FEATURE: Stephane Durand’s “fabulous adventure” (Jul 27)

Stephane Durand is returning to his native France after five years as Amadeus's country manager for the UK and Ireland. He tells ABTN about his "fabulous adventure" in London

Stephane Durand

When Stephane Durand arrived in the UK in 2004 as country manager for Amadeus, his company had an 18% share of the market. As he packs his bags to leave next month for a new post in the south of France, that share has more than doubled to 38%. 

"Back in 2004, there were three TMCs (travel management companies) which we had a relationship with and self booking tools were a tick in the box if anything. There was no concept of entrepreneurial solutions to allow companies to streamline their processes or operations," he said.

Five years on Amadeus now has "relations with the majority of TMCs in one or all parts of our solutions." But the size, the growth is not the biggest change in the five years, Mr Durand said. "The decision to change GDSs is no longer just about changing GDSs. It is really about the core operations of the company.

"I think that is probably really the biggest change I have seen. 75% of our discussions are about the operations and the efficiencies in addition to the GDS," he said.

It's the advance of a company from offering simply another GDS to one offering a whole range of IT solutions, among them the GDS to assist a company or TMC in its business, he said.

Mr Durand said the aim of the advances was to help companies become more efficient.   "There can be a lack of integration in the back office or in other parts of the company, tools which have been implemented but are not used. We offer other solutions which allow them to achieve their adoption ratios."

It was this approach, started about four years ago that allowed Amadeus both to grow its business and to move away from being purely a GDS. "Integration is at the hear of efficiency and we have built  up solid experience of consulting and working hand in hand with our customers," he said.

Another big change Mr Durand noted was the "convergence" between the world of distribution and that of technology for the suppliers which he said Amadeus was in a "unique" position to exploit as it had invested in both areas.

He cited the company's Altea suite which had provided the technology for many major airlines, including BA, to streamline their operations as well as the mobile phone boarding pass now being trialled in France. This will do away with paper boarding passes as the necessary information will be transmitted to a traveller's mobile phone.

There is also Amadeus's achievement in building the technology which enabled Eurostar to place its inventory on GDS screen alongside air services. This was just the start, Mr Durand said, as UK domestic rail services would be appearing on GDSs next and then, in the not too distant future, across the whole of Europe.

"The future is integrating rail alongside air - not just domestic but also pan-European," he said. "The project was rail UK and the first phase is now being deployed. It is a brand new rail system, an open system designed with the aim of developing it throughout Europe.

"It will be a single pan-European solution for both SBTs and GDSs. That has obviously been complex." he said.

He said another critical decision in building up Amadeus in the UK was to insist on having an in-house service centre which could respond to problems and guide clients to a remedy. But just as important, Mr Durand said, was that the centre's 25 employees had built up good relationships with clients.

Mr Durand and his family are moving to Nice where Amadeus has a major complex. There he will have a global role "way from business travel for the time being" to drive online and leisure business. "Did you know?"  he asks, "that two thirds of people do not know where they want to go for their holiday  - they just want an experience?"    

It has, he said, all been a "fabulous adventure" in London for five years. "It's the best job I have ever had in the sense that I had the power of the brand and the funds and opportunity to build up your own dream team.

"And working in the UK is the best experience ever for business ethics and friendliness. It is the perfect balance between the US and Europe and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning from everyone

 "Even the food has been spectacular... if it were not for the weather...." he said.

Dinner at the The Capital Hotel, Knightsbridge, in a rain-soaked London