Rail Plus has taken the next step in its bid to woo business travellers as it looks to generate 20% of its total revenue from the corporate market.
A website dedicated for corporate consultants was launched last night with the rail specialist’s sales team now set to blitz Travel Management Companies and corporate-focused agents.
Marketing manager Greg McCallum said they will not only train agents how to use the web booking tool but convince them of the benefits of high speed rail for business travellers.
A dedicated corporate account manager is likely to be recruited once bookings begin to show growth.
Corporate travel represents 10% of Rail Plus’s annual turnover with McCallum aiming to grow that to 20%.
The corporate push will be aided by the addition of an expanded range of fares negotiated directly with European rail operators.
“One of the key features (of the new website) is that consultants can now list search results by fare flexibility as well as price,” he said. “In general, European high speed rail journey’s of less than four hours will be faster than a flight between the same two points.
“This new booking tool makes it just as simple and efficient for corporate travel agents to book a rail journey as any air sector.”
While Rail Plus has increased its focus on the corporate market in recent times, including the launch of its inaugural Corporate Rail Experts program, it was felt the introduction of a dedicated bookable site was necessary for TMC’s and agents to fully drive sales.
“The corporate market has been left untapped,” McCallum said.
Rail Europe Asia and Australasia sales director, Florence Pasquier, said the company had put time, resources and money into attracting the corporate traveller.
There is a now a need to educate agents and travellers of the benefits of high speed rail travel, she said.
Pasquier later told Travel Today that Australia does throw up challenges in the corporate world as some long haul flights include a free short haul European flight.
“There is a still a large number of Australians who are flying between London to Paris,” she said. “We want to shift them to rail.”
