If we look back at the predictions offered at the end of 2009, most of the "experts" in corporate travel, chauffeured ground transportation, and other service industries were cautiously optimistic about improving revenues in 2010-looking for economic recovery to take hold and deliver an upturn in business and business travel.

Now, more than halfway through 2010, it is hard to find anyone in business travel who isn't downright bullish on its future. Things are continuing to look better and better in the air and on the ground. That is, of course, if the economy doesn't crash and burn again.

Bookings at the "mega" corporate travel agencies are tracking higher, up as much as 22 percent this past March. If you believe as I do that what happens in the other corporate travel sectors can be an excellent predictor of our own industry's performance, then it is probably worth noting a few of the comments, developments, and reports that have been appearing over the past few months.

Every month last year, the major U.S. airlines saw a year-over-year decline in the average fares they charged. Airlines have always suffered more than most in economic downturns and recovered faster when things got better. Their recovery is happening this summer, with reports by the major carriers that revenue per seat mile is soaring compared with a year ago. A revival in passenger numbers and continuing capacity reductions have brought supply and demand into close alignment. This is allowing the airlines to better manage fares, close lower-fare buckets completely, and see better yields. Couple that with a growing appetite for ancillary revenues-from baggage and change fees to lounge passes and whatever else the revenue management department can dream up-and domestic airlines are in a better position to generate dollars than they've been in quite some time.

The trends are there

The Transnational, a corporate travel newsletter, ran an interview with David Radcliff, the chief executive of HRG-one of the world's largest corporate travel companies-in the May 26, 2010 issue. I found a couple of Radcliffe's comments extremely interesting; it followed a theme that I have been hearing over and over again for almost a year. He says, although travel activity has picked up and is returning to more "normal levels" at HRG, the company's customers are becoming more determined than in previous years to continue to reduce their cost of travel even though the restrictions on the number of trips taken has been relaxed. "Clients proved willing to commit to changes in their travel policies and itineraries that previously they would have rejected," he says in the article.

Radcliff also noted that HRG reduced office locations by installing more flexible telephone and transaction processing systems combined with a higher percentage of at-home reservationists. Client online bookings increased to 41 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, which, according to Radcliff, "provided further evidence of the change of business mix in this highly competitive market, which tends to favor transaction fees." (And while we all hate the transaction fees, they aren't going anywhere and are likely to increase.)

The mid-year business travel surveys also seem to support the positive trends. In late spring and earlier summer, Business Travel News released its 2010 Procurement Practices Survey and 2010 Business Travel Survey, respectively. In the Procurement Practices Survey, now in its fourth year, data suggest that as we move ahead in 2011, strategies and solutions that deliver more insight into travel spending will be critical to helping companies make effective travel decisions in the year ahead.

According to David Meyer, editor in chief of Business Travel News and author of the survey's introduction "There is no denying the value of measurement." He continues: "The challenges gave travel buyers and their travel services providers a real opportunity to prove the value of their expertise and relationships in supporting the business mission and making the most of the business travel investment. Focus on the return on the travel investment and the tradeoffs regarding costs and benefits of services last year helped cement a new foundation of travel management on which many companies will build in the coming years."

Finally, Egencia, the fifth largest travel management company in the world, and part of Expedia, the world's largest travel marketplace, released its 2010 Corporate Travel Global Benchmarking Study this June. The study analyzed business travel trends for air, hotel, and car rental, focusing on top domestic and international business destinations in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

According to respondents of Egencia's survey, the majority of travel buyers expect their travel volumes to increase during the remainder of 2010 and to change their travel policies during the year. Additionally, buyers anticipate that they will negotiate more this year than they did in 2009.

Travel managers universally identified cost control/reducing spending as the greatest challenge facing travel programs. Specific rankings of travel program challenges are as follows:
o Cost control/reducing expenses
o Traveler satisfaction
o Traveler compliance/policy enforcement
o Capturing a full view of spend

Tying it to livery

So, what does all this mean to the chauffeured ground transportation industry? BostonCoach's Larry Moulter said it best in the 2010 Business Travel Survey: "Chauffeured transportation is 2 percent to 4 percent of T&E spend. People didn't worry about it. Now, procurement and travel managers worry about every penny."

There are a number of things to keep in mind if you are looking to compete successfully for corporate travel accounts and/or improve your revenue per passenger mile. Business in 2010 and beyond is all about managing programs, not cars.

1. Business is back. But, business is not back to normal. The rules are not the same because the buyers and passengers are not the same. Normal is not the same.

2. If you want to be in the business/corporate travel segment, procurement departments, RFPs, service level agreements, etc. will all be part of the process. Get over the "I'm not a commodity" whine and be prepared to demonstrate value and deliver budget pricing.

3. Your ability to put passengers in late-model, professionally driven vehicles, on time, every time is your ante into the game. Ordinary is everywhere and it simply will no longer cut it in this market. "Me too" services and marketing strategies will not be enough to carry your voice above the noise in the marketplace.

4. Travel managers' highest priorities are cost control and reducing expenses. Like travel agents who transformed themselves into travel management companies in the late 1980s, it is time to begin to manage programs, not book rides. Use your logistical expertise and technology to become subject-matter experts to help your customers find ways to reduce expenses.

5. Your customers need pre-trip and post-trip data analysis. The ability to dump data is not enough; you need to help your customers manage their programs while cementing your relationship with both the passengers and the buyers.

6. There are online bookings systems for corporate clients on the market today that are not simple reservations systems; they are complex corporate-based web portals with automated pre-trip authorization protocols, multiple vendor selection criteria and hierarchies, low-fare shopping capabilities, automated ride-sharing functionality, and sophisticated reporting. These systems allow an operator to function as a "managing provider" of a transparent network of regional/local chauffeured transportation providers, consolidating data, leveraging expertise, and providing the customer with a single point of contact in exchange for a negotiated transaction fee, following the model established by other industry counterparts. This business model allows the corporate client to maximize cost savings, integrate existing providers in selected markets, and negotiate rates directly in each market if desired.

7. Service offerings that were once always responded to with a "you've got to be kidding" are now being met with a "let's give it a try" response. Ride-sharing, express airport pickups, and other cost-saving opportunities are now an acceptable travel-management tool, especially if procurement is involved in the decision-making process.

8. The Internet was used by 90 million American adults to plan travel during the past year. HRG saw online bookings double and contribute to increased profitability. Why aren't more chauffeured companies driving passengers directly to their websites with a well-executed online marketing plan for corporate/business travelers? Why are you letting your customers go to list aggregators where you are competing on nothing but price, or worse-conducting a Google search to end up who knows where? Reduce costs, improve customer loyalty, and increase market share with online marketing-it seems like a no-brainer.

9. A recent survey by Omni Hotels & Resorts to road warriors about mobile and social application preferences found that access to these tools were an integral part of time management on the road. One thing was clear from the survey: Mobile applications are all about efficiency. Business travelers, who are inclined to order services from a hotel on a mobile device or computer, prefer things which will help travel go more smoothly. When asked which types of services they would order using their mobile device or computer, almost 6 in 10 business travelers said they would request a car service to the airport. How many of you have a mobile app for your reservation service?

10. Hotels have been much slower to rebound than the airlines; it is easier to mothball an older aircraft in the desert than it is to cut off the top of a hotel in downtown New York to downsize the number of rooms. The airlines improved profitability by bringing supply and demand into alignment. HRG improved profitability by reducing the number of offices, so it would make sense that vehicle utilization is managed and optimized. It is vital that your fleet is right-sized so that your capacity and volume are balanced. When you have balance, you are not desperate to move equipment out the door at whatever price you can get.

11. Doesn't it make sense that a trip from point A to point B at 8:00 am in rush hour traffic that takes one hour should cost more than a trip from point A to point B at 10:00 am that takes 20 minutes? That shouldn't be so hard to understand. Your passengers get it. Many of you already charge for an early morning pickup. Isn't it less of a hassle to get to the airport at 6:00 am than it is at 8:00 am?

12. Charge for bags? The airline industry is coming back strong thanks to these nickel-and-dime fees, but the industry may not be ready for it. Some operators charge for in-airport baggage claim greet, others don't. Change fees? Cancellation fees? Charging cards at the time of booking? These are all a little outside of the box for our industry, but are all conditions that travel managers and passengers are very used to dealing with. Charging cards at the time of booking is, in my humble opinion, a no-brainer. I bet most of your passengers think that you do it already. When I started in the travel business in 1981 (a child prodigy, no doubt), I watched the industry change as airline deregulation took hold and travel agencies morphed into travel management companies. As a result, smaller companies banded together into networks and the consortiums that gave the travel giants a run for their money. It changed the face of the corporate travel industry and made it was it is today. Chauffeured transportation does tend to lag behind corporate travel management, largely because we are both the agent and the supplier. I have seen significant change since I moved from travel management to limo in 2000. Since 2007, there has been tremendous momentum and tremendous change, which continues to build, as the new economy turns the old way of doing business on its head. It is really starting to get interesting.

Patricia Charla is president of LEAP-marketing, a company ­dedicated to helping you "LEAP Beyond Business as Usual" via the creation of new revenue sources for its chauffeured ground transportation clients. She also founded LEAP, the Limousine Environmental Action Partnership, which provides sustainable strategies for the future of executive ground transportation and helps companies "go green." She may be reached at (866) 906-6787. LD