It may be the season of Father Christmas going “ho ho ho” but ‘tis also
the season of business travel execs going “no no no” as they discover their
company has landed a GIT, the annual alternative accolades known as the Gongs
In Travel (spoiler: get ready for a big night if you’re based in Dallas). Now limping
into their 18th year, go and mix yourself a treble vodka-and-Prime
(other fine celebrity-endorsed energy drinks are available) as we slit open the
envelope of doom to learn the winners...
Michelin Melted Tyre For The Most Screeching U-Turn In Corporate
Travel History
Winner: American Airlines
For a couple of years American Airlines as good as told the corporate
travel sector it didn’t want to be friends any more. Actions that affected
corporate clients and travel management companies included withdrawing vast
swathes of inventory from global distribution systems, announcing a plan to
deny frequent-flyer mileage to customers who book through travel agencies, and firing
many of its corporate sales and account managers. All that changed in late May when AA sacked its chief commercial officer
and downgraded its financial outlook after realising that alienating many of its
highest yielding pasengers might just be
bad for bookings and revenue. The airline needed to start “building back from
the hole we created for ourselves,” said CEO Robert Isom in one of the most
satisfying mea culpas travel managers could ever hope to hear, and has since
reversed or softened many of the actions that caused so much grief.
The KitKat Bar
For Being Smaller Than It Used To Be
Winner: GetThere
Sabre bought the company that dominated the early days of corporate
booking tools for what was regarded as a staggering $757 million in 2000. Come
September 2024, Sabre was flogging GetThere off to New Zealand-based tech
provider Serko for a no less staggering $12 million. Though perhaps not so
surprising as I reckon it’s a good ten years since I bumped into or interviewed
anyone claiming to represent the brand. Whether it got a non-inflation-adjusted
$745 million-worth out of GetThere, you’ll have to ask Sabre yourself.
Most Surprising Eco-Themed Invitation of 2024
Winner: World Sustainable Travel & Hospitality Awards
I was delighted when an invitation for this event plopped into my inbox
back in September. Cocktail reception 6pm,
gala dinner and ceremony 7pm, after-party 10.30pm… yes please! I was all ready
to don my dickie bow and head into town when I spotted the address for this
celebration of all things green and beautiful: Cahal Pech Archaeological Site,
Cayo, Belize – a mere 5,107 miles from my humble Somerset home. On balance I
decided to stay at home.
The Hallmark Trophy for UK Politician Least Likely To Receive Christmas
Cards From The Travel Industry
Winner: The Right Honourable Rachel Reeves MP, Chancellor of the
Exchequer
Ms Reeves decided to shake down businesses for £25 billion of the £40
billion additional tax take from her first Budget – much of the burden falling
on companies that pay low wages. Cue howls from hotels and the rest of the
hospitality sector, warning of higher prices and inevitable closures in 2025. I
have a much better idea for how Ms Reeves could fill her coffers effortlessly:
simply fine people £200 every time they use the word “iconic”. It would finance
the UK’s health service for a century.
The Liam and Noel Gallagher Golden Fist For Getting Into Fights
Winner: American Airlines
Runner-up: Sabre
Some publications reporting on royal matters have a Palace correspondent, but perhaps we need a Dallas correspondent. Where to begin? As well as rubbing the corporate market up the wrong way, American Airlines continued to get embroiled in legal actions in 2024. Long-suffering readers will recall that in 2022 a jury awarded damages of precisely $1 to AA after finding in its favour for a lawsuit against Sabre that the airline inherited when it bought US Airways back in 2011. But if you thought that was that, think again. AA then pursued Sabre for $139 million in costs and attorneys’ fees from that case after a judge ruled the airline was entitled to reasonable fees. According to Sabre, “the only reasonable fee here is no fee at all.” However, perhaps because it’s Christmas, peace finally broke out in this 13-year-old dispute this month after the two parties announced they had “executed a settlement agreement”. The announcement did not state how much, if any, of the $139 million Sabre will pay up, but any cash Sabre does hand over could come in handy for AA should the airline lose a pile of lawsuits relating to its distribution strategy in which it finds itself the defendant. One of them alleges breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, waste of corporate assets and securities violations for, it is claimed, the airline being not entirely transparent at an earlier stage about how that strategy was alienating valuable customers. Meanwhile, as well as feudin’ with its neighbour, Sabre has fallen out
with other airlines. In January, its breach of contract lawsuit against
Hawaiian airlines was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice. And in September,
after failing to agree commercial terms, Turkish Airlines pulled its content
from Sabre, the first time I can recall a major legacy carrier going dark in a
GDS.
The Jane Eyre Cup For Alleged Impediment To A Marriage
Winners: American Express Global Business Travel and CWT
When I first read the CMA was objecting to the union of these two colossi
of the TMC world, I assumed the letters stood for Country Music Assocation,
because stopping weddings at the altar is the kind of thing country singers
love to sing about. But apparently CMA in this case is the UK Competition and Markets
Authority, which reckons the $570 million acquisition would reduce competition.
Interestingly, Amex GBT and CWT blamed what they regarded as a misplaced
conclusion on the CMA reading too many back copies of BTN’s Corporate
Travel 100 and Europe’s Leading TMCs reports. So it’s all our fault.
Fyffes Banana Skin For Biggest Transport Infrastructure Cock-Up
Winner: M3 “Smart” Motorway, United Kingdom
Also the recipient of the George Orwell Doublespeak Tankard for being the
expect opposite of what it professes to be, this is the road I had to spend the
best part of a decade crawling along at 40mph while it was “upgraded” to a
“smart” motorway, which meant removing the hard shoulder in favour of an
additional lane. Five years and several deaths of occupants of broken-down
vehicles later, M3 drivers are once again crawling along at reduced speed while
the Department of Transport puts the mess right by building ten new “emergency
areas” (i.e. occasional hard shoulders) at a cost of hundreds of millions of
pounds.
Greta Thunberg Environmental Warrior Of The Year 2025
Winner: Donald Trump
A controversial choice, I admit, and not only because it’s for something
that hasn’t occurred yet, but let’s see what happens to the volume of long-haul
flghts – and their attendant carbon emissions – once the incoming US president’s
threatened tariffs have kicked in. Mr Trump could do more to chill
business travel than the teenager he never forgave for being named Time
Person of the Year ever achieved.
Travel Industry Celebrity Lookalike of the Year
Winner: Andrew Perolls, Greengage Solutions
I’ve always thought that the sustainable business travel consultancy head
honcho bears an uncanny resemblance to, ironically, an impressionist. No, not
Manet: Rory Bremner.
• Revisit the 17th annual GITs (2023), the 16th annual GITs (2022), and the 15th annual GITs (2021).