In 1997, Frank Pawley and a business partner set up Global Travel Management, a travel management company, based in Surrey, England.  The plan was to create and build a company that could fix the three issues which face any traditional travel management company.

• First, with declining – and disappearing – commissions paid by travel suppliers, travel management companies needed to find a pricing structure that meets the needs of all clients.
• Second, the service level offered by travel management companies was typically compromised by a high level of staff turnover.
• And third, travel management companies were typically either too small to be able to offer a full range of travel products; or too large to offer a fully personal service.

Frank hired his son, Scott and Scott’s wife Natalie to run the business. And to solve the first issue, Scott and Natalie devised a totally flexible pricing structure, based on eight different pricing models.  In this way, any business can take advantage of the most relevant and most cost-effective price plan.  And, if none of the eight plans fit, GTM simply creates a bespoke one.  “One size fits all” no longer works for businesses that need their corporate travel to be managed.  So GTM’s flexible approach means that every company can have their travel arrangements managed within a cost-effective, transparent price structure.

For the first couple of years, Scott and Natalie ran the business, “twenty-four seven” from mobile phones. This sometimes meant taking calls from passengers in the middle of the night.  Although, these days, GTM customers are provided with a full, professional, round-the-clock “out of hours” service.

While Scott had extensive experience in business travel and Natalie had an equally thorough grounding in all aspects of leisure travel, GTM was the first travel management company they had run.  Scott and Natalie were able to provide the highest level of customer service to every client because they had vast experience of dealing with reservations on a day-to-day basis.  But, as they expanded the business, it was clear that any staff they recruited must have a full understanding of the basic principles of travel management, specifically undertaking complex reservations on behalf of clients.  So the decision was made that vacant positions would be filled by staff with travel reservations experience.  In this way, every department within the company is staffed by individuals who know about business travel, understand the issues clients might face and can provide knowledgeable support.

Now, when family circumstances mean that staff members have to leave the business temporarily, they are welcomed back in the role that best suits their changing circumstances.  That is why you will find experienced reservations staff in every part of the business, providing knowledgeable, relevant and expert customer service from every department.   And that’s one of the reasons GTM has an enviably low level of staff turnover.

GTM has now grown from a staff numbers and revenues of zero to more than 35 employees and over £26 million annual turnover, with offices in Woking, Surrey and, following a recent acquisition, in Watford, Hertfordshire.  The growth is not stopping there, however, as GTM intends to grow both organically and by acquisition into the future.  But the size of any travel management company is vital.  And Scott and Natalie – as well as their growing management team – have taken steps to ensure they offer a level of service that demonstrates all the personal service level of a smaller company, but with the critical mass of a large, multinational company.

By ensuring that each client is always dealt with by experienced reservations staff that take into account every aspect of the client’s requirements, GTM is able to offer a personal level of service that matches the best of any smaller travel management company.  But, by retaining influential membership of the Advantage Focus Partnership – where Scott was Chairman of the Technology Panel for four years and GTM’s Paul Baker continues membership of the Air Panel – GTM is provided with enviable access to airlines and other travel suppliers and able to negotiate preferential opportunities.

In this way, GTM, an independent, medium-sized travel management company is able to react to clients’ changing needs and circumstances.  And, through being superbly tech-savvy and commercially influential, GTM is able to offer its clients an unrivalled range and level of service.

Travelport (NYSE:TVPT), a leading Travel Commerce Platform, has announced a multi-year renewal agreement with long-standing customer, Global Travel Management (GTM), one of the UK’s leading privately owned travel management companies.

As part of the agreement, GTM will continue to process its travel bookings through the Travel Commerce Platform, providing them with access to Travelport’s unrivalled travel content – including the branded fares and ancillaries from the world’s leading airlines and low cost carriers, as well as over 650,000 hotel properties. GTM agents will continue to access this content through Travelport Smartpoint, Travelport’s industry leading point of sale solution that provides rich, graphical detail in one workflow and means agents do not have to spend time accessing the websites of numerous travel providers.

Scott Pawley, Managing Director, Global Travel Management said “After reviewing all the major GDS suppliers, looking not only back on what they have offered the industry over the last three years but more importantly how they are approaching the future three years and beyond, for GTM Travelport was the clear winner.  “It’s innovative approach with products like Travelport Smartpoint, which allows us to sell airline ancillaries, has been a key factor in our success and growth and with its new products on the horizon such as Locomote it’s clear they are looking to the future.”

Paul Broughton, Regional Managing Director of UK and Ireland at Travelport, added: “We are very pleased to have renewed this agreement and continue our long-standing relationship with GTM. We are glad the company has continued to see the advantage of combining the broadest possible choice in travel content with smart tools that empower their agents to sell that content more effectively to meet their customers’ travel management needs.”

British Airways is extremely disappointed that the trade union Unite is creating uncertainty for our customers. Mixed Fleet Unite represents about 15 per cent of our cabin crew.  We remain focused on resolving this issue as quickly as possible without any disruption to customers. We would like to reassure our customers that we have a range of contingency plans in place and will operate the vast majority of our flights as planned if Unite acts upon the result of this ballot.  Currently all flights are operating as normal and therefore all of our normal terms and conditions apply.  Mixed Fleet cabin crew are based at London Heathrow. Therefore services to/from London Gatwick, London City and London Stansted airports are not affected. 

Under UK law Unite must give at least seven days’ notice of any period of industrial action. If Unite chooses to announce a period of industrial action, then we will publish full details of our revised flight schedule to give any affected customers the opportunity to adjust their travel plans.