Santander, one of the world’s largest banks, has appointed Capita Business Travel to manage the organisation’s UK business travel requirements.  The specialist service, powered by BSI, Evolvi and Amadeus, will enable Santander to achieve dramatically reduced service fee costs alongside lower direct travel expenditure.

The appointment follows a competitive tender which took place earlier this year, with Capita Business Travel’s successful bid offering the most sophisticated and unique travel management service in the UK, a combination of unrivalled experience and seamless technology.

Following a swift implementation at Santander, online adoption is exceeding 70% within just 4 weeks of ‘go-live’ and the un­compromised air, rail, hotel and meetings specialist service is setting Capita Business Travel apart from the traditional UK TMC market place.

Commenting on Capita Business Travel’s appointment, Mark Payne, travel manager for Santander said: “Cost-reduction is a big focus for Santander, along with technology which delivers advantages to the end-user.  However, organisations such as ours, with a high do­mestic spend profile in hotels, rail, meetings and point to point air are often not well served by generalist travel management companies in every one of these areas. Capita Business Travel’s offering is innovative, cost-efficient and user-friendly.  The online tool is seamless and Santander is provided with a one-stop shop which benefits from separate specialist offers, without compromise”.

Matt Selby, Capita Business Travel’s director of sales and marketing services said: “Integrating specialist services allows us to offer a unique value proposition to align with travel managers’ procurement agenda. Organisations with a sophisticated understanding of their requirements are now able to gain from accountable and sustainable savings opportunities, delivered by specialists. We are thrilled to be able to provide Santander with this seamless service, account management and innovative reservation and online technologies, controlled and managed under a single contract.”