Advantage and WIN expand Duty of Care offering with new partnerships
14 Sep 2020
London, 14 September 2020 – The Advantage Travel Partnership, the UK’s largest independent travel agent and travel management company (TMC) consortium, and its international TMC partners in the WIN Global Travel Network have launched an expanded duty of care product portfolio, taking into account the challenges of travel in a Covid world.
The enhanced duty of care offering includes partnerships with Securewest International, Crisis 24, and Global Secure Accreditation (GSA) hotel accreditation scheme and enables TMC members globally to offer clients the highest level of health and safety best practice, in all travel situations. In addition, existing diverse travel and training partner Maiden Voyage has launched a new COVID-19 business travel safety eLearning module.
Leigh Cowlishaw, Global Supplier Partnership Director, The Advantage Travel Partnership said: “We wanted to ensure our TMC members were fully prepared for the additional measures their clients will require in duty of care provision for business travel now and post-Covid. Be it including a robust duty of care policy to support in RFPs, or supporting existing travel policy reviews, our new duty of care partnerships ensure members have the very best tools to offer their clients to protect their employees and to help build up traveller confidence. The new partnerships all offer global services and both Advantage TMC members and our international TMC partners in the WIN Global Travel Network will be able to access the services. We have enriched the proposition of our Global Accommodation Programme 2021; which the RFP is to be released imminently, this includes key aspects related to duty of care as well as having the guests’ wellbeing at the core and providing choices and flex.”
Securewest International supports companies in meeting their duty-of-care obligations, making informed decisions, and improving their business resilience from travel risk management planning and training 24/7/365 response and evacuation support. Securewest’s world-class technology platform and mobile application, SPHERE, enables seamless integration with TMCs, with travellers able to easily access itineraries, flight updates and pre-determined risk alerts, with suggested mitigation measures.
Crisis24 the travel security division of the world’s largest privately-owned security company Gardaworld, provide end-to-end integrated travel risk management services specialising in consultancy, travel risk management technology and assistance, executive protection and crisis response. With an extensive global infrastructure of over 102,000 employees, Crisis24 have access to an unrivalled level of on the ground support wherever organisations and their travellers need it.
Global Secure Accreditation (GSA) is the world’s only independently verified, hotel security accreditation scheme, which is ISO Travel Security standard, ISO 31030 compliant, giving reassurance to businesses that employees are staying in a safe and secure environment. By recommending GSA-accredited hotels, TMCs can ensure the highest standards of hotel security and safety for their corporate clients and the guests themselves.
Andrew Gibbens, Director of Sales, Securewest said: “Securewest is proud to be a preferred supplier of the WIN Global Travel Network and Advantage. We look forward to attending future events and working closely with the TMC Partners, supporting their customers through their travel risk management journey, sharing our knowledge around duty of care and how to navigate the current COVID-19 challenges faced by every organisation today.”
Craig Sweet, VP (Northern Europe), Crisis24 said: “We are delighted to have entered into a partnership with WIN and Advantage to provide expert security assistance and travel risk management services to their extensive membership base. The latest travel advice, 24/7 support and country intelligence has never been more important to organisations and their travellers, and at Crisis24 we are thrilled to have been recognised as the provider of choice to support WIN and Advantage members. As part of the world’s largest privately-owned security company, GardaWorld, our unrivalled footprint and ongoing investment in the travel risk sector ensures we remain the go-to provider for all aspects of integrated travel risk offering the highest level of support to travellers anywhere in the world.”
David Wood, CEO, Global Secure Accreditation said: “GSA is delighted to be working so closely with Advantage Travel Partnership and WIN whose values, expertise and experience combine exceptionally well with that of GSA. The partnership will provide their travel agency partners with a market-leading approach to ensuring the safety and security of their customers’ travellers everywhere and the standards of safety and security they have been promised are met all the time, wherever they stay.”
Carolyn Pearson, CEO, Maiden Voyage said: “Duty of care has never been so prolifically at the front of minds for employers and we believe that our new module will provide a simple solution to the challenges around global mobility, and we are delighted that Advantage Travel Partnership and WIN members will be able to use this resource to support their clients”.
For further media information about Advantage Travel Partnership please contact ([email protected])
Note to editors:
Advantage Travel Partnership is the UK’s largest independent travel agent and travel management company partnership. Advantage Business Travel TMC’s are each independently owned, but as a collective they produce over £4.5bn of business travel sales each year, making members experts in every aspect of the travel industry.
The Advantage membership has around 200 UK corporate travel management companies (TMCs) servicing corporate clients, predominantly within the SME market.
In addition, Advantage is the majority shareholder in the WIN Global Travel Network another network of corporate travel expert, on an international scale. It is a global ecosystem of like-minded TMCs, with an annual collective spend of US$15 billion.
WIN Partners are present in more than 75 countries, with the scope to share knowledge and best practice between these corporate travel experts around the world.
Securewest
Securewest has been supporting travellers to succeed in a volatile world for over 30 years. Supporting clients to meet their duty-of-care obligations, to make informed decisions and improve their business resilience. Developed in line with best practice and industry standards, their services combine security, medical and technology expertise with 24/7/365 response. The company has offices in the UK, US and Asia, and security services in over 180 countries.
- Comprehensive Travel Risk Management Strategy and Plan Development
- Gap Analysis of Policies and Processes
- Policy and Process Review
- 24/7 Global Alerts
- Pre-travel Training
- Threat and Risk Assessments
- Secure Journey Management
- SPHERE Travel Risk Platform with TMC Integration
- 24/7/365 Global Response Centre
- Traveller Check-in and Active Monitoring
Global Secure Accreditation (GSA)
Global Secure Accreditation’s remit is the independent security and safety of the traveller and hotel employee which includes all potential sources of harm. GSA accredits hotel security and safety standards and certificates health and hygiene standards which are regulated by a UK Government approved qualifications, standards and awards body which operates internationally in the health and security sectors. The comprehensive security and safety assessment process is comprised of policies, procedures, equipment, and a level of preparedness for a variety of hotel incidents and incursions. With operations in the UK, US, Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, GSA is well placed to support TMC’s clients’ requirements of ensuring the hotels where they send their travellers are safe and secure.
GSA is offering Advantage TMC members and WIN partners the ability to provide their clients with an additional level of assurance regarding the safety and security of their travellers by recommending GSA-accredited hotels.
https://www.gsaccreditation.com
Crisis24
Crisis24, a Gardaworld company, provides actionable and integrated travel security services to thousands of customers and millions of travellers globally. Trusted by organisations large and small and by a number of the industries largest insurance companies, Crisis24 provides the most comprehensive one-stop solution for organisational duty of care. Utilising extensive in-house expertise and the latest innovations in technology services available include embedded security professionals, pre-travel consultancy and training, access to country, city and province intelligence and travel advice, incident alerting, traveller, static employee and site tracking, 24/7 security & medical hotline, executive protection, evacuation and crisis management.
Maiden Voyage
Maiden Voyage specialises in the support, training and education of diverse groups of business travellers and their employers through online training, eLearning and business traveller safety workshops around the world.
The COVID-19 eLearning provides business travellers and employers with practical advice to ensure the traveller’s mental and physical wellbeing during the pandemic, whilst also protecting their colleagues and loved-ones and comes with a managers’ support pack, to ensure employees are meeting the duty of care needs of their business travellers.
