Latest news with #corporateTravel
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
United's Cost Discipline Shines as UBS Boosts Estimates
Thomas Wadewitz at UBS saw United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAL) cautious EPS guide as a green flag for Newark's recovery and rising corporate travel, so he boosted his price target to $114 and tweaked EPS forecasts. He now pegs Q4 EPS at $2.90 and FY 26 at $14.25, reflecting tight cost discipline. United held unit costs excluding fuel to just 2.2% growth even after front?loading flight attendant signing bonuses. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with UAL. That efficiency stemmed from strong network operations as capacity climbs five to six percent. United expects unit costs ex fuel to stay near 2.5% in the second half as demand picks up. All eyes are on next week's results from Delta, American, Southwest and JetBlue. How United balances improving demand with cost control will decide if UBS's bullish outlook holds. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Travel Weekly
06-07-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Ins and outs of incentive travel contracts
Mark Pestronk Q: Our corporate agency has a chance to arrange a large incentive trip for employees of a major corporation and their families. The corporation has asked us for a proposed contract that they can evaluate. While we handle a lot of business travel for the corporation, we don't have much experience with incentive travel. From an attorney's point of view, what are some key terms that we should have in the contract to protect ourselves? A: Here are the five most important clauses that will protect your agency: 1) Make sure that your agency will not be stuck with paying suppliers out of its own pocket and not getting reimbursed by the corporation. Ideally, the corporation should advance payments to you well before you have to pay suppliers. If that is not acceptable, then be sure to specify that the corporation must pay the suppliers directly and that you have no responsibility for such payment. 2) Specify exactly how you'll be compensated for your work. There are three possibilities: First, a client can pay you fixed fees or fees per hour for the work of your staff; second, you can mark up the supplier costs like you would if you were operating a tour; and third, the suppliers can pay you a commission. You can also get compensated by any combination of the three methods. For example, the corporation could pay you on an hourly basis for your staff's work; you could also mark up the supplier costs; and you could get paid a commission by suppliers. No law requires that a travel agency must reveal its markup or commission amounts. A question that often arises is this: If the corporation is going to be the party signing supplier contracts, and if the contract contains net prices that you will mark up, then doesn't it follow that you will be revealing the amount of your markup? The answer is yes, but if you do not want to reveal the amount of your markup (or even the fact that you have a markup), you could get the corporation's consent (in the contract) to sign supplier contracts "as agent for" the corporation. 3) Provide that the corporation is responsible for getting all participants to sign your disclaimer, such as the one at stating that you are not responsible for supplier problems, acts of God or anything else. Further, provide that the corporation will indemnify you against claims of participants who didn't sign if they suffer injuries or losses. 4) Specify clear deadlines by which the corporation must pay you. Most commonly, the agency performs a post-trip reconciliation of client advances versus the trip's actual expenses, and the client must pay the difference, if any, within X days after you email your final invoice. If there is a force majeure clause in the contract, make sure that it doesn't excuse the corporation from paying you. 5) Provide that, if you have to sue the corporation for nonpayment, the court will award you attorneys fees if you win the case.
Skift
02-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Business Travel Forecasts for the Rest of the Year a Mix of Optimism and Shifting Priorities
Business travel predictions for Q3 & 4 vary widely, with the travelers sometimes appearing more optimistic than their companies. Various sectors of the business travel industry have released their predictions for the remainder of the year — and they're all over the place. For some, it appears that geopolitics, tariffs, travel advisories, and border hassles are not enough for companies to keep most travelers home. Others, including the industry's largest member-focused organization, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), hint at signs of a slowdown. Summer Travel Optimism Corporate travel management platform Navan's new Summer Travel Trend Report reported that summer flight bookings on the platform are up 10% and hotel bookings up 25% compared to last summer. 'We're seeing strong demand for business travel this summer,' said Rich Liu, CEO of travel. 'Executives have businesses to run, they clearly recognize the value of travel, connection, and face-to-face interactions.' Attendees clearly feel the same way. When the Skift Travel Tracker recently asked the travelers themselves how their travel to meetings, conferences, and trade shows in 2025 compares to 2024, 55% said 'Somewhat More' and almost all (96%) said 'Much More.' On the travel management side of the business, findings from the just-released Sixth-Annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey of travelers were also positive. Despite global uncertainties over trade policies, the survey found that the vast majority of respondents, including 93% of travel managers and CFOs expect their organisation's travel budget to increase or stay the same in 2025 compared with the previous year. Nearly all travelers (97%) said they were willing to travel for business over the next 12 months; however, 40% said they would think about declining a business trip because of safety or social concerns about a destination. Kevin Hinton, managing director, group travel, U.S. Travel Association, remains positive. 'Overall uncertainty isn't helpful for meetings and travel, but the underlying fundamentals remain strong. The stock market is fully recovered from earlier this year and setting records.' 'Flattish' Forecast Despite the positive news, one of the first business travel warning bells of 2025 came from Delta President Glen Hauenstein in April during the airline's first-quarter earnings call, when he said business travel trends are 'choppy," and that "corporate volumes [are] expected to be flattish" compared with 2024. That's backed by GBTA's Global Business Travel Outlook and Impact survey of travel managers, procurement, and sourcing professionals, which found that 28% of U.S.-based (28%) buyers expect their company's overall business travel spend to decline as a result of U.S. government actions. 'That's a notable figure — it reflects that companies are considering when and why they travel as a result,' said CEO Suzanne Neufang. When it comes to travel to meetings and events located in the U.S., 20% were either considering canceling, or canceling. Purpose, location, safety and cost are all factors in these decisions, she said. 'Travel for client meetings, major conferences, and high-impact engagements that drive business are still seen as essential, even if some lower-priority trips may be scaled back.'
Travel Weekly
02-07-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Concur survey: Companies are cutting back on perks but not all corporate travel
A solid majority of companies said they plan to maintain or increase business travel spending this year, and many are tightening policies to save money rather than imposing wider travel restrictions, according to the annual SAP Concur Global Business Travel Survey. The survey -- which included responses from 700 travel managers across seven business markets, 3,750 business travelers across 24 markets and 600 CFOs across six markets -- was fielded from April 30 through May 12, which Concur noted was "during a period of high uncertainty associated with global trade." Even so, 93% of travel managers, 90% of CEOs and 89% of travelers said their company had no plans to cut travel budgets. Across all respondent types, about 60% said their company typically makes travel budget cuts in the form of "small changes to all trips" rather than wider policy changes, and 87% of business travelers said they had seen such cuts over the previous 12 months, according to Concur. The most frequently cited cuts in the survey were on extra overnight stays to prevent long travel days and use of premium air classes, each cited by 30% of travelers, and non-client-facing travel, cited by 28% of travelers. Amid those cutbacks, 85% of business travelers said they would pay out of their own pockets to add additional perks to business travel, the survey indicated. Among the most frequent items travelers were willing to take on as personal expenses included: accommodation upgrades (38% of travelers), adding hotel nights to avoid long travel days (35%) and premium seating (30%). That willingness varied by region, with 99% of respondents from India and 91% from the United States saying they would pay their own money to improve their business travel experience, compared with 66% of travelers from France and 73% of travelers from Japan. Younger travelers also were more likely to spend their own money on business travel, with 93% of Gen Z travelers indicating they would do some compared with 62% of baby boomers. In addition, the survey indicated that many company travel budgets are "insufficient," according to Concur. More than 80% of CFOs said company budget limitations prevent employees from traveling as much as they need to efficiently perform their jobs, and 69% of travel managers said their company travel budget didn't reflect the importance of business travel. Business travelers, meanwhile, were nearly unanimous in their willingness to travel, with 97% saying they were at least somewhat willing to travel over the next year, and 94% said business travel was essential to their role. Only about half of surveyed travelers thought their current frequency of travel was about right, with 30% saying they are traveling too much and 19% saying they are not traveling enough. Source: Business Travel News
Travel Weekly
23-06-2025
- Business
- Travel Weekly
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd.
2024 sales: $15.91 billion Previous ranking: 6 Employees: 12,497 full-time 275 Grey St. South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia U.S. headquarters: 5 Paragon Drive Montvale, NJ 07645 Phone: (201) 934-3500 Website $15.91 billion12,497 full-time275 Grey Brisbane, QLD 4101, AustraliaU.S. headquarters:5 Paragon DriveMontvale, NJ 07645Phone: (201) 934-3500 Executives PRESIDENT, FLIGHT CENTRE TRAVEL GROUP AMERICAS: Charlene Leiss CFO AMERICAS: Mark Imrie MANAGING DIRECTOR, FCTG CANADA/PRESIDENT, CORPORATE TRAVELER CANADA: Chris Lynes PRESIDENT, FCTG MEXICO/LATAM NETWORK: Maren Hanschke PRESIDENT, FCM AMERICAS: Billy McDonough PRESIDENT, CORPORATE TRAVELER USA: John Van den Heuvel EVP/GENERAL MANAGER, ENVOYAGE: Christina Pedroni EVP/ GENERAL MANAGER, SUPPLY: David Richardson COMPANY FACTS * A publicly traded company. Its North American subsidiary is Flight Centre Travel Group. * Brands include Flight Centre leisure and corporate divisions Corporate Traveler and FCM. * Works with 2,232 independent contractors. * 8% of sales completed by hosted advisors. * Sales: 51% business, 49% leisure. DEVELOPMENTS * Implemented a more regionalized structure for Corporate Traveler USA with the creation of individual "SWOT teams" (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for the East, Midwest and West to accelerate growth. * Increased customer adoption by 18% within its Melon platform for Corporate Traveler. * Celebrated the 20th anniversary of FCM Travel, which became the company's largest brand in total transactional value as a result of new global business wins and key multinational customers. * Completed the launch of the Envoyage brand, serving independent agents and agencies across the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. * Launched a dedicated group division for members in the U.S. * Expanded in the global cruise sector and in the U.K. by acquiring Cruise Club UK. * Expanded its sports sponsorship portfolio in the Americas through new partnerships: for example, Flight Centre Canada and the NBA's Toronto Raptors as well as Corporate Traveler USA and the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars. * Relaunched a campaign with StudentUniverse and Amazon to support young adults with more accessible and affordable options. LOOKING AHEAD * Increasing its focus on independent and luxury sectors through Envoyage and Scott Dunn. * Enhancing NDC content by improving functionality and strengthening distribution technology. * Further leveraging AI-driven solutions through its AI Center of Excellence to help streamline operations and increase productivity. * Prioritizing the global expansion of the meetings and events division and the stage, screen and sports division. * Boosting technology in its FCM and Melon platforms to increase customer adoption. * Advancing its internal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. * Capitalizing on strong corporate growth opportunities in key markets throughout the world.
