Eurostar / the UK and EU

[telstarbox]

Do the UK government have