With Guests
John Cugasi, Paradies Lagardère Stu Holcombe, Travel Retail Partners Mookie Patel, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport The RFP topic is so big, so important, it took two Forums to do the topic justice! For our December Forum, “Revisiting the Ideal RFP,” we posed a difficult question: do current RFPs reflect the financial and operational realities of the post-Covid business environment? Our guests’ answer: not so much! Mookie, Stu, and John covered many facets of the Ideal RFP: balancing the needs of airports and concessionaires, industry lifecycles, moving the needle on MAG, and the role of procurement rules. We encourage you to read the recap or watch the replay here. But there was still much left to discuss. And it remains a crucial discussion our industry must have. Especially now with a backlog of RFPs from the pandemic and an unprecedented amount of business out on the street. For our February Forum, ARRA brought our December panel back together to continue the conversation. Mookie, Stu, and John did not disappoint! Their insights and bold ideas for concessions programs and the RFP process are well-placed from nearly 100 years of collective experience. We discussed alignment of goals among concessionaires, airports, and governing bodies; proper program size; evaluation committees and criteria; the impact of the changing passenger base and travel purpose; pop-ups to keep a program fresh and engaging; and the critical, central importance of customer service. It was an inspired conversation. Here are three key takeaways:
These are just three important takeaways. Mookie, Stu, and John offered many more profound observations. We encourage you to watch the replay. |
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