Prior to her current role, Leleux was director of the Barclaycard Relationship and Channel Management Team. She also led the team that won the Oyster deal with Transport for London. And before that, she led the development of the three year strategy for the Alternate Brand unit, delivered nine new products to market and led the consumer end of both the pilot and commercial roll-out of Chip and Pin.

Before joining Barclaycard, Leleux held positions at Citicorp, The Associates and Visa. 

Your 2008 Business Travel survey suggested the shaky economy is having less of an effect on business travel than some might have thought – why?

The current economic climate may have an impact on businesses across the UK, in different ways and to varying degrees. However, travelling on business to expand into new markets or win new business has always been an indicator of economic confidence, and according to our latest survey, confidence in the economy is still the reason given the rise in business travel.

At the very least, the existing economic conditions are making people more aware of short and long-term market movements and developments, enabling companies to evaluate the need for more direct involvement in their business relationships. It is these relationships which benefit from ‘face time’, highlighting the need for more regular domestic and international travel.

Additionally, challenging economic conditions are often coupled with an increasingly competitive travel industry. Businesses are already making the most of the incredibly competitive UK travel market, with airlines, tour operators and business travel management companies providing increased services for competitive prices.

During the 12 years that the Barclaycard Business Travel Survey has been running, one thing has remained the same – people travel to maintain and expand their businesses. Our analysis of the historic data shows that the frequency of travel has increased year on year, and at the moment we see no reason for this to change. This year is proving to be a challenging time for the worldwide economy and we may find that behaviour of corporates changes throughout the year, but either way, travelling for business is still regarded as a crucial component in domestic and international expansion.

Are low-cost carriers – and hotels - going to be increasingly important to the business travel sector? Do you think they have realised the potential themselves for this sector?

Our travel survey has taught us a significant amount about the changes the travel industry has experienced, in particular how companies are managing their business travel budgets. This has had the biggest impact on air travel, and which class people are travelling in. In the last 12 years business class travel has reduced significantly. In 2001, 41% of respondents cited business class as their main mode of air travel. Six years later just 11% now travel business or first class.

A growing number of cost conscious companies are opting for no-frills airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair over the traditional carriers such as British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic. While BA remains the most used airline for business travel (28%) both easyJet (ranked 2nd) and Ryanair (ranked 3rd) have increased their market share. easyJet recorded a year-on-year increase from 7% to 15%, and Ryanair from 3% to 8%.

Luxury, all-frills accommodation is on the decline for business travellers, with more than half (54%) of this year’s respondents choosing hotels based on value for money. Indeed, 49% said that the cost of a hotel was the sole factor when choosing accommodation.

These trends show that low-cost carriers and hotels are going to be increasingly important to businesses in the UK, but that there is still a very obvious need for traditional, scheduled carriers which offer a wider choice of services and destinations. There is still significant potential for both ends of the market to offer products and services that businesses demand.

What are the biggest business travel trends you have seen in the last couple of years, and what are you predicting for the next two or three years?

Business travel has undergone significant change during the last decade, with the changes to air travel services being a primary catalyst. The rise of the premium economy services offered by airlines has had a significant impact on how businesses manage their travel budgets, and the advent of new technology such as mobile phone check-in is reshaping how people think about their travel requirements and arrangements.

The rise of low-cost carriers coupled with the development of travel technology has resulted in a growth of online travel services, such as travel and accommodation bookers. This growth has resulted in significant competition across the entire business travel sector, allowing companies of all sizes to benefit from the reduced process and booking complexities that increased competition has brought.

One issue which is causing significant analysis and development is the environment. More consumer and media attention is being paid to the growing impact that travel – in particular air travel –is having on the world in which we live. Travellers are beginning to take more seriously the environmental concerns and look at ways in which they can minimise the effect their travel has on the environment.

In response to this, we recently launched our Barclaycard Business Sustain corporate card which enables customers to offset carbon emissions associated with air travel.

The card was the first commercial card in the world that facilitates the offset of a company’s air travel.  By tracking a company’s spend in this area, Barclaycard Business Sustain enables corporate customers to develop a clearer picture of the carbon footprint caused by their air travel, and we work with them to help offset these.  The card also encourages a company’s employees to think about - and do something about - the impact their business travel has on the environment.

What technology will be helping business travellers in the near future? What products do you have planned?

Barclaycard Business has a range of products designed to assist business travellers manage the costs and processes associated with travelling, including expense management products and Barclaycard Business Hotel Tracker, developed in conjunction with Conferma.

Hotel Tracker is a cutting edge hotel billing system that will streamline hotel payments for corporates, booking agencies and hotels alike. Corporate clients will receive more transparent and useful information about their hotel spend, travel management companies and hotel booking agencies will have less financial exposure and a more streamlined system, and hotels will receive payments quickly.

Spendvision is an online expense management system which enables business travellers to manage their expenses on the internet. The system offers an integrated, all-in-one method of managing every kind of expense, from card purchases and cash claims to mobile phone bills and travel expenses. The Spendvision technology replaces time-consuming paper expense and purchase management processes.

How important is Heathrow expansion to UK business?

All travel and transport infrastructure needs to be able to cater to the changing demands of its users, and London Heathrow is no exception. Whether the airport needs to expand in order to meet these demands is a matter for the airport and its management. Our latest research shows that businesses see the need for domestic or international travel to remain the same or increase, which is good news for travel providers and the associated infrastructure.