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FESTIVE ROAD - Your independent Outsource Solution

Outsource for today, resource for tomorrow. Future proof your travel, meetings and payment programme.

Limited access to talent, operational overload, and a need for specialised expertise often emerge as travel, meetings and payment programmes expand their remit. These resourcing challenges highlight the importance of efficiently resourcing your team and integrating organisational design into your strategic planning — whether for the short-term, long-term, or both.

Our clients value our ability to increase their capacity and enhance their capability to drive meaningful results. With access to the full breadth of our expertise, not just one consultant, you gain the collective strength of our company. Plus, our 100% independence guarantee ensures that our goals are always your goals.

We’re here to help you create better, tackle any challenge, and ensure your programme thrives well into the future.

Are Hiring Bans and Talent Shortages limiting the resources you need to drive initiatives?

Buyers face challenges such as limited access to talent, hiring restrictions and an increased need for flexibility and adaptability as the remit of the travel role increases.

FESTIVE ROAD Outsourcing provides a cost-effective and low-risk solution to navigate these issues while injecting serious subject matter expertise into your travel, meetings and payment programme. By accessing our global talent pool, you can find the best talent to meet your evolving needs and reduce traditional staffing costs and risks.

We don’t just provide resources; we find the right-fit individuals for your company culture and your expertise requirements.

Have the operational needs of your programme increased, impacting the time you have for strategic objectives?

Most travel teams are overwhelmed. Resources are spread thinly across a long list of operational tasks. Imagine a world where you’re purely focused on strategy, governance and stakeholder management … and we do the rest! Outsourcing can play a pivotal role in your future strategic planning. We break down complex day-to-day operations and introduce structure, governance and a sustainable framework for future growth. This frees up time to support you with the important stuff: strategic planning, stakeholder management and engagement.

FESTIVE ROAD is your independent thinking partner. We benchmark your programme’s performance against our extensive client ecosystem, we identify key areas for improvement and drive long-term sustainable planning. With access to our hive mind of specialists, your team can draw on broader knowledge and niche resources for better decision-making.

Do you need specialised expertise to meet the expanding demands of travel, meetings and payments?

We provide resources for ambitious and evolving travel, meetings and payment programmes. Whether you are bolstering your team to create a more effective structure, or you need access to deep subject matter experts in developing programme areas, we partner you with specialists to address your needs. Our Outsourcerers work across travel, meetings, payments, sustainability, technology, communications, programme management, and more. Whether for a short-term engagement to fill an immediate gap, or for longer-term support, our Outsourcers become an integrated part of your programme.

FESTIVE ROAD also offers high performing team coaching and training to enhance travel team skills and to upskill those new to this complex category. Whether you’re looking to make sense of operational chaos, add deep subject matter expertise or simply get support to design and optimise your team, we are your outsourcing partner ready to help!

At FESTIVE ROAD, we pride ourselves on being your independent trusted partner

Our Hive Mind is dedicated to serving your best interests and taking extra care at every step of your travel, meetings and payment journey. Hear from our Clients and Outsourced Roaders on how our valued partnerships Create Better.

How have others experienced the power of Outsourcing?

Hear from Mark Teerink at Randstad and Esther van der Aa at FESTIVE ROAD about how our outsourcing partnership empowered a travel manager through executive coaching and mentorship to implement a strategic travel programme, achieving remarkable results in half the expected time frame.

Lacking resources to drive strategic travel initiatives?

See how FESTIVE ROAD’s outsourced resource helped streamlined strategy and empowered Randstad’s travel manager for long-term success!

Working with FESTIVE ROAD and Esther van der Aa transformed my approach to corporate travel management. Esther’s genuine care and support to put my best interests first, not only equipped me with the necessary skills but also empowered me to lead with confidence and resulted in me achieving both professional and personal milestones.

- Mark Teerink, Global Travel Manager, Randstad

What do our Outsourced Roaders have to say?

Meet Carol Peter, a FESTIVE ROAD Consultant who shares her experiences discussing the roles she’s fulfilled as an Outsourced Roader, challenges she’s helped clients overcome, how she Creates Better for our clients, and what she’s loved most about her Outsourcing roles.

CAROL PETER

LONDON, UK

Carol has over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. She previously worked for American Express as a Travel & Expense Consulting Manager where she worked with clients to focus on ensuring delivery of project objectives. More recently she was the Travel Program Manager for American Express and was responsible for supporting the stakeholder lead in key sourcing activities, supplier management and assisting in the operational management of the EMEA & JAPA travel program. During her career, she has worked on a variety of engagements including hotel & air sourcing, programme management optimisation, policy redesign and change management projects.

Based in central London, Carol enjoys travelling, playing badminton, and loves nothing more than spending quality time with her family.

Hear from Louise Kilgannon, Head of Outsourcing

On Resource Planning we often get asked questions such as, “How many resources does my travel and meetings programme need? What should the operating model look like considering both my team and supplier resources? How should regions, categories and other responsibilities be split?”

Our Employee Value Proposition

How do we look after our Outsource Roaders?

It’s crucial for your programme’s success to have motivated, engaged, and knowledgeable people supporting it. That’s why our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is key. We prioritise creating an environment where our team thrives, bringing passion, ambition, and expertise to every project.

If you’re curious about how we foster this culture or if you’re considering the next step in your career, we invite you to explore our EVP and see how we could be the perfect fit for you.

The Future is now

Future-proofing your travel, meetings and payment team is not a static exercise; it requires ongoing assessment. This involves an annual review of your workload, priorities, and strategy, aligned with your team's bandwidth and skill set. While unexpected challenges will arise, proactive planning can help you manage them effectively. Long gone are the days of establishing travel, meetings and payment teams that remains sufficient for the next five years! Today’s and tomorrow’s teams must be built on agility—flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing needs.

- Louise Kilgannon – Head of Outsourcing

I value how FESTIVE ROAD recognizes that while their Outsourced Travel Managers are strongly embedded as part of our team, they are also a part of the FESTIVE ROAD team and they take this time to develop deeper connections, support individual and team development and engage everyone in strategic thought leadership.

- FESTIVE ROAD Client – Global Technology Company

Get in touch

Ready to Future Proof your Travel, Meetings and Payment Programme with the right Outsourcer by your side?

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