expenses had been reduced by a whopping 50 percent because of this measure.Because, according to GBTA, digitisation and auto-mation are the two key parameters that can be ad-justed to reduce settlement time and effort. Here are two examples: Electronic invoice data save travellers the effort of collecting and attaching paper receipts and reduce the time and effort in the accounts department, smartphone photos and mobile settlement solutions in turn enable data to be recorded directly during the trip. In both cas-es, the traveller does not just save time. He also avoids potential errors resulting from the manual entry or the loss of individual receipts up to the time of the settlement.However, neither the results achieved by other companies nor the average figures in this study can serve as a yardstick for the savings poten-tial in one's own company, as a travel manager at

Joe Bates, Vice President,

Research and Strategic

Initiatives GBTA Foundation

The multi-billion-euro bill

If one extrapolates the study results for a company with 20,000

overnight trips per year, the entire process of travel expense

accounting generates costs of €1,060,000 every year. Corrections

add another €179,000 on top of that. Thus it occupies approxi-

mately 7,800 hours of employees' time. Extrapolated to include

the entire number of German business trips, which lies at almost

176 million every year, according to the German Business Travel

Association (VDR), this adds up to several billion euro every year.

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Costs for corrections

"For a total of 77 percent of travel managers, missing receipts as well as missing or incorrect expense report forms are the largest hurdle on the way to-wards greater efficiency."

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GBTA study

one Finnish corporation noted. She herself had un-dertaken the effort to collect the data individual-ly and was "quite surprised about some aspects" of the results. Her tip: "Do not develop your busi-ness case on the basis of assumptions, but solely on your company's specific figures!" But travel management frequently does not have the lead role, especially in settlement processes. Because while the travel manager generally con-centrates on the procurement of travel services and their supervision, in many companies it is the finance department who looks after the settlement processes downstream from this – and thus, for example, also decides which procedure is select-ed and which software is used.

"Choose an integrated approach!"Thus the key recommendation to come out of the GBTA study is: "Choose an integrated approach!"

That means: Travel Management should sit down around a table with the finance, human resources and the other departments involved to take a good look at the entire process, from booking up to ar-chiving the receipts, and develop an insight into how changes at one stage will affect later stages of the process chain."That is exactly what we did," the travel manag-er at a large plant engineering company reports. This enabled her company to optimise processes significantly and additionally take the travellers' perspective into account to a greater degree, she says. One key point, but a simple and time-saving process for the traveller which makes manual en-tries and attaching invoices unnecessary, makes a decisive contribution to avoiding what the study has found to be the greatest hurdle in achieving more efficient processes: missing or incorrect in-formation. A nice little side benefit of this measure is that travellers' adherence to the travel guide-lines is likely to improve. Because they will tend to select those booking channels which are going to save them the most paperwork in the expense accounting process.

"The way in which travel expens-es are settled is currently under-going rapid change."

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COVER STORY.

Invoice receipts: Digital and mobile in North America, but Europe and APAC need to catch up Which methods of submitting receipts for travel expense accounting does your company support?

(multiple choices possible)

Mobile solution

North America 61 %Latin America 19 %

Europe 16 %Asia-Pacific 16 %

Electronically

North America 62 %Latin America 56 %

Asia-Pacific 41 %Europe 33 %

Scans

North America 84 %Asia-Pacific 68 %Europe 40 %Latin America 36 %

Paper

Europe 81 %Latin America 71 %Asia-Pacific 65 %North America 42 %

Erfolg braucht einzigartigen RaumThessoni classic – das Hotel in Zürich-Regensdorf

für kreative Seminare in einem innovativen Raumkonzept und feinster Gastronomie

Inserat HRS 200x120.qxp_Inserat HRS 200x120 14.09.15 14:54 Seite 1

Receipts: Predominantly on paper

The numbers speak for themselves: Paper is still very widespread in travel

expense reports. Although in the meantime the lion's share of reports

worldwide are completed using special travel expense management software,

yet one in every four companies still uses reports on paper also. However,

the receipts still have to be submitted predominantly on paper. Scanned and

email receipts take second place in the order of frequency. And while smart-

phone photos of receipts are becoming increasingly widespread, they are still

bringing up the rear in terms of frequency.

A particularly interesting aspect in this respect is the marked discrepancy

between Europe and North America. While paper is still in first place by a

wide margin, its predominance in the United States and Canada has dropped

far behind the electronic variations.

GBTA study

Source: GBTA Foundation and HRS survey

"Progressive options for submitting receipts have not been widespread in Europe up to now."

Source: GBTA Foundation and HRS survey

That "self-awareness is the first step to-wards betterment (improvement)" is a – slightly altered – folk saying. But of course, that is not so easy. Because how

should a travel manager dedicated to classical procurement turn into a process conductor in the end-to-end value process overnight? A player ac-tive in operations turn into a strategic impresa-rio? Exactly! That does not happen from one min-ute to the next! And it is precisely for this reason that HRS and the Travel Industry Club (TIC) business associa-tion designated the various stages of insight and development in the "improvement" process as the focus of the Corporate Travel Forum (CTF) in Sep-tember 2015. One of the topics was – of course – also the role of travel management itself ("Where are you headed? Travel managers formerly, to-day, tomorrow"). More precisely: Which challeng-es do the various players and suppliers define in this role?

The objective: value-creating growthHowever, the most enduring insights gained were likely gleaned by the more than 200 sector rep-resentatives from the keynote speech given by Matthias Tewes on the topic of "Operational excel-lence". Because Tewes, a partner at Porsche Con-sulting, was less interested in examining the in-dividual divisions of a company going through a change process. His lecture targeted the contem-plation of tried and tested concepts and factors within the context of optimisation programmes themselves – independent of the sector in question.With this in mind, he directed attention to sports car manufacturer Porsche, or more precisely: to its change process within the past 20 years. At the beginning of the 1990s, Tewes recounted, every Porsche employee only produced two ve-

hicles a year in terms of figures; despite an in-crease in turnover (DM978 million) profits were accordingly negative (–DM122 million). Then the group reacted to this development, he said, with a change in orientation towards the principles of "operational excellence (Opex): the integrated de-sign of its end-to-end value chain by focusing on 1. customer requirements, 2. quality and 3. effi-ciency in all processes and structures. The objec-tive that went hand in hand with this: value-cre-ating growth.

The insight: "Everything that does not contribute to value enhancement is wastefulness!"Admittedly: The number of automobiles produced per employee per year is generally not very use-ful to a travel manager. However, when Tewes pre-sented figures from the administration depart-ment, quite a few people uttered a horrified "Oh no!" Because, of course, back then at Porsche, it was not just all the process and structures in the production department that had been under close scrutiny and had been reviewed with regard to their potential ("direct areas"). Very precise anal-yses were being carried out in all the "indirect areas" too, regarding input, process and output with respect to customer orientation and mini-mising waste:

• Do they have a connection to what the customer sees and what is important to him?

• Are they important for a smooth process?• Do they just increase costs, but not value?

Measured according to these three core Opex questions – irrespective of the sector – frequent-ly fewer than 10 percent of all administrative pro-cesses proved effective, and fewer than 40 per-cent of all activities proved to be value-enhancing. Furthermore, collaboration between the individ-ual departments runs efficiently in fewer than 10 percent of cases. Thus it is hardly surprising that more than 40 percent of existing capacity goes unused, or, to formulate it in Opex terminology, is wasted. Wasted through waiting times (for exam-ple for approvals), additional rounds of adminis-tration (because of queries, alignments, duplica-tions and similar factors), correcting errors, etc.

Customer. Costs. Quality.TEXT: ANKE PEDERSEN · PHOTOS: MICHAEL PRÖCK

The car had got bogged down – at Porsche at the begin-ning of the 1990s. So they made a pit-stop and changed their strategy. The new objective: an optimisation that comprises all the processes along the value chain. What Porsche has already successfully put behind it is still facing the old-school travel management.

