GBTA Advocacy Spikes in Crisis but Layoffs Unavoidable

GBTA COO & Executive Director Scott Solombrino talks...

• Industry advocacy in the Covid-19 crisis
• Staff reductions at GBTA
• Planning for recovery

On the heels of layoffs at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Global Business Travel Association chief operations officer and executive director Scott Solombrino told BTN editorial director Elizabeth West that GBTA, too, has suffered losses. The association has reduced staff by one-third, even as lobbying efforts, research and other industry outreach efforts ramp up during the Covid-19 crisis. The organization's annual convention is still on the calendar for July 25-29, but contingency plans are in place. In the hours after this interview took place, the U.S. Senate came to agreement on a $2 trillion relief package for the U.S. economy, including the travel industry. That bill should move to the Senate floor on Wednesday for a vote.

BTN: GBTA released data on Tuesday that showed corporate travel basically grounded around the globe. Do you have any comment on those figures?

Scott Solombrino: It's so much worse than anyone believed it could ever be. We are all still stunned that this is where we find ourselves. I was on a call with our Europe teams and it is out of control there, with the breakdown in healthcare. When I asked what we're doing about [our lobbying efforts on] bailouts and what do we think that's going to look like, [our people on the ground there told me] Europe is just trying to fund healthcare. They're not even on corporations or jobs yet. 

BTN: GBTA did a lot of work lobbying for supplier members for government relief. What was GBTA's support strategy since essentially all your supplier members are in a crisis.

Solombrino: With each member vertical that came to us, we got onboard with their lobbying efforts to support what they are lobbying for. Obviously, we made requests when we thought things were unreasonable. We'd say to them, "You can't make a $500 billion request for one industry. You have to be reasonable so congressional members will take it seriously." We were on board with the airlines' $50 billion package request, which made a lot of progress. The hotel industry was very aggressive; they are asking for $150 billion because it's a real estate issue. … If they all default, we'll have a massive banking crisis on our hands. So we think they will get something in the package, but we're not sure what. The ground transportation industry asked for $12 billion. We signed onto that legislative request. The American Society of Travel Advisors also put forward a package, which we endorsed.

BTN: Boeing is a GBTA member. It temporarily suspended its operations in Seattle area manufacturing facilities this week. It's also asking for $60 billion in government aid, but there's a question about an equity stake.

Solombrino: [The recovery] has to start with the airlines. Without an airline system, what happens to travel? Boeing is critical to the manufacturing base of the U.S. and the airline sector. Only two companies make airplanes: Boeing and Airbus. You can rest assured that the European Union is not going to have a choice; they are going to have to bailout Airbus. The U.S. will have to do something with Boeing. Like they did with [General Motors] during the financial crisis, the government could require an equity position and that could affect shareholders. Of course, if that would save Boeing, we would support it. We'll have to see the details.

BTN: Industry associations won't go through the Covid-19 crisis unscathed. ACTE laid off its entire staff this week and suspended operations. Only key executives remain to run the business and programming. Has GBTA made any similar moves and are member benefits impacted?

Solombrino: First, I want to say we feel terrible that any of our industry associations are experiencing pain like this. At GBTA, we are going through a similar problem. We have laid off essentially one-third of our employees. We made the decision because we wanted to give them the quickest opportunity to get relief and to go through the government processes and get the benefits available. We didn't want them to be delayed in accessing that. We've also gone to a full work-from-home strategy because of the coronavirus. But the work doesn't stop. Our lobbying efforts don't stop. This a member benefit for all the companies we are trying to save on the agency side, airlines, hotels, ground transportation—that work has to go on. Same thing with our research. The U.S. Department of Commerce is using our data points to help make the case that travel is an essential industry for the U.S. economy. So we have a very busy time here in research, communication, marketing. We're doing twice as much work, with one-third less staff.

BTN: What about the convention scheduled for July 25-29 in Denver, or other face-to-face events currently on the calendar?

Solombrino: We have not cancelled or postponed our convention in July at this point, but there is a backup plan. We do plan to execute a convention in 2020. We did postpone our event in Mexico [due to underreporting of virus infections there]. We have postponed our Ladders event to June. We'll postpone our Canada event, but we don't yet have a date. Everything is on a rolling postponement schedule. We don't think we have to cancel [anything], but we are watching the calendar carefully and we have a plan. The government is going to have a lot to say as to when the association businesses can recover—and the meetings business in general. But we serve a purpose to educate people and help further careers. I've gotten so many calls from members saying how important it is for us to hold a convention this year, to provide a place and opportunity for the industry to coalesce.

BTN: What else have you heard from buyers—how are they feeling about their jobs, the future of their travel programs as the industry grinds to a halt at least temporarily?

Solombrino: Buyers are concerned about how their companies will travel when they start to travel again, but I haven't heard of many layoffs. Buyers are in a holding pattern. Corporations don't want to dismantle something that has saved them billions of dollars in procurement and is well managed. It's like a machine, and when you dismantle a machine, it gets complicated to put it back together. But corporations are definitely going to have to travel. The Harvard Business Review has said people are more productive when they can do business face to face. Our own survey that [GBTA has] run for a decade has said the same thing. People can't give up the human factor. It's not easy to change that kind of behavior. 

BTN: What happens until then?

Solombrino: GBTA is going to keep working. We are planning now for what the industry recovery will look like and what role we can play in making the recovery faster, easier and smoother for everyone. That doesn't mean we might not have additional layoffs between now and when that recovery happens, but we [still have] people on the ground in many parts of the world and we want to respond to our members as they are doing business. We have less people now but hope to be able to call people back when a sense of normalcy returns. But these are hard times and there may be more difficult times before this is over.