Prestigious Award Caps Exciting Year

Media Release 3 February 2006

Prestigious Award for FCm Travel Solutions Caps Exciting Year

Asia Pacific-based travel management company FCm Travel Solutions has scooped up one prestigious business travel award and been short-listed for another after just one year of operation as a global entity.

FCm Travel Solutions, the corporate travel arm of Flight Centre Limited, was named Best Business Travel Management Company in the Business Travel World magazine’s annual awards in London, and was a finalist in its Corporate Travel Management Team award.

FCm Travel Solutions Executive General Manager Anthony Grigson said the group had made great strides toward becoming a serious global rival to the likes of American Express and Carlson Wagonlit, and the group’s London awards performance was recognition of that.

“This time last year we were just a few months old and established in just a handful of countries,” Mr Grigson said.

“Since then we’ve expanded rapidly into Asia and across Europe, we’re represented in over 50 countries and we’ve built the strongest Asia-Pacific regional presence of anyone in our sector,” he said.

“Things are happening very, very quickly, as we always believed they would, and winning awards like this announces to the world that we’ve arrived and that we mean business.”

FCm Travel Solutions beat off competition from other short-listed candidates American Express Business Travel and ATP to take the top award for the Business Travel Management Company with an annual UK turnover of more than £100 million, ending a five year winning streak by another giant, BTI UK.

The Business Travel World Awards are renowned for their tough judging process. The magazine believes that to accurately recognise annual achievement in business-to-business awards, careful examination and scrutiny in a number of areas is essential.

As part of a detailed written entry, FCm Travel Solutions had to give evidence of its ability to provide data in a customer-specific format, and to provide consultancy services which reduce cost and raise service level. The company also had to describe methods used to communicate with customers, plus the main factors driving customer satisfaction in the last 12 months.

Commenting on FCm Travel Solutions winning the Business Travel Management Company award, the judges said: “FCm was a clear winner because its strengths are in the areas where the evolving market is finding value, namely account management and technology. FCm also has transparently acted for its clients in its ability to move business according to client needs rather than being tied into supplier agreements.”

Indeed one individual judge said: “They know exactly where their business is and their account management is superb.”

FCm Travel Solutions also made it into the final line up of four travel management companies competing for the Corporate Travel Management Team award for its work with T-Mobile.

“This is a fantastic achievement for FCm Travel Solutions and something that we are all extremely proud of,” said Alan Spence, managing director FCm Travel Solutions UK.

Ends: For more information or images contact John McGuinness, Flight Centre and FCm Travel Solutions Communications, 021 753 767

About FCm Travel Solutions

- First Asia-Pacific based, global corporate travel and expense management specialist delivering personalised solutions to companies of all sizes, around the world

- Services some of the world’s best-known companies and in 2005 turned over more than US$2billion.

- Delivers measurable savings through its worldwide network of local expertise, state-of-the-art technologies, a flexible approach to service, and the continuous development of its 3,000 people.

ENDS

© Scoop Media