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TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

"Operational excellence"

… is defined as an all-encompassing optimisation

programme which gears all processes to customers'

requirements, quality and efficiency. Putting the

customer at the focus of attention means defining all

processes and structures in a company as a cus-

tomer-oriented process chain and redesigning them

accordingly. The starting point is always the customer's

requirements. These are the determining factor for

the business objective, the corporate strategy and the

operational measures aligned to them.

Every stage in a process is examined and assessed

as to whether verifiable added value – operational

efficiency – exists for the customer. Costs, quality,

employee competencies, improvements and motivation

are visualised and controlled in real time across all

processes on the basis of measurable key figures.

Source: www.OECplus.com

The conclusion: simple solutions/radical simplification of all processesCompany founder Ferdinand Porsche had once issued this guiding principle for the sports car manufacturer: "Basically, the engineer should en-deavour to solve a task in the simplest manner and not try to prove that he is capable of build-ing a lift on Mount Everest." Because, as Matthi-as Tewes translates this pearl of wisdom for the CTF gathering, for the customer in question, it is irrelevant whether an engineer can also build hel-icopters. Or a McDonald’s cook can also make foie gras and a travel manager can recite the travel guidelines in Afrikaans too. He does not reward any of this, and it has no influence on his (pur-chasing) decision. Thus, he says, it pays off to find the simplest solu-tions for all processes; and – with respect to the interfaces – to standardise them. And not just do this as a one-off measure, but constantly. Because, according to Tewes, optimum processes can only be achieved in "learning systems". And speaking of learning: The customer-centric approach has paid off at Porsche. By 2014, the number of vehicles produced per employee had more than quadru-pled (turnover 2014: €17.2 bn; profit: €2.7 bn).

Pioneer:

Matthias Tewes,

Partner Porsche

Consulting GmbH

"Everything that does not contribute to value enhancement is wastefulness!"

15

Process optimisation

Kaleidoscope"Enhance the value proposition: persuade with optimised processes" – this was the theme with which business association Travel Industry Club and HRS invited guests to the sector meeting. The conclusion of the third CTF: Without standardised processes, it is not possible (any more) to achieve individualised, sustainable travel management.

TEXT: ANKE PEDERSEN · PHOTOS: MICHAEL PRÖCK

01

05

02 03

04 06

07 08

16

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

01 Welcoming guests to the expert discussion about the challenges and trends in

travel management: HRS CEO Tobias Ragge (left) and TIC President Dirk Bremer

02 Omnipresent process experts: Christopher Hecht (HRS Global Senior Consultant

Payment Solution, left), Christian Heymach (HRS Solution Expert Sourcing) 03 Panel discussion: Merging worlds – transient meets MICE:

"We have to develop as a triad," is the call of HRS CEO Ragge looking at the

less than satisfactory cooperation between hotel business, travel management

and agencies. He is convinced: "Technology is not the bottleneck."

Andreas Kohn (Intercontinental Hotels, from left), Dirk Gerdom (President of

the German Business Travel Association (VDR)), Tobias Ragge, Greta Jesinghaus

(Munich Re)

04 The lady networks: Rona Jost (American Express) deep in discussion with

sector representatives

05 "The hot seat: Sharing Economy for corporates?" Hans-Jürgen Klesse

(chair, from left), Andreas Weinberger (Uber), Marcus Scholz (Europcar),

Roman Bach (9flats), Maximilian Dorndorf (Luther Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft)

06 Enthusiastic participants: Ludger Bals (NP4 Beyond Business Travel, right)

deep in discussion

07 Highly concentrated: Meetago General Manager Udo Lülsdorf (left) during the

debate on savings that can be generated by technology in the MICE segment

08 Panel discussion "Travel Management: Where are you headed? Travel managers

formerly, today, tomorrow": Whether MICE or travel management – it won't

work any more without an integral approach

Hans-Jürgen Klesse, Thorsten Schneeberg (Henkel), Yvonne Moya (Unilever),

Martina Eggler (CWT), Achim Schmitz (Adidas)

"Technology is not the bottleneck."

Tobias Ragge,

17

Corporate Travel Forum 2015

TEXT: MICHAEL BRAUN ALEXANDER · PHOTOS: DHIRAJ SINGH

Maximum City Mumbai

Admittedly: Mumbai does not have the greatest of reputa-tions among business trav-ellers. The metropolis of 20

million people on the Arabian Sea is considered an urban monster, a behe-

moth which should be avoided and flown around if at all possible. Let's be honest: Whoever sets off on a journey there for the first time, usually does it with a sink-ing feeling in their stomach – and after landing immediately sees the unappetis-

ing clichés confirmed. Traffic appears to be completely chaotic. Dirt: in the water, on land, in the air. The throngs of peo-ple and the ubiquitous animals – sacred cows and scrawny cats, dogs, chickens, rats, crows – take some getting used to.

Chaotic behemoth to some, cosmopolitan global city to others: The jury's out on Mumbai. Yet the commercial capital of the third-largest economy worldwide is becoming increasingly similar to the Big Apple: with the stock exchange, Bollywood and a dazzling hotel scene.

181818

BUSINESS TRAVEL

However, anyone who stays for longer than two or three days and engages with this multi-layered city will like-ly revise this initial impression and be reminded of another megacity 12,500 kilometres away: Mumbai, which up to the mid-1990s was known as Bombay, bears a striking similarity to New York City in many respects. The geograph-ic location of the coastal city – a nar-row peninsula which on the map points like a finger southward into the ocean

– has almost the identically same di-mensions as Manhattan. Historically, both Bombay and New York share co-lonial roots. Both are social melting pots, where many different cultures meet: In the same way that the Big Apple was shaped by Italians, Jews, Irish people, Germans, Latinos and oth-ers, Marathis, Gujaratis, Parsis and mi-grants from all regions of the subconti-nent all play a part in the Maximum City.Just like NYC, Mumbai is also known

as the business and cultural capital of its country. The financial and stock-ex-change district of what is currently the world's third-largest economy is called Dalal Street here instead of Wall Street, and the Bollywood film studios pro-vide the glitz and glamour. For millions of young Indians, this city is simply scintillatingly cool, a place of unlimit-ed opportunities and hopes of a better future. "New York doesn’t sleep, Mum-bai doesn’t sleep," says Birgit Zorniger, who has lived and worked in both cit-ies and was General Manager of the Taj Lands End up to May 2015 – one of the largest hotels in India with al-most 500 rooms.

Superlative wealth vs. abject povertyComing from the airport in a taxi, an-yone who leaves the trendy, boom-ing precinct of Bandra behind them and crosses the Bandra-Worli Sea-Link, the bridge on the western edge of the city, will be reminded of Manhatten in another respect: Mumbai has a spec-tacular and rapidly burgeoning sky-line. "Antilia" is the name of the must-see skyscraper – the 170-metre and 27-storey high home of Mukesh Am-bani, chairman of conglomerate Reli-ance Industries. But there is not just superlative wealth in Mumbai, which is willing put on display with great os-tentation here, but also the most abject poverty. In Dharavi, the second-largest slum in southern Asia, around one mil-lion Mumbai citizens, or Mumbaikars, on two square kilometres.

Art and stock exchange in the east, consulate in the westThe roots of the city lie in the Fort pre-cinct. This is where the Bombay Stock Exchange, the eleventh-largest bourse worldwide, has its headquarters in the Phiroze Jeejeebhoy skyscraper. Finan-cial service providers, copy shops and countless other firms have located in

Sky Bar: Four Seasons

Mumbai

19

Mumbai:

Building frenzy: Turning Mumbai into a global city

Diverse: From basic apart-ment to luxury hotel

the neighbourhood and on the elegant colonial Horniman Circle. Only a few steps away, in the southern half of the Fort precinct, is the flourishing art dis-trict Kala Ghoda with galleries, high-class restaurants (Khyber, Trishna) and designer shops like Obataimu, which ac-tually opened up a branch in Paris re-cently. Mumbai's most important muse-um is situated around the corner; it has the wonderfully catchy name: Chhatra-pati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya.Nariman Point, on the other hand, a high-rise district on the opposite bank of the peninsula, was only wrest from the sea in the mid-20th century through reclamation and is the seat of many corporate headquarters and dip-lomatic missions up to the present day (see info box). Further business clusters have formed in the Bandra Kurla Com-plex (BKC) and in Andheri, which are lo-cated closer to the airport. Meanwhile, when all appointments are over, visitors to Mumbai generally end up sooner or later in the hotels and restaurants in Co-

laba on the southern tip of the penin-sula, which is its tourist centre. Only a few steps behind the Taj Mahal, which has long been restored to its former stunning glory, city life pulsates in the Leopold Cafe – which has been a clas-sic destination for snacks, beer, whis-key and to see and be seen long before Gregory David Roberts’ global success with "Shantaram".

