Welcome to our new Ask an Expert series, where we speak to industry experts about the latest trends in transport and mobility.
We recently spoke to Fabio Griemens, Director of B2B Operations at FREENOW for Business. We asked Fabio to look back on 2023 and tell us which trends that really stood out to him.
Together with the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) we are frequently asking our clients what is currently their main priority in their business travel ground transportation efforts. Our 2023 research outcome suggests that companies struggle most with Traveller satisfaction, reporting/spending visibility, and sustainability.
Today, four in ten (38%) European travel managers say their company’s approach to ground transportation is more focused on sustainability and eco-friendly vehicles compared to 2019. But many travel managers struggle to find suppliers that are committed to electric mobility and provide comprehensive Carbon-emission reporting to decrease the company's Carbon footprint.
While the companies we talk to have been able to increase their travel policy enforcement, many are struggling with employee satisfaction. Many travel booking portals & processes are not seamless, clumsy and require layers of approval chains & delay the travel expense process.
When it comes to spending and carbon emissions reporting, we often have travel managers come up to us at fairs saying something along the lines of "
Focusing on these key components travel managers can create a more successful and well-rounded ground transportation programme that aligns with corporate goals and values.
Recent surveys like the one we conducted in partnership with the GBTA, as well as conversations with our prospects, customers and business travel industry experts help us gain a good understanding of what travel managers' challenges are.
We often sit down together to co-design solutions to emerging business travel challenges directly with our customers and their employees.
To address sustainability demands, we designed a product that offers the widest range of green transportation options in Europe. This allows our customers to review their carbon emissions data, and make use of alternative travel management policies to reduce their annual carbon footprint, and ultimately reach their sustainability goals.
To boost traveller satisfaction, we designed a product that employees of our clients love. Our app is easy and fun to use, they have all green modes of transportation available at their fingertips and there is no hassle in waiting around for the expense approvals to go through.
To make spend and carbon reporting more manageable, we developed a single point of truth for travel managers to gain clear visibility of ground transportation data. With us, a travel manager has a clear understanding of their involved costs and CO2 emissions, while staying in control and creating efficiency gains within their travel policy, such as greener transportation options or spend caps. We are introducing tailored “green mobility” packages to our offering, so that travel managers can set more-sustainable travel options directly in our app, rather than having to enforce the policy themselves.
To download the GBTA x FREENOW Business Travel report mentioned here, follow this link:
