The company announced its intention to acquire Hogg Robinson Group on February 9, with the two companies currently organising “transition teams”. Both boards of directors stated they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition in the initial announcement. The acquisition is conditioned on receipt of antitrust and other regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.
During a media briefing today, Jason Geall, vice-president/regional general manager for northern Europe, said: “There is positive, organic growth in the UK market. We decided to invest in content, technology and people three years ago… we will continue to look at acquisitions. We are proactive in all three areas, so TMCs are very possible.”
Meanwhile, the group’s integration of SMT in Finland is nearing completion since acquiring the TMC 15 months ago. Geall said: “The final phase is the brand, and over the next few weeks Amex GBT will take over. The first phase is the infrastructure.”
The company also unveiled a new concept called “Business Travel Made Simple”, which will be officially launched at the Business Travel Show and Travel Technology Europe at London’s Olympia on Wednesday.
Amex GBT’s solutions are being packaged up in a more streamlined manner, based on a transaction fee model, for those customers that do not have “complex requirements”. The move is a bid to position Amex GBT as more of a competitor to “local” TMCs.
Kate Roe, head of marketing for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, said: “As a global TMC, we’ve got all these great products, but how can we package this up for those who don’t have complex requirements. For example, it’s for the office PA, if travel management isn’t their main job. This makes it simple – it’s in a box, ready to go.”
She added new customers could be activated within “three to four weeks” and that the package would “appeal to firms that had a local TMC”. It is also designed for companies with employees who travel around the world from one main country.
“We give travel managers the tools – physical and digital – that they can show to the leadership team, so they know what they’re signing up for. How do you equip travel managers with the right tools to make it an ongoing success? We wanted to go a notch further down, and make it self-loading. We spent a long time talking to travel managers and buyers.”
“Welcome pack” boxes were sent out last week to initial pilot customers, containing posters, templates and other marketing material that can be white-labelled, and Roe said existing clients had been invited to join.
“Internally, we’re calling this a ‘localised market offer’ – sometimes we come across as too big, complex, expensive and not nimble,” she added.
“Business Travel Made Simple” is initially being rolled out in the UK, which currently represents Amex GBT’s second fastest growing market, globally. “The local market [in the UK] is the fastest growing sector for us,” Geall added, “because people are connecting with the investments we’re making.”