Tailwind for tourism and business travel Nevertheless, overall, travellers from abroad are still relatively seldom in Mum-bai and India. According to estimates of the World Travel & Tourism Councils, only 7. 8 million travellers entered the coun-try in 2015, one-fifth of whom were businesspeople. Singapore alone, which is only one-quarter of the size of Mum-bai, boasted 15 million foreign guests in the same period. However, the Indi-an market is growing rapidly. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Foun-dation estimates that total expenditure

in the business travel segment will in-crease by 9.8 percent in 2015 and by as much as 10.9 percent in 2016.In Mumbai itself, there are currently some 12,700 "branded" hotel rooms available – Delhi is the only city in India to beat this figure by a small margin – and their number is set to rise to 14,600 within five years. "Some 13 or 14 years ago, there were only two top-class ho-tels in the city, the Taj and the Oberoi," Zorniger says. "Many more have joined them – pretty much all the big chains." In the meantime, apart from the Indi-an hospitality groups Taj, ITC, Leela and Oberoi, Four Seasons, Hilton, Hyatt, In-terContinental and JW Marriott are also represented. Marriott's premium brand, Ritz-Carlton, which hitherto only had a presence in Bangalore in India, plans to open in the central Worli precinct in 2017. Indian Hotels, part of the Tata Group and in Mumbai with three luxury Taj hotels (Taj Mahal, Lands End, Presi-dent), will open its fourth at the end of 2015 – the Taj Santacruz at the airport.

"Some 13 or 14 years ago, there were only two top-class hotels in the city."

20

BUSINESS TRAVEL

Traditional and modern: Lunch break in Mumbai

A market with enormous potential

Todd W. Arthur, Managing Director South-East Asia, on the development of the Indian business travel market.

With the opening of an office in Mumbai, HRS is continu-ing its international expansion. What potential do you see in the Indian market? India is already one of the top 10 business travel markets in the world today, the country with the second-largest population and it is seeing unabat-ed economic growth: The GBTA (Global Business Travel As-sociation) forecasts two-digit growth rates in the business travel segment for the next two years. Thus it is decisive for HRS to be represented in this market to support the multinational companies there and also to optimise sup-port for existing customers who are active in this market.

How do you assess the maturity of the Indian business travel market – particularly in comparison to other mar-kets in the Asia-Pacific Region? In comparison to very pro-gressive markets in the APAC region, like for example Sin-gapore, Hong Kong or Australia, India still has a bit of catching up to do. However, the pace of development is staggering, and the market is making enormous progress. Just like in China, entire stages of development are being bypassed and mobile solutions, for example, are being im-plemented immediately.

What are the major trends that you see in the region and how can HRS support companies operating there? On the company side, the focus is particularly on trans-parency and cost reduction in travel programmes, on the user side, it is on speedy adaptation in the mobile seg-ment as mentioned above. Both will also be drivers for HRS to support companies in the market and offer signifi-cant value added.

Boom in middle-class hotel industryAt the same time, the range of hos-pitality services on offer is becom-ing more diverse. For example, Indian Hotels, the Indian market leader with 12,000 guest rooms, no longer oper-ates just luxury hotels today, but also more affordable accommodation un-der the brand names "Vivanta" (four-star), "Gateway" (three-star) and "Gin-ger" (two-star).Even confidently stylish boutique ho-tels have recently been opened, for ex-ample the charmingly earthy Abode and Gordon House, both situated in prime locations in Colaba. And any-one who goes up to the AER for a cock-tail in the evening, the glitzy midtown roof bar on the 34th floor of the Four Seasons, may well finally revise their opinion of Mumbai as a behemoth while looking down over the Maxi-mum City.Maybe they will even be reminded of Manhattan.

21

Mumbai:

TEXT: MICHAEL BRAUN ALEXANDER

Facts & FiguresHotel industry.The spectrum ranges from some of the best hotels in the world to the most basic hostels. Currently, some 12,700  guest rooms meet interna-tional standards, whereby occupan-cy rates in Mumbai (72 percent) are above those for India overall (almost 60  percent). For business travellers, Mumbai is the most expensive city in the country: The average price per room and per night is currently at 7,194 rupees (almost €100).

PaymentCash machines: On almost every street corner. Travellers are advised to check with their own bank whether their cards will work in India.Credit cards: Are accepted in all high-end shops and hotels.

Facts Population: 20.5 millionLanguages: Marathi, Hindi, English, GujaratiNational holidays: 26 January (Re-public Day), 15 August (Independ-ence Day), 2 October (Mahatma Gan-dhi Day).Time: CET +3.5 hours (summer), +4.5 hours (winter)German Consulate General: Hoechst House, 10th floor, Nariman Point, Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai 400 021, phone. +91 22 2283 2422, www.mumbai.diplo.de

Austrian Honorary Consulate General: 26 Maker Chambers VI, 2nd floor, Na-riman Point, Mumbai 400 021, phone. +91 22 2285 1734, www.bmeia.gv.atConsulate General of Switzerland: 102 Maker Chambers IV, 10th floor, 222 Jamnalal Bajaj Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021, phone. +91 22 2288 4563, www.eda.admin.ch/countries/in-dia/en/home/representations/consu-late-general.html

EconomyEconomic growth for 2015: India, currently the world's third-largest economy, is growing faster than all other G20 nations at almost 7 percent in 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is regarded as pro-reform and business-oriented. Mumbai is India's commercial capital and the head-quarters of the country's major stock

exchanges, the Bombay Stock Ex-change (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).Inflation rate for 2015: 5.3 percentUnemployment rate for 2015: 5 percentCurrency: Indian rupee (INR)Exchange rate: 1 euro = 75 INR, 1 CHF = 68,3 INR (September 2015)

SecurityMumbai is a relatively safe city, par-ticularly in comparison with the capital, Delhi. The greatest risk for (continental) Europeans is the traffic (left-hand driv-ing), which takes some getting used to). Particularly after nightfall, it is wise – like everywhere in the world – to

exercise caution and common sense. Women should not travel in taxis unac-companied at night. The tourist police can be helpful in the event of an emer-gency, but are not always useful.Emergency services: 100 (police), 101 (fire brigade)

Communication Phone: Foreign mobiles work. Anyone staying for longer than a week should purchase an Indian pre-paid SIM card in one of the numerous telecom shops (e. g. from Airtel, Vodafone), because roaming and phone costs are exorbitant (phone call costs around €3/minute). Activation takes between one and three days (passport photos and passport required), for example at Wilbur Khan, Al-Amin Communication Centre, N. F. Road, which is in a central location in Colaba between Leopold Cafe and Taj Mahal.Wi-Fi: In many public locations like airports and hotels, as well as in high-end restaurants.

Apps Olacabs: Reliable and inex-pensive limousine service.

m-Indicator: Useful for all who stay longer than a few days in Mumbai and use public transport.

Time Out Mumbai: Tips and events.

