Special feature: Impress for less – slashing travel budgets is not always the best cost-saving measure

One of the most difficult dynamics to balance is the desire to cut costs, while ensuring your company maintains its presence in front of clients and prospects. Slashing budgets by reducing travel may look good on paper, but it can also damage relationships. Equally, insisting that everyone flies at the back of the plane and uses budget hotels can be a false economy: travellers must arrive in a fit state to do business.

However, it is possible to be frugal while maintaining the standards crucial to nurturing relationships. Often, simply putting the word out about a policy of voluntary downgrading on flights and accommodation is as effective as mandating it. Instead of telling people what to do, it can garner a more positive and constructive response, as Geoff Allwright, travel and expenses manager for Airbus, knows. He has been managing the company’s programme to reduce travel spend over the past three years with the task of getting staff from various departments ­ from those selling or maintaining aircraft to procurement and finance ­ to various meetings, internal and with clients. “One size does not fit all,” says Allwright of his approach.

Long and short of it
Airbus has a policy of economy class travel for journeys up to six hours and business class for anything longer. “Recently, we called for people to move voluntarily from business class to premium economy and a lot of people booked at least one leg on their return trip in premium economy, so our business message is getting out there,” he says. “The feedback from travellers is positive, whether it is a voluntary decision to downgrade or because their managers have told them to. They can put a number on the amount saved and can maybe go on a second trip because they have saved money on the first.”

Allwright explains how Airbus helps the workforce to travel cheaply and effectively. “We provide travellers with information on our online booking tool about how to make money go further. The first option you see when you go to book a trip is: ‘Could you do this by video conferencing?’ If yes, they get taken to the video conferencing tool. If they choose to book a trip, they get another message which might say: ‘This is going to cost you £800, could you do it by video conference?’ ­ effectively giving them a second reminder.

Additionally, when someone needs a hotel it shows the cheapest rate first ­ and the same for car rental and air fares,” he explains.

And it works. “We have saved between 15% and 20% over the past three years. That amounts to millions of pounds,” says Allwright.

Allwright is pragmatic in his approach and tries to get clients to come to the Airbus offices rather than sending Airbus employees out. “A lot of people visit suppliers, but we would rather they come to us,” he says. Though he recognises this is not a panacea. “A lot of our suppliers are global, so it is not like getting on a train from Bristol to London. We audit all our suppliers and if someone is making bolts, we make sure they are making them properly ­ we cannot do that without seeing them. But if we are negotiating a contract, that could be done anywhere.”