Lee Horowitz: Helpful. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. And we now have Stephen Ju of Credit Suisse. Your line is open.
Stephen Ju: Okay. Thank you. So just switching focus a little bit to the SME segment. Given the — what looks like the very high level of fragmentation there, there is still a wide open feel for not only yourself but for others to look to consolidate share as well. So I’m wondering if there is any step-up in competitive intensity you may be seeing in the industry as the sector continues to recover? And second, in terms of the booking type that you guys have disclosed and I think this is on slide seven. Just wondering about the behavior among the clients, like why the hotel dollar recovery level seems to be charging ahead of error at this point? Thank you.
Paul Abbott: Yes. I think, in terms of the SME competitive landscape, I think, you hit on both points there, Stephen. I mean, yes, there are some new entrants and there’s increased competitive activity, but very few have gained any significant share or scale. And when you look at that alongside the sort of size of the opportunity, we don’t see any change. In fact, if you look at 2022, we had a record win loss rate in the SME segment. And looking at our pipeline for the year ahead, by confident we’ll set a new record. So, yes, there’s activity, but it’s certainly not impacting our ability to aggressively grow in that segment. And I think one of the major advantages that we have is the range of solutions that we offer. It’s not one single segment with one homogenous set of needs.
If a customer is looking for a high touch, white glove service that includes both business travel and access to premium leisure, we have a fantastic solution for them innovation. If they’re looking for a turnkey SaaS solution with an intuitive customer experience with access to fantastic content, we have Egencia. And if they’re looking for that more sophisticated outsourcing of travel end-to-end, perhaps on a regional or global basis then that really tends to fit Amex-GBT more. So one of the major advantages that we have is going out into this very large segment is being able to offer that choice to customers, because there are different needs in different sub-segments of the SME space and I think we’re uniquely positioned with the solutions that we have there.
I mean, I’d say, hotel one of the key elements that’s driving the increased recovery is that it has been a strategic priority for us to increase content and what we call attachment rates. So to increase the number of hotel bookings in relation to air bookings and bringing in all of the content from Expedia, for example, which we do through APIs, we bring it into our supply management platform and we are able to present that content through our Egencia platform, through our Neo platform. So improving the content, improving the displays is definitely increasing in conversion and increasing that attachment rate. But it is a broader trend as well across the industry where we have seen a hotel recovery above air and I think one of the trends supporting that is what we talked about before in terms of Meetings and Events.
There’s a lot more demand for small Meetings and Events, which often are more localized and more hotel-driven than air driven. So I’d say those are the two key trends.
Stephen Ju: Thank you.