22

BUSINESS TRAVEL

Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport

THANE CREEK

ARABIAN SEA

Fort

Bandra Kurla Complex

Dharavi

Andheri East

Kala Ghoda

Colaba

Nariman Point

Sanjay Gandhi National Park

Travel Plane: International flights are handled at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Air-port (IATA code BOM) at Terminal 2, do-mestic Indian flights at Terminal 1. The airport is situated almost 20 kilometres (45 to 75 minutes by taxi) north of the old town district of Fort. To get from the airport to the city, prepaid taxis are practical and inexpensive (counters in the terminals, cost about €10).Public transportation: Buses and trains are the most important modes of trans-port for millions of Mumbaikars. Gen-

erally, most foreign business travellers do not use them because of the crowds.Cars/Taxis: Hotels can arrange any type of transfer. Street taxies are inexpen-sive and available everywhere, with (blue and white) and without (yellow and black) air-conditioning. Before starting a journey, travellers should check that the taxi meter is working. Many taxi drivers speak Marathi and/or Hindi, but very little English. App-based travel services like Ola and Uber work well. Rickshaws (tuk-tuks) have

now been banned from the southern city precincts, but are ubiquitous in the northern precincts and in Bandra.Long-distance transportation: There are direct flights from Mumbai to all major cities in India. Trains (from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus/CST) are very inexpen-sive, even in first class. Rental cars, with a driver, cost from around €20 per day.Entry: Passport and visa.

Flight times Mumbai:

Abu Dhabi 3 h 00 min

Delhi 2 h 00 min

Dubai 2 h 50 min

Frankfurt 8 h 25 min

Istanbul 6 h 50 min

London 9 h 15 min

New York 14 h 25 min

Singapore 5 h 25 min

Room ratesØ per night

Mumbai: €107

23

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carefully designed and furnished to of-fer guests superior comfort and luxury. With spectacular views of the manicured lawns or the glistening blue waves of the Arabian Gulf, every room promises a palatial experience.

Combine this unique welcome with the finest global cuisine across 14 res-taurants, cafés and lounges to create a dining experience beyond compare. Crafted by a team of passionate multi- national chefs, experience the full fla-

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The premier meeting and conference destination in the city, Emirates Palace attracts business drivers and key deci-sion makers from around the world to its beautiful front steps. Within a total meeting and conference space exceed-ing 7,000 sqm, Emirates Palace boasts an Auditorium and Ballroom accommodat-ing 1,100 and 2,400 guests, respective-ly. In addition, over 40 meeting rooms, six large terraces and a variety of pre-function areas provide many options

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Emirates PalaceManaged by KempinskiWest Corniche RoadP.O. Box 39999Abu DhabiUnited Arab Emirates

Situated on 1.3 km of private beach and 85 hectares of gar-dens and lawns, Emirates Palace comprises 394 rooms and suites

carefully designed and furnished to of-fer guests superior comfort and luxury. With spectacular views of the manicured lawns or the glistening blue waves of the Arabian Gulf, every room promises a palatial experience.

Combine this unique welcome with the finest global cuisine across 14 res-taurants, cafés and lounges to create a dining experience beyond compare. Crafted by a team of passionate multi- national chefs, experience the full fla-

vours of exquisite Italian cuisine at Mezzaluna, relish the day’s fresh catch at Sayad, or indulge in the unique local fla-vours of the Emirates at Mezlai.

The premier meeting and conference destination in the city, Emirates Palace attracts business drivers and key deci-sion makers from around the world to its beautiful front steps. Within a total meeting and conference space exceed-ing 7,000 sqm, Emirates Palace boasts an Auditorium and Ballroom accommodat-ing 1,100 and 2,400 guests, respective-ly. In addition, over 40 meeting rooms, six large terraces and a variety of pre-function areas provide many options

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attracts key decision makers from around the world to its beautiful front steps.

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for private meetings, cocktail receptions, banquets, concerts and congresses. Set in beautifully landscaped gardens with vast picturesque lawns, the Palace also offers spectacular outdoor venues for gala dinners and events.

The multi-purpose Business Centre, located conveniently beside the Lobby, is an office away from home for the most astute business traveller. Whether there is a need to execute a last minute pre-sentation or organize a quick meeting, the Business Centre is available 24/7.

The hotel’s leisure facilities include two outdoor temperature-controlled swimming pools, the Emirates Palace

Spa, tennis courts, a cricket pitch, a FIFA standard football pitch, a marina and two state-of-the-art fitness centres.

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Travel Management, where are you headed?"Procurement of travel services" – since time immemorial, this has been how the function of travel management (TM) was described. The greater the costs saved, the more valuable its role in the com-pany was. However, TMCs and providers like HRS have long since been carrying out procurement and more, and doing it equally professionally, if not more so. So will TM still be required in the future?

TRANSCRIPT: ANKE PEDERSEN

For – Dirk Gerdom, President of the German Business Travel Association (VDR)

The question of whether there will still be travel man-agers in the future too is one I can only answer with a resounding "Yes" as President of the VDR. After all, the difference between the travel departments

of yesteryear and the travel managers of former days, and those whom we now describe as mobility managers, lies in the fact that these latter have long since adapted to the changed conditions and also to the new challenges that trav-el management is posing and are actively involved in shap-ing their own future.Of course, the job has long ceased to consist purely of book-ing the business trips themselves, defining certain trav-el or administration processes or also negotiating with ser-vice providers. Although that is still one component of the job description, the new mobility managers take on much farther reaching and more responsible tasks in addition to this, however.The new course of studies launched by the VDR Academy to qualify as a Certified Mobility Manager shows very clearly that employees who are responsible for business travel in a company have to be well-versed in commercial and per-

sonnel issues as well nowadays. They can assess which political, social

or legal changes will affect their own work. And they also know, for example, what services from the sharing economy segment mean for individu-als' travel behaviour. Add to this the changes with regard to current tax law as well as

international agreements. Re-porting and analysis play a de-

cisive role in this respect. In the

meantime, far more is required than was the case only a few years ago. Thus, alongside operational tasks, travel manage-ment has now also assumed a strategic function. Communi-cation now plays a significantly more important role in this area than previously. Travel guidelines must be brought to life to achieve the balancing act between the traveller's indi-vidual freedom and the company's rules. That is not always easy, particularly when a multitude of new offers is literally flooding the market. Thus someone with the necessary ex-pertise is required here who is able to assess these devel-opments and react to them at the right time. Today, therefore, new technologies have considerably great-er influence, because they are also decisive in propelling the topic of distribution. For that reason, the people companies need for this task are precisely those who come from the travel management area and have already developed into mobility managers. After all, this is primarily a question of economic reasons. Mobility managers sit at the interfaces to numerous other corporate divisions and can actively contrib-ute to shaping them; for example, when event or fleet man-agement is at issue. Thus it is all the more important that these departments are implemented firmly in the future too, so that they can make their own specific contribution to cor-porate success.

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26

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

Travel Management, where are you headed?

Against – Jörg Martin, CTC Corporate Travel Consulting

If travel management stays at its current status – rooted in operations – then it will not have a future in the long term. Because at the operation level, it has not had a brief up to now and no real assignment, and thus frequently

no end-to-end responsibility – meaning responsibility right from the start of the process, including designing the travel guidelines, designing the booking and settlement processes through travel expense accounting right up to the end of the process, controlling. Thus travel management (TM) is often only a player in the overall orchestra and not the conductor. But travel management has to position itself as conductor! Because the process that entails is cross-departmental, and to be able to do it it is important to assume clear responsi-bility within the company. Otherwise, the situation will arise that the department which is particularly strong will make the rules. For example, the issues of data transparency and costs are heavily at the forefront of considerations in the areas of finance and procurement, whereas the traveller and the pro-cess expenditure tend to be more important if the personnel department is lead manager. Overall, it is like in an orchestra, where someone has to dictate what will be played, when to

start playing and at what speed and at which volume to play. Other-

wise we experience a cacopho-ny which causes excruciating headaches. In other words, that means: If travel management wants to continue playing an oper-ational role and not a strate-gic one, there is a great dan-

ger that strategically oriented departments will subsume the

issue. Thus the value added con-

tributed by travel management would be lost, or at least would no longer be recognisable; then its tasks could be as-sumed just as easily by a travel agency or management con-sultancy – meaning by experts who ultimately are possible even cheaper. Yet TMCs and the like should in fact be used more as vicarious agents to provide travel management with the necessary room for manoeuvre.To summarise, that means that the topic of travel manage-ment must be viewed integrally as an extremely multi-lay-ered complex. And then it is important to define and man-age interfaces in order to stipulate which music should be played by the orchestra. This, in turn, requires a brief from management level. Because otherwise, the overall view is lacking and priorities will be set as they happen to come in: At one point, costs will be at the focus of attention, then em-ployee satisfaction, and tomorrow it will be globalisation.However, up to today, departments responsible for trav-el management are suffering because they have no clear brief and no assignment. But both are important! The brief means: You have the power to implement. The assignment defines the objective. But this is precisely where many fal-ter and infer measures from an assignment they think they have received. Everyone thinks: "I must optimise costs," but along which guide rails? Thus TM automatically ends up in a weak position. To phrase this differently: Because trav-el management does not position itself, companies do not know its value added.On the other hand, if travel managers position themselves so that they are perceived as conductors, then they indicate visible value added in doing so: They manage clean, defined and thus changeable processes. On the other hand, if they remain rooted in operations, then they will be a species in danger of extinction.

27

For & Against

Security: More important than ever

The Paris attacks have made it painfully clear to us that there

is no such thing as 100 percent security and that unforeseen

incidents can occur even in countries which are classified as safe.

First and foremost, security is a subjective feeling. Thus it is no

surprise that according to a recent survey taken by the U.S. Busi-

ness Travel Coalition, alongside the "typical" crisis regions, travel

managers in the United States also have an eye on France and

one in every five respondents regarded it as likely that upcom-

ing business trips would be cancelled at their company. Around

70 percent wanted to leave it up to their travellers whether they

wished to go on their business trip or not. In addition, more than

half of respondents, 55 percent, stated that impending amend-

ments to travel guidelines were being driven by duty of care.

28

TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

It was probably the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull in March 2010 which gave the topic of security the decisive push in travel

management departments. When Eu-ropean airspace was closed down back then, almost every company whose em-ployees regularly travelled in the region was faced with the question of where which employees actually were at that moment.And in some circumstances, this ques-tion was not very easy to answer at all. Travel agencies had to be contact-ed and online booking systems trawled through. Various departments had to painstakingly collate their data. Imme-diately, many travel managers became aware that they lacked the necessary overview.Then, only a few months later and rath-er more dramatically, the entire proce-dure was repeated again when the Arab Spring erupted. Here too, companies needed reliable information speedily about which employees were current-ly in which crisis hot spots in order to be able to contact them and assist them if necessary.

"The topic of duty of care noticeably rose several notches on the agenda""That was the time when we were in-creasingly confronted with the topic,"

Heiko Reintsch, Head of Product De-velopment Corporate Solutions at HRS, recalls. "Because the topic of of duty of care had noticeably risen several notches on companies' agenda." To meet these demands, HRS immediately began working with security service providers to find possibilities for integrating ho-tel booking data into risk management providers' crisis management. The idea behind it was: By amalgam-ating information from various book-ing channels, for example travel agen-cy systems or online booking engines, the optimum picture should emerge of where which employees currently were located, if for instance a strike, natural disaster or terror attack should necessi-tate intervention at short notice. "After all, viewed from the aspect of security, the hotel is a very significant compo-nent of a trip," Reintsch says.To achieve this, HRS created interfaces to major security firms like Interna-tional SOS, iJet and Anvil. This enabled transmission of booking data for shared customers. Besides this, HRS itself developed the "People Locator" with which travel man-agers can get an over-view of the location of their employees in the worst-case scenario.

Business travel: Risks and side-effectsIt is firmly enshrined into law that companies must protect the health and lives of their employees – both at work and while travelling. However, many companies have only developed a real security management system in recent years – in light of current events.

TEXT: JÜRGEN BALTES

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International SOS

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Duty of Care

At International SOS, this informa-tion is valued highly, Sales and

Marketing Director Frederic Balme confirms. "The tech-nological possibilities are a great help to us in being able to react fast in emer-gency situations," the expert

says. However, it still does not provide 100 percent coverage,

he admits. Thus, during the Arab Spring in Egypt, for example, Balme

recounts, his company could see who had just flown to Cairo, but not neces-sarily who had already begun their on-ward journey to Alexandria. For that

reason International SOS, like other providers too, developed an app that is linked to their own Traveltracker through which travellers can actively get in touch themselves and transmit their current location. HRS Manager Reintsch can well im-agine that security networks will be-come even more closely interlinked in future. Data from online and mobile check-ins, which are being increasing-ly used, could be linked to security sys-tems, for example, to be able to deter-mine whether a traveller had already arrived at a hotel he had booked or had already checked out of the hotel. At the same time, Reintsch believes that ser-vice providers will "push" the relevant information to travel managers much more frequently in the future, instead of them having to request it. Technolog-ically, some progress can likely be ex-pected here still, Reintsch believes, but always in compliance with data protec-tion regulations. Objectively, however, the real security situation has not nec-essarily deteriorated, is the assessment of International SOS Director Balme. "It is more a case of waves," he says, for

example like the bird flu pandemic in 2006, the Arab Spring or Fukushima. Only 2 percent of companies still pro-cured his company's assistance servic-es for evacuations, he said. In contrast, around 80 percent were harmless rou-tine cases, where, for example, some-one needed an English-speaking dentist in Vietnam or needed to know the name of their heart medication in Japanese."What has, however, changed, is the per-ception," adds Nils Retkowski, COO of security service provider Result Group. Among both companies and employees, an awareness of danger has "definitely hit home." Retkowski gives the exam-ple of Egypt. "Ten years ago, business travellers just went there without ask-ing any questions. It is quite a different story today." On the other hand, an in-creased risk can objectively been seen in the fact that more and more medi-um-sized companies are travelling on business to all corners of the world, according to International SOS Direc-tor Balme. In addition, a statistically increased risk has arisen simply from the fact that business travellers now-adays – similar to the general popula-tion – are older on average than they used to be, he says.However, a completely different aspect overrides all of this, and that is the legally enshrined duty of care, which in Germany is regulated by the Ger-man Civil Code and the Social Insur-ance Code. They stipulate to employ-ers that they must avoid dangers to the health, life and limb of their employ-ees. Although this wording tends to be rather vague with regard to trips, law-yers nonetheless infer an entire raft of measures required from it. Thus the employer must guarantee his employees western standards of medi-cal care when they are abroad too, give them special protection in crisis regions and inform them sufficiently even be-fore departure about living and work-ing conditions in the foreign country or countries, lawyers say.

Prevention and communication are essentialInternational SOS Director Balme also believes that the key to security man-

Among both companies and their employees, an awareness of danger has definitely hit home.

An eye on all travellers with the

People Locator

The HRS People Locator gives travel

managers a quick overview of their

travellers' current whereabouts.

Basically, the free tool comprises a

map of the world which visualises all

bookings. Using a geographic search,

travel managers can see at the touch

of a button who is located when in a

particular region. Travellers affected

can be contacted directly using the

application.

Heiko Reintsch, Head of

Product Development

Corporate Solutions HRS

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agement lies in prevention. He sees his companies key task in preparing employees as thoroughly as possible for their trip to far-off countries. That starts with information about vacci-nations or upcoming elections and reaches as far as individual training in behaviour in that country. Balme is convinced: "If, for example, a female technician travels to a Muslim country, then she should probably be trained in advance," for example in cultural differ-ences and behavioural norms. At the same time, routine measures should be internalised, for example to always carry a spare battery for one's smart-phone. The trustworthiness of the taxi driver must be ensured in the same way as communication channels to colleagues. Balme: "These are all little things, but taken together they gener-ate the greatest possible measure of security." And when things really get risk, Balme can still promote his company's spe-cial services. Because, like other se-curity service providers, International SOS also has several thousand doctors, security experts and experts in other fields all around the globe. They pro-vide local help in emergencies, but can also provide services like taking a busi-ness travellers safely from the airport

to the hotel at night-time in Nigeria. Balme then also sees himself as a "busi-ness enabler".

