THERE'S a new TMC on the block and it’s called Equilibrium Travel Management, or EQ for short.
The Scottish TMC has been founded by Franc Jeffrey, the former chief operating officer of Colpitts World Travel, and expects to achieve around a £3million turnover in its first year.
The company says it offers services on a transparent, fee-based system “as opposed to the ticket plus mark-up model adopted by others in the sector”, and has already signed deals with six high profile corporate clients.
“EQ will bring clarity and transparency to corporate travel bookings by charging a flat fee. This means we can search and choose the best deals and options to meet the company’s travel budget and policy,” says Jeffrey.
“A travel company which relies on hidden charges is always likely to be drawn to higher value tickets as it provides the best returns for them. It means the customer does not know that the transatlantic business class ticket costing £2500 would really have cost £2000 with £500 going to the travel agent.”
Jeffrey continues, “We think we could easily save a typical SME ten per cent on their travel budget by operating more transparently and in the interests of the company. This figure could be improved substantially following a full travel policy review. For one London based company we were able to demonstrate savings of £500,000 on a spend of £1.4million.”
EQ also has a strong development team, creating new technology it claims increases the efficiency of its agents by 30 per cent, and operates a meetings and events department.
