Our in-house travel department goes the extra mile (16/06/2010)
Arranging travel and transfers to get everyone to and from your event requires exceptional organisational skills. That’s why as part of our event management services we offer a dedicated global travel service.
Our Travel Department is headed up by Philippa Dunkley who has been the driving force behind Oxford International’s travel services for the last five years. We managed to prise Pip away from her travel systems to quiz her about her role and the services she provides.
Pip Dunkley
What does a typical day involve for the Travel Department at Oxford International?
There’s no such thing as a typical day, which is what I love about this job. A lot of time is spent investigating travel options for new events. But if I’m not working on a proposal, then I’ll be booking tickets or arranging car parking and insurance for upcoming events. Because we offer a direct travel service to our client’s staff and delegates, if someone misses a flight or a connection, we’re on hand to make alternative arrangements to get them to or from their destination as quickly as possible.
What happens if a client or delegate needs to make alternative travel arrangements outside of office hours?
We offer an out-of-hours service through our travel partner Business Travel Direct (BTD), which also covers weekends and holidays. It means that if there’s a problem there’s always someone available to help them.
What’s your favourite part of the job?
I really enjoy the challenge of putting together a travel brief for a new event. Flight availability, connections and cost can have a huge influence on where an event is held. Quite often a client will have a certain destination in mind, but when we look into where the delegates are travelling from it might be cost or time prohibitive. It’s our job to look at alternative destinations to make sure the client has a number of options to consider based on best access and value.
What’s your least favourite part of the job?
I haven’t enjoyed the disruption that the volcanic ash cloud has caused. When British airspace was closed in April we had one group of nurses from the UK who were stranded in Copenhagen after an event and a couple of our staff stuck in the US. It was a case of all hands on deck to find alternative ways to get them home and keep them and the client informed of our progress. We managed to secure the nurses seats on the Eurostar and although they couldn’t all travel back together, they got back safely and as early as feasibly possible.
Do you have access to special systems for checking flight availability?
Yes, thank goodness, otherwise checking all the different airline options and availability would be incredibly time consuming. We have access to SABRE, a professional computer reservations system that is linked to all airlines and shows us live availability. We can see what seats are available which is very useful if a client wants to make a group booking. It’s also very handy when we need to make quick changes because someone has missed a flight or connection.
Do you book and issue the tickets?
No, you can’t issue tickets without an IATA licence. We do all the research and then book the tickets through our preferred partner, BTD. They’re a specialist business travel company that we’ve got a long standing relationship with. We can often manage to secure discounts by using our combined purchasing power, which we’ll always pass on to the client.
How did you get into business travel?
I started in the travel industry 19 years ago, working in Going Places and then moved into business travel with American Express and Keith Bailey. I joined Oxford International five years ago and haven’t looked back. It’s a very friendly working environment and because travel arrangements can really influence an event, it can be extremely rewarding to know that you’ve had a significant input into a successful event.
Ian Lapworth, Operations Director added, “Philippa is an integral part of the Operations Team. Her thorough research and hard work are essential in completing our full event management service offering to our clients.”