Against this backdrop, the topic of com-pliance also gains a new level of sig-nificance, as HRS manager Reintsch comments. Because the better the em-ployees adhere to the travel guidelines and book through the preferred chan-nels, the better companies are also in-formed about their travel routes and their whereabouts – a key prerequi-site for effective security management, he says.

It is a question of routine measures: Is medical care guaranteed, is the taxi driver trustworthy?

This is what regulates duty of care

Duty of care is one of the most important accessory obligations

in an employment contract. In Germany, it is essentially regu-

lated in section 241 Par. 2 as well as section 242 of the German

Civil Code as well as in section 17 of the Fifth Criminal Code.

In short, the employer has the obligation to reduce risks to the

health, safety and life of its employees to the extent that this is

necessary and reasonable.

However, what this precisely should entail is not described in

greater detail. Furthermore, there are too few clarifying ver-

dicts, according to labour law firm Rudolf & Vossberg, meaning

that legal opinions define the framework. Within the scope of

the duty of care, according to Rudolf & Vossberg, factors must

be taken into account like the duration of the foreign assign-

ment, political stability, the religious and cultural situation,

working and living conditions in the country as well as the

employee's foreign experience. Put simply: The greater the risks

the less experienced the employee, the higher the requirements

with respect to duty of care. According to a report prepared

by consultants Spitzweg-Partnerschaft on behalf of insurer Er-

go-Versicherung, even a lack of information and enlightenment

can lead to indemnity claims.

In order to suffice one's duty of care as an employer, the legal

experts particularly recommend the implementation of internal

secondment and travel guidelines, training of expats before

departure, appropriate insurance cover as well as the provision

of a 24-hour emergency service which will provide both medical

and personal protection services on trips in "circumstances of

elevated risk".

Important to note: Duty of care is treated with varying levels of

strictness internationally. In the UK, for instance, the strict Cor-

porate Manslaughter Act has been in effect since 2008, according

to which companies can be subject to criminal prosecution in the

event of fatal accidents.

Promote compliance with the

Travel Policy Protector

Companies can promote adherence

to travel guidelines using the free

HRS Travel Policy Protector. In

consultation with the travel manager,

round robins and e-learning pro-

grammes are regularly compiled, for

example with tips on fast booking,

notification of corporate rates or

tight room quotas before trade fairs.

Travel management receives a quar-

terly success measurement analysis.

Contact: Nina Mützenich

([email protected])

Duty of Care

31

Are you looking for a location that is perfect for your conference or event?

These hotels offer a wide variety and ideal settings – whether for a small seminar or a major event.

Conference hotels

Rooms: 50 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 1 room | max. 60 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 15 km | Main Train Station 15 km Airport 40 km | Trade Fair 5 km

ARCUS HOTEL

Rooms: 253 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 10 rooms | max. 500 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 5 km | Main Train Station 5 km Airport 40 km | Trade Fair 5 km

GRAND HOTEL AMRÂTH KURHAUS

COLLEGIUM GLASHÜTTEN CENTRE FOR COMMUNICATIONS

Rooms: 123 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 24 rooms | max. 199 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 3 km | Main Train Station 30 km Airport 36 km | Trade Fair 30 km

AMRÂTH GRAND HOTEL DE L’EMPEREUR

Rooms: 149 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 7 rooms | max. 300 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 0.2 km | Main Train Station 0.1 km Airport 10 km | Trade Fair 2.5 km

Selected conference hotels for your corporate event

WEISSENFELD

GLASHÜTTEN

THE HAGUE | SCHEVENINGEN

MAASTRICHT

HRS RECOMMENDS

32

Book your conference hotel now at www.hrs.com! Or contact us at +49 221 2077 300 or email us at

[email protected]

ARCADEON

Rooms: 78 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 16 rooms | max. 230 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 4.2 km | Main Train Station 5.4 km Airport 27 km | Trade Fair 21 km

RADISSON BLU RESORT

Rooms: 250 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 9 rooms | max. 600 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available

Location: Centre 3 km | Main Train Station 3 km Airport 22 km | Trade Fair 3 km

Rooms: 55 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 8 rooms | max. 202 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available Location: Centre 8 km | Main Train Station 9.9 km

Airport 5.5 km | Trade Fair 5.5 km

MUTTERHAUS GRIMM’S POTSDAMER PLATZ

Rooms: 110 Wi-Fi: included

Conferences: 2 rooms | max. 65 people

Audio-visual conference equipment: available Location: Centre 0.5 km | Main Train Station 2.5 km

Airport 15 km | Trade Fair 12.5 km

DÜSSELDORF

SPLIT

BERLIN

HAGEN

33

The centuries-old rivalry between the neighbouring cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf: It is one of the most ardent rivalries in all of Germany. However, it is par-ticularly the citizens of Cologne who do not like the

residents of the "Forbidden City" 40 kilometres downstream at all. Up to the present day, historians differ on the reasons for this, which go back to Medieval times. However, in more recent history, it was particularly the decision of the British in 1946 to make this "village", which is just half the size of Cologne, the state capital of the newly formed federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Despite the rivalry elsewhere, the two cities have been work-ing together side by side for the past three years or so on the marketing cooperation agreement "Kölndüsseldorf – The Meetropolis", an EU project in which both cities are advertis-ing together to attract international guests from the MICE and business travel segments. Form the view of the state capi-tal, it actually has an advantage because of its comparative-ly manageable size which the Cologne contingent will never be able to beat anyway: Düsseldorf is city of short distances.

Much is generally not expected from a city with the name “Dorf” (village) in its title. However, in Düsseldorf's case, this would be a mistake. Because the German metropolis on the Rhine with its 600,000 inhabitants is not just the centre of one of the strongest economic regions in the world. Because of its international accessibility, selection of hotels and positive image as a fash-ion, banking and cultural metropolis, the city is the organiser of the largest number of top-notch trade fairs in the world today.

Models, media, MICE TEXT: ANKE PEDERSEN · PHOTOS: DOMINIK ASBACH

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MEETINGS & GROUPS

Within the city centre, all locations, from the event centre through the conference hotel right up to the event location can be reached quickly – usually on foot, actually – and even from international airport DUS it is only ten minutes by taxi to downtown Düsseldorf. Transcontinental hub Frankfurt Airport is less than one-and-a-half hours away by train. But travel-lers can get to neighbouring countries with ease from Düssel-dorf's main train station – one of the most heavily frequent-ed in Germany – too. Not to mention the central connection to the densest motorway network in Europe.Admittedly, the almost 600,000-resident metropolis does not just score in the competition for conference planners with this location advantage: Düsseldorf's domestic and internation-al connections and accessibility for the basis for its massive economic strength. Apart from corporations like Metro, Bay-er and Henkel, some 5,000 further companies run their Ger-man and European business from North Rhine-Westphalia. And those numbers are rising. However, the city with the world-famous Königsallee street is far better known as a fash-ion and art metropolis, as a city of consultants and as Ger-

many's second-largest banking and stock exchange location after Frankfurt. Yet two parallel developments after the turn of the millennium were required until Düsseldorf could real-ly claim to hold more leading international trade fairs than any other other destination worldwide (including the Medi-ca, Drupa, ProWein, Boot, and the K plastics and rubber fair). On the one hand, the optimisation of accessibility: While Co-logne-Bonn Airport had concentrated on the low-budget seg-ment since 2002, Düsseldorf Airport has worked consistently, right up to the present day, at expanding its position as the third-largest airport hub in Germany (145 long-haul flights from 2016). Contributing to this will be the latest direct con-nections to Peking (since 2011, Air China), Tokyo (2014, ANA), Hong Kong (2015, Cathay Pacific) and Singapore (2016, Sin-gapore Airlines). Because in doing so, the airport is underpin-ning the fast-growing business exchange between Asia and the economic region of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Broadly diversified range of hotels between Media Harbour and KöFinally, in addition to its accessibility, Düsseldorf also de-veloped its range of accommodation. Admittedly, the trade-fair city was never short of hotels. However, since 2003, the number of hotel beds in Düsseldorf has more than doubled (as of 2015: 232 hotels). It started with the rejuvenation of the Königsallee (affectionately known as the "Kö") shop-ping street, where the new InterContinental Düsseldorf has commanded the previously vacant position of top dog since 2005. However, its unique position did not last long: in May 2008, the famous grand hotel Breidenbacher Hof returned to its original location. The third member of the triumvirate, the Steigenberger Parkhotel Düsseldorf at the opposite end of the Königsallee, returned to jockey for top position in 2014, restored to its former glory following extensive renovation and remodelling work.After the Kö, a hotel boom is now taking place in the up-and-coming Media Harbour district. The Rezidor Group laid the foundation stone for this revival in 2006 when it opened the Radisson Blu Media Harbour Hotel, the first design ho-tel in Düsseldorf developed specifically for the creative seg-ment. Shortly afterwards, Marriott followed with a Courtyard by Marriott, and subsequently, at the end of 2011, the im-

A village ("Dorf") of superlatives: the biggest amusement fair on the Rhine, the longest bar in the world and the world's largest event centre.

Trendy counterweight: Booming Media Harbour vs. quaint old town

35

MICE location check

posing Hyatt Regency Düsseldorf opened directly at the tip of the harbour with a further 303 design rooms. Currently, the latest new arrival is the Innside Düsseldorf Hafen hotel, which opened in 2013. And what a hotel! Because the group did not merely take over the Colorium skyscraper, a multi-coloured eye-catcher from the drafting table of British star architect William Allen Alsop. Innside also put its own fin-ish on the landmark directly at the mouth of the harbour by opening the sky bar – the name says it all – "The View" on the 17th floor of the building. However, this was by no means the end of the wave of hotel openings. Just in spring 2015, Derag Livinghotels launched their latest flagship, De Medici: a homage to the greatest art treasures of Europe in the heart of the art city, spanning 170 rooms and serviced apartments. Furthermore, Lindner Hotels have announced the opening of the first of their first "me and all hotels" for summer 2016 on Immermannstrasse, close to the train station. It will be designed as a new brand for busi-ness travellers over 30.

"We custoMICE your meeting"Planners worldwide confirm that the Number One criteri-on for deciding on a location is always the accessibility of a destination, followed by the appropriate hotel capacity and – Number 3 – its image. Accordingly, the powers that be in Düs-seldorf also came up with a plan to score against their their rather sturdy and quaint sister city. And the recipe for suc-

cess turned out to be to take the already firmly entrenched cliché of mega-trendy metropolis even further – and to po-sition the city in the best possible sense as a hip home for all people and things creative. It began with the great German poet, Heinrich Heine, and con-tinued with painters like Beuys, Lüpertz, Immendorf, Günter Uecker and Gerhard Richter, who were as controversial as they were famous, and continues through renowned cultural insti-tutes like the Museum Kunstpalast and the Kunsthalle Düssel-dorf right up to the modern creative scene comprising adver-tising, fashion and media. This creative strategy is most visibly evident in the multitude of events and superlatives which the city has devised to at-tract visitors: when celebrating, it invites guests to the "big-gest amusement fair on the Rhine" at "the longest bar in the world" which comprises 260 old town pubs, or to the largest Japanese cultural encounter festival in the world, Japan Day, with the largest Japanese fireworks outside Japan. This spe-cific superlative should be of particular interest to conference and convention organisers: The conglomeration of adjacent buildings comprising Esprit-Arena, CCD Congress Center and the halls of the Messe Düsseldorf trade-fair centre has sudden-ly been named "the world's largest event centre" by their own-ers and managers. This entails the promise: "Whether scientific convention or annual general meeting, gala evening or corpo-rate seminar: In keeping with our slogan 'We custoMICE your meeting' we offer the perfect location for every occasion."

Between Hofgarten park and Kö boulevard: the Kö-Bogen complex

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Local hero: Düsseldorf's dark

ale "Altbier"

Brand Mecca: the world-famous

Kö with Triton Fountain

An institution: the "Uerige" brewery in Düsseldorf's old town

North Rhine-Westphalia's centre of power:

the city gates

Magnet for photography: the building complex designed by star architect Frank Gehry

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MICE location check

Conference and convention hotels 01 Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf

Designed for conferences from top to bot-tom: This four-star hotel, opened in 2007, is North Rhine-Westphalia's largest event hotel and scores with its direct connection to Terminal C at Düsseldorf Airport as well as to Airport City. 533 rooms/suites and 33 meeting rooms for up to 5,000 people. Highlight: With 2,500 square metres, in-cluding gallery and stage, the Maritim has Düsseldorf's largest ballroom. → Maritim-Platz 1, 40474 Düsseldorf

02 Innside Düsseldorf HafenEye-catcher with a view: It is not just its location in Düsseldorf's inner harbour that makes this Melia design hotel, which opened in 2013, so special. Particularly unique features of this eye-catcher are its façade, which is composed of 2,000 mul-ti-coloured glass panels, as well as "The View", the sky lounge and bar which is ideal for relaxed evening events with its breath-taking view over the harbour, the Rhine bridges as well as the Düsseldorf left bank district. 134 rooms/suites and two meeting rooms for up to 80 people.→ Speditionsstrasse 9, 40221 Düsseldorf

03 Hyatt Regency DüsseldorfHarbour highlight! After these

two spectacular glass tow-ers at the absolute tip of the harbour opened, one thing was clear: From now on, the trendy Media Har-bour constitutes a serious

counterweight to the shop-ping and party scene that is

centred around the old town and the Kö some 15 minutes' walk away along the Rhine Promenade. Special features: Floor-to-ceiling windows throughout all 303 rooms and suites,which are all at least 31 square metres in size, as well as an in-comparable view out across the Rhine, its majestic bridges and world-renowned old-town backdrop. 11 meeting rooms for up to 500 people.→ Speditionsstrasse 19, 40221 Düsseldorf

04 Radisson Blu Media Harbour Hotel DüsseldorfMediterranean lifestyle on the Rhine: It's chic, it's trendy and it has been special-ly designed by the famous Matteo Thun for the creative people in the Media Harbour lifestyle precinct. The highlight of this 4+ star hotel: the Amano Verde vegetarian res-taurant with its cosy terrace. 135 rooms/suites and two meeting rooms for up to 35 people.→ Hammer Strasse 23, 40219 Düsseldorf

05 Steigenberger Parkhotel Düsseldorf "Grande Dame" on the

Düssel River: Built in 1902 and steeped in tradition, this ho-tel is not just an ar-chitectural treasure. After the completion

of the Kö-Bogen com-plex on the opposite side

of the road, the hotel's location on König-sallee 1a is now unbeatable too: The Hof-garten park stretches off to the left, the fa-mous shopping boulevard to the right, and in front a branch of the Düssel River shim-mers, populated by swans and ducks. 119 rooms and 11 suites, 6 meeting rooms for up to 220 people.→ Königsallee 1a, 40212 Düsseldorf

06 Breidenbacher Hof, A Capella HotelLiving legend: Everyone who is anyone, whether star or sheik, resides in this grand hotel on the Kö, which reopened in 2008. Highlights: the walk-in humidor in the Bar and Cigar Lounge, which has won many awards, as well as "das Wohnzimmer" ("the living room"), a kind of screened-off exec-utive lounge which is exclusively reserved for hotel guests and their guests. 85 rooms and 21 suites, 4 meeting rooms for up to 70 people.→ Königsallee 11, 40212 Düsseldorf

07 InterContinental Hotel Düsseldorf Pole position on the glamour boulevard: In downtown Düsseldorf, this elegant five-star hotel is the Number 1 for sophisticat-ed MICE travellers. The main station is just as easy to reach on foot as the old town, and it goes without saying that Gucci, Pra-da and Co. are too. Meetings can be held as desired in rooms with seductive names like "Brocade", "Cashmere" or "Satin". 287

rooms/suites, 14 meeting rooms for up to 1,200 people, including a ballroom for 850 guests.→ InterContinental Düsseldorf, Königsallee 59, 40215 Düsseldorf

08 Derag Livinghotel De MediciMonastic luxury: With a homage to the "great art treasures of Europe," Derag Liv-inghotels launched its second hotel in the heart of Düsseldorf's old town. Where monks once lived in the 17th century, the De Medici today receives guests with five stars and a skilfully curated private collec-tion. 170 rooms and serviced apartments as well as 6 meeting rooms for up to 200 people.→ Mühlenstrasse 31, 40213 Düsseldorf

Events & Special Locations

09 Kö-Bogen DüsseldorfEye-catcher at the Hofgarten park: König-sallee 2 – star architect Daniel Libeskind planted another spectacular monument at this elegant address, and not just its off-shoot of the Sansibar on the island of Sylt is perfect for relaxed evening events.→ Königsallee 2, 40212 Düsseldorf

10 Altes KesselhausSilver cutlery and crystal glasses: This for-mer steel production hall with listed fur-nace presents a monumental industrial backdrop for corporate events, after-work parties and product presentations. Up to 800 guests can be seated in the "Kessel" (furnace). The apprentices' workshop above the Kesselhaus offers space for a reception with up to 300 people.→ Hansaallee 321, 40549 Düsseldorf

11 Hotel Fire & IceSkiing in the Neuss Alps: This four-star ski hotel with its own ski cellar, curling rink, saunas and pistes is part of the first and largest indoor winter sport regions in Ger-many, and a miniaturised winter event beckons right from check-in. Starting at the crackling fire in the lobby fireplace and ranging through quaint hut-style gastrono-my right up to meeting rooms with a direct view of the powder ski slope in the Jever Skihalle. Special events: Mattress descents,

The MICE hotspots in Düsseldorf

MEETINGS & GROUPS

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curling games, mountain pasture drive and climbing in Germany's largest free-stand-ing high-wire garden. 79 theme rooms/suites, 13 meeting rooms for up to 380 people as well as Jever Skihalle Neuss in-door ski slopes.→ An der Skihalle 1, 41472 Neuss

12 Esprit ArenaSporty backdrop: This multifunctional are-na with retractable roof and adjacent Tulip Hotel is located directly beside the trade-fair grounds. The 20 meeting rooms, rang-ing in size from 39 to 252 square metres, the Platinum Club with up to 2,200 square metres of space, as well as the interior with an activity area of up to 10,200 square me-tres are ideally suited for conferences and conventions. → Arena-Strasse 1, 40474 Düsseldorf

13 Weinkellerei MalkastenSeclusion in a central location: Two archi-tectural nuggets and a listed park form the core of this exceedingly prestigious location, which is ideal for conferences and seminars. Eight meeting rooms for 40 to 300 people, including an auditorium and vaulted cellar.→ Jacobistrasse 6a, 40211 Düsseldorf

14 StahlwerkIndustrial chic with a beach: Whether gala dinner, concert, conference or fashion show: The professional event team breathes life into the steelworks, which once belonged to the Mannesmannröhren-Werke steel com-pany, in every way imaginable. The space has capacity for up to 2,500 people. High-light: the "Treibgut" city beach.→ Ronsdorfer Strasse 134, 40233 Düsseldorf

15 NachtresidenzTheatrical spectacle: Just a few steps away from the Kö, this former theatre, boast-ing a 13-metre-high domed hall and fire-place bar, is suitable for holding glamor-ous gala events and other events for up to 1,600 guests. → Bahnstrasse 13–15, 40212 Düsseldorf

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Experts speak of a "leapfrog," for the phe-nomenon that can currently be observed in China. Because with one enormous leap, the "Middle Kingdom" has jumped to the

pinnacle of the mobile world. In 2016, almost one in every two Chinese online users will book travel on a mobile device. This is the forecast of British travel research company Phocuswright. In 2011, only one percent booked on mobile devices. Thus China is the first country in the world where the mobile trend has more or less skipped the online trend completely, before the online trend could re-ally take hold at all.The momentum in China is also being reflected at HRS. "We have several corporate customers here who book a huge amount on mobile devices," says Dirk Schmidt, Director of Sales for Germany, Aus-tria and Switzerland at HRS. A trend which shows the general development at HRS. Whereas in 2012 only 6 percent of all hotel bookings came in from mobile devices, this share had already reached 12 percent by 2013 and had already hit 20 percent at the end of 2014. And although no final figures have been analysed for 2015 yet, one thing is al-ready clear: The upward trend is continuing. Ac-

cording to Schmidt, this development is also being propelled by the demands of Generation Y, who grew up in a digital world and have been familiar with smartphones, fast internet and social media from their earliest childhood. Their share of the working population is already at 30 percent today, and surveys indicate it will reach 50 percent by 2020, and 75 percent by 2030. The sheer force of this demographic change will compel companies to do a rethink. Schmidt is convinced: "Anyone who still confronts their travellers here with cumber-some corporate booking tools and denies them ad-equate mobile support will simply provoke these people to circumvent travel guidelines with book-ing channels they prefer for strategic reasons."

Bookings are made differently on a smartphone However, it will probably not enough for online travel providers to simply transfer the solutions they have crafted for desktops onto mobile de-vices, as Phocuswright analyst Bob Offutt warns. "The mobile world needs its own solutions," in the expert's conviction. Because needs and user be-haviour differ markedly from those of stationary

By 2016, more than 2 million people worldwide will own a smartphone. Many of them do not even have a stationary internet or telephone line any more. Thus it is clear that bookings via mobile devices will rise exponentially, also and particularly by business travellers.

Always and everywhereTEXT: JÜRGEN BALTES

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Dirk Schmidt,

Director of Sales Germany,

Austria, Switzerland, HRS

users. This is shown, for example, by the HRS sta-tistic that hotels are booked at significantly short-er notice and for shorter periods on mobile devic-es. Three-quarters of all smartphone bookings are received by HRS for the same or the next day, and predominantly for only one night. The heaviest booking day is Monday. In contrast, tablet users are most likely to book on Sundays, and generally more than 40 days in advance. Thus smartphone users are more likely to be business travellers, and tablet users are more likely to be on private trips.

Mobile bookings are cheaperHRS has reacted to the special mobile needs of corporate customers, who have to book at short notice because of unforeseen trips or postponed appointments, for example, with its own corporate app . This permits hotel searches using prepro-grammed company locations which are then dis-played on maps. The individual corporate rates are available, as are the predefined payment and set-tlement procedures. Branch offices, departments and invoice addresses are pre-set, and the booking

is automatically linked to the smart-phone calendar. Thus travellers

can book with a maximum of comfort, travel managers retain a complete over-view of all transactions and the accounts depart-ment benefits from per-fect invoice data. Anoth-

er aspect is also likely to be of interest to those re-

sponsible for travel: "The av-

erage price in all star categories is lower than for non-mobile bookings," HRS expert Dirk Schmidt explains. This is probably due in no small measure to the "HRS Mobile Special Tariff", which has been avail-able since 2014 – a special rate which is booka-ble exclusively via the HRS app and through which hotels market their vacant rooms to last-minute bookers. This can give corporate customers direct discounts of up to 30 percent. The number of hotels offering the Mobile Special Tariff tripled in the second half of 2014 alone, Schmidt says, and booking volume doubled in the same period. As expected, the "mobile avant-gar-de" is most active in the big cities. In Schmidt's conviction, the mobile channel is a particularly large benefit on business trips, because when ap-pointments change unexpectedly, business travel-lers can use it to book accommodation quickly and conveniently. Alongside this, further technologi-cal solutions are already pushing onto the mobile world stage and jockeying for top position there. These include wearables, like for example the Ap-ple Watch or the networked car. Apple Watch users can already use many of the features of the HRS app, for example to view their active bookings, the most important hotel information and also the ge-ographic location of a hotel.

According to studies, Millennials will already account for 75 percent of the working popula-tion in 2030.

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KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Philip KramerPhone +49 221 [email protected]

HEAD OF ACCOUNT SUPPORT CORPORATE SOLUTIONS Alexa Müller Phone +49 221 [email protected]

MEETINGS & GROUPSAntje TrierPhone +49 221 [email protected]

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