ABT-ACTE Russia Educational conference in Ekaterinburg: trust, but verify, or how to choose a provider

ABT-ACTE Russia has returned to Ekaterinburg with its educational session «Purchase in business travel». The conference was held on November 26, 2015 in Moskovskaya Gorka Hotel.

One day before the event, on November 25 guests from Moscow, Tyumen, Perm and Chelyabinsk got acquainted with event venues. In the evening a cocktail was held in Novotel Ekaterinburg, it included a presentation devoted to MICE facilities of the city and the region.

Partners of the conference were UTS Group, USTA, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, as well as Ekaterinburg city administration. The venue gathered procurement experts and business travel specialists, travel coordinators, marketing and document flow experts, representatives of such companies as MONT, Enel Russia, Giprospetsgaz, the Ural Turbine Works, Uralkali, Megafon, B.Brown Medical and others.

During the first session speakers told the audience about holding tenders for TMC services and accommodation, RFP preparation, criteria of supplier assessment and special aspects of ticket booking.

The educational session was opened by Elena Lobanova from Uralkali. She announced the reasons that made holding a tender necessary. They include criticism of the present provider, contradiction of the present agreement to the current market conditions, adoption of new procedures by the company, benchmarking results. The speaker examined the process from the point of view of the modern Russian legislation and stressed, that the main aim of any tender of this kind was the choice of a provider that was able to offer an optimum price/quality ratio.

Marianna Uspenskaya, head of strategic purchase in business travel and marketing communications in Siemens spoke about RFP preparation and provider assessment criteria. In her opinion, before you make a request for proposal, you should analyze the market thoroughly and make sure that prospective partners are reliable. «It is very important to get full information on the customer, to conceive a clear request for services needed, give a detailed description of financial terms of cooperation, prepare draft reports you will need, agree on compulsory agreement provisions, as well as cooperation terms and fines», Ms Uspenskaya stressed.

Many companies neglect another important detail: it is better to choose one provider for business travel, and several for MICE. «When you arrange events, you have such a large amount of work one provider can hardly cope with, especially if it is held during the high season. You should gather a pool of providers and see who of the candidates is the quickest, makes the most advantageous, and, what is more important, the most creative offer», Marianna shared her experience.

Inna Matyagina`s speech (UTS Group) caused lively response of the audience; she named some special aspects of ticker booking and offered conference participants some practical recommendations and case studies. She drew everyone`s attention to the fact that the flight cost depended on a number of various factors: time of departure, airport, the number of changes, meals on board, as well as the fact whether the customer books a single or a return ticket. No doubt, it is very important whether the ticket is refundable or not. «The optimum price is offered six weeks before the flight», Ms Matyagina noted. Besides, currency rates in booking systems are changed overnight into Wednesday, so it is recommended to make the purchase on Tuesday: on this day due to airlines` trading sessions the price reaches its lowest level.

Julia Zhoglo, business travel and corporate event manager of Megafon shared her company`s experience in holding tenders for TMC services. The speaker mentioned key issues you should pay attention to at the stage of preliminary provider choice. In the first place, they include basic information: legal address of the company, taxpayer registration number, the number of employees, the number of offices, year of establishment, yearly transaction volumes and customer network. Then you should check whether the agency meets the basic (implant office, round-the-clock support) and specific (provision of visa services, VIP halls, transfer services, interpreter services) requirements. «When you conclude a service level agreement, everything is important: terms of request procession, service registration, submission of claims, business travel cost optimization, quality control executed by the provider. Besides, the agreement should include provisions determining fines for non-observance of the terms of the agreement», Ms Zhoglo paid the attention of the audience to these facts.

The expert also stressed that in order to assess how well a corporate online booking tool worked it was not enough to read other customers` reviews. It is important to see the OBT in function: for example, to visit an office of a company whose employees use this solution already. «The intention to get acquainted as closely as possible with the product offered is a very important and a good trend. Is proves that corporate buyers have stopped putting blind trust in everything they are offered by TMCs and providers», Ekaterina Aleksandrova, executive director of ABT-ACTE Russia stressed.

Viktor Salin from USTA dwelled on the process of tender preparation for hotel services for business trips and event arrangement from the point of view of hotels. He noted that hotels often had to deal with rather vague requests. «We cannot name a certain date, event type and the number of employees, but we want to have your proposal right now — these are the requests we sometimes receive!» the speaker complained.

«When you form your request, you should understand, what is more important for you: the discount rate or the final price», Mr Salin continued. «When the discount is 15%, service cost may be lower than that for a 30% discount — everything depends on the initial price. And you should specify, what service package is included into the offer with the larger discount. It makes no sense concealing your financial opportunities, especially if they are lower than the published hotel rate».

In the expert`s words, an ideal scheme of work with providers is «trust, but verify»: you should take into account the expert`s opinion who knows his venue better, but you should remember that the customer is in the first place responsible for event quality.

Maksim Shandarov from Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority spoke about the emirate`s facilities as a destination for holding business events of different forms. «We have never contemplated this area seriously», Aleksandra Berdnikova, marketing manager of MONT admitted. «There is a cliché, that there is almost nothing to do in the UAE except for desert activities. But Mr Shandarov`s presentation was so detailed, emotional and interesting, that it made us take a new look at Abu Dhabi».

Panel discussions were devoted to the ways of settling conflicts the parties may have during the tender. Every speaker agreed to the fact that the main focus should be on meaningful dialogue, you should ask specific questions and provide all the necessary information for each other in a clear and distinct form. «Business in Russia has the problem of mutual understanding, so events like this help develop not only efficient business communications skills, but also mutual interaction and respect. As Thomas Murphy, former chairman of General Motors board said, «effective communication may ensure success or at least determine its degree», HR director or the Urals office of JSC Giprospetsgaz in Ekaterinburg Olga Yarushnikova said.

«ABT-ACTE events have always had a high level of organization, a busy schedule, business communication. The format of an educational session is an optimum solution to increase professional competence, get high quality knowledge and skills, that have been proved by the years of successful corporate practice in the travel market. It was important for me to hear not only what to do, but also how to do it», Ms Yarushnikova summed up.

The conference ended with a lottery that included vouchers from UTS Group, a ticket from Finnair and other prizes. Following the results, it was decided to hold November sessions in Ekaterinburg every year. «In 2016 we will gather delegates from Ekaterinburg, Perm, Tuymen, Tobolsk, Surgut, Chelyabinsk and other cities of the region», Ms Aleksandriva shared her plans with the participants.

Ekaterina Larina