FCm USA President, Gregory Lording

Garber | FCm Travel Solutions in the USA is undertaking a full re-brand to adopt the name and management of FCm Travel Solutions.

“FCm is now recognized as one of the top travel management brands around the world. More and more, it is the reason why a client selects us and stays with us,” said Roz Garber, President and CEO of Garber | FCm. “Together we’ve proven our ability to deliver local service and effective, consolidated program management on a global scale. That’s what FCm Travel Solutions is all about.”

In early 2007, FCm’s parent company – Flight Centre Limited – invested a 26% equity stake in Boston-based Garber Travel Service, which was the largest travel management company in the North East and the ninth largest in the US. Through the re-branding process, Garber | FCm will now be fully integrated into the sales, marketing and operational strategies of FCm Travel Solutions, to capitalize on the brand’s strength and enhance client service.

Gregory Lording, President of FCm Travel Solutions USA, will be the overall leader of the business and its operations, and Roz Garber will serve as Chair of the Board.

Garber Travel will continue to be the leisure travel arm of the re-branded organization.

FCm's stand at NBTA San Diego

Caption: L to R: Michael Lyons, Travel Manager for HSBC North America, Carmen Leung of Alliance Bernstein HK, and FCm's Rob Dell.

NBTA San Diego

If you attended the recent NBTA (National Business Travel Association) expo in San Diego, we hope you visited FCm’s stand and met the team from our North American business. You may have even recognised some of our senior leaders from USA and Canada, who appeared in the FCm corporate video that screened in-house at a number of the convention's official hotels!

A recurring theme at the conference was the potential growth of China’s corporate travel market as more and more North American companies look to expand there. As the only foreign-owned  travel management consultancy to own 95% of its operations in China, FCm offers high service quality and consistency in this region. So if you are looking to do business there, please don’t hesitate to contact our team in China at sales@cn.fcm.travel

FCm’s Asia-Pacific Director of Sales, Rob Dell, was a co-facilitator at a series of educational sessions hosted by the NBTA in Singapore and Hong Kong during July.

Rob joined the US Travel Manager for HSBC North America, Michael Lyons, in addressing topics such as:

• economic impacts on corporate travel programmes in the region
• the commercial relationships between airlines/providers, GDSs/TMCs and suppliers
• how corporations in the region can alter their travel program to produce positive, long-lasting effects.

“While the global economic conditions have certainly impacted Asia-Pacific’s corporate travel activity to some extent, FCm believes this region is already starting to see signs of new growth. This was reflected in the strong level of participant interest in our sessions,” Rob said.

FCm addresses ROI at ACTE Singapore

FCm’s Singapore team participated in the recent ACTE Singapore event by co-presenting on the topic of ‘The Business Case for Managed Travel: Measuring the ROI’. The session was based on research by Professor Anthony Chin of the National University of Singapore, and focused on the importance of Return on Investment rather than cost cutting. “We addressed the fact that optimal ROI is gained through maximum traveler productivity, and as industry stakeholders we need to assist our clients in understanding this,” said Geraldine De Guzman of FCm Singapore.

FCm's success in the USA corporate travel industry has been asserted in this year’s Business Travel News survey, with our business ranking fifth out of 43 survey participants.

“The results show that the regional growth of our business, combined with the dedicated approach to our accounts and our people, are paying dividends in the US market,” said FCm USA President, Gregory Lording. “We have seen more companies looking to us as a partner they can trust to manage their booking process and assist in implementing a savings model for their travel procurement.”

*The annual BTN survey is conducted by ARC Transactions, a leading financial transaction processing and settlement corporation that facilitates the distribution of travel products and related information.