As we approach this year’s eagerly anticipated Focus Partners Conference, we hear from Dani Ives – Focus Commercial Manager, about her career to date, current trends, and her thoughts on the upcoming Focus Partners event.
1. Can you share your first experience with the business travel industry and how it impacted your career choices?
I joined a ‘marine travel company’, I had no idea what marine travel was or even an understanding of business travel, it just sounded like an interesting role. I even remember thinking it was something about the Navy at one point. I soon fell in love with the industry, the vast areas of travel in general, and of course the people. My roles prior to becoming Focus Commercial Manager have given me such a thorough understanding of the industry and Focus Travel Partnership, but even 15 years in, I am still finding out about new areas and roles within the Business Travel space. For example Cargo and the inner workings of an airline – I find it all fascinating!
2. Please describe your average day at Focus Travel Partnership.
I will run through a day last week as an example, I was actually pretty light on calls. But my days are often varied depending on time of the year, staffing, day of the week, and more.
09:00-10:30- Stats -I had some stats to break down for airline payments for the Focus TMCs. When we receive a payment, I have to look at how we earned the money and which TMCs contributed. Some deals are a flat figure and some are much more detailed, meaning we have to break down the different components and then bring them all together and ensure they then add to the right amount! I once spent a good 25 minutes trying to figure out who was out by 1p as that’s the amount we had left over, and as Focus operate as a not for profit business model everything is paid out to the penny! Luckily that was a rounding issue and I didn’t have to start all over again!
10:30-12:00- Contracts- Airline contracts will hit my inbox first and foremost and we check them against proposals and the inclusions and exclusions, and one of the most important parts is checking that every single Focus TMC’s IATA is included. I would say these are correct first time around 50% of the time, so sometimes it is a back and forth. Once I am happy with it, I will send to Steve our CEO for him to run over and sign. I will also update internal documents so we can keep track of the deals.
13:00-14:30 -US based Carrier Review Call – We do a mix of teams and in person call but this was a Teams call. We take this time to go through the Focus Group stats and performance. What trends are we seeing, any news and updates on both sides.
14:30-15:00 – Check in with the rest of the commercial team.
15:00-17:30 – I spend the rest of the day preparing a presentation for the TMC Partners where we go through airline opportunities and gather feedback. It is really key we understand each others point of view when it comes to the TMC and the Airlines.
3. How do the current trends compare to when you joined the industry and what do you personally find the most interesting?
I didn’t even realise I was working in one of the most specialised areas in the BT sector when I joined in Marine Travel and I still find this area amazing, the reasons why people are travelling, the sudden change of movements due to so many factors. You create a real relationship with marine clients for that reason. Laura, our brilliant Fares & Business support Executive, who manages our nett fare programme is so knowledgeable and I love learning why things are they way they are and the creativity of bookings and fares.
4. What do you think motivates Millennials and Gen Z when they are looking for new roles?
I am the most typical millennial you will ever meet, and what I look for in a company I think is simple; Empowerment. I was hired and I am paid to do a job, empower me within that role to make the decisions I feel are right. Work life balance, not all work needs to be done between 9:00-5:30pm. Some days I log on super early, some days I log off late, sometimes I need to do things during the day and having the capability to manage my time and diary is really key to that.
I also think there is more awareness of being your most authentic self, and realising that everyone is different. Some people love looking at data and analysing all day, others would hate it and I think younger people are more aware of what they like to do and what they don’t.
5. How do you think the business travel industry can enhance its appeal to the next generation?
Share our experiences, and incentivise and involve people. Earlier this year I took a group of consultants on a Focus Fam trip and for some of them it was their first business class experience and they are probably selling that travel option every day. However watching the excitement of their experience was truly amazing. Let them soak in every experience you can, they will come away feeling more confident and empowered to sell that product. They also were sharing their experiences on TikTok and other social media platforms, so I would hope that would inspire more young people to be curious about Business Travel.
6. Who has influenced your career most to date?
So many people have influenced me, not all were good experiences however, but that actually taught me to believe in myself and ask for the role that I want to be doing. But one of the greatest pieces of advice I got was, be nice to everyone because who you see on the way up, you will see on the way down.
7. What do you admire about Focus? What do you feel are the Partnership’s greatest strengths?
Something that never stops to amaze me about Focus is the community within it. Some of our TMC owners are great friends with people who are essentially their competitors, but they ask advice from each other and they want everyone else to succeed. It’s truly remarkable. Also, the Focus Central team are pretty special. Whilst we all work remotely, we get along so well. Everyone supports one another and is each other’s greatest cheerleaders. Strength wise, there are so many. Our long established and market leading air programme is the heart of Focus, we work with over 40 airlines on the commercial side and 70+ on the nett fare side. And for our Focus TMC’s it means they get a big name which means they get so much more out of it.
8. How important has mentorship including reverse mentoring been to you?
I class mentoring as something that teaches me about who I am as a person, not someone who can show me how to work a system or a spreadsheet, but someone who can teach me to push a boundary, ask a difficult question, when to speak, when to keep quiet, and so much more, but all instinctively. These people help you grow as a person, and its important to continually work on yourself. I am lucky that I naturally pick up mentors throughout my career, whether they know they are a mentor or not, it doesn’t matter. If you are learning about your yourself then you are being mentored. And that is also the key to reverse mentoring, I don’t necessarily agree this the wording ‘reverse mentoring’, but if you can learn from anyone you interact with then, why wouldn’t you. As the saying goes, ‘be the change you want to see in the world’ and people will notice and probably learn from you.
9. What trends are you seeing when it comes to Air Business Travel for this year?
We are definitely seeing a more ‘traditional’ trend when it comes to business travel this year. Last year we didn’t have so much of the Easter and Summer dip, we did see that return this year, albeit a bit earlier, and we understand that this was down to a variety of factors including the Euros, the Olympics and the several general elections happening globally. But ticket prices are also falling compared to last year and there is more capacity in the market. Airlines as a whole had a really strong 2023 and therefore are now looking to get back to pre-covid levels of operations. And we know that airfares and fuel prices were high for the first 6 months of 2023 due to world issues. So its more important than ever to look at passenger numbers this year, as revenue has dropped but the TMC’s are still fully supporting. Average ticket window is also getting longer which again means that travellers and bookers are getting cheaper fares than before.
10. What are you most looking forward to about this year’s Focus Partners Conference?
I look forward to every single aspect of the conferences. From the amazing content, to the 6am starts for the Central team. I love it all, but I am truly excited to see our TMC Partners, Suppliers, Board, Speakers and central Team in a single room, feel the atmosphere, and soak it all up. Focus and our individual roles exist to help our TMC’s, and being run as a non-profit business means we work really hard every day to assist in multiple ways. You heard it here first – we have a dedicated ‘Focus Breakout Session’ planned featuring myself and Tony Edge. Being such a small team means we are masters of a lot, and that’s really what our session will showcase. What we do, and how it assists and benefits our TMCs and supplier Partners day in and day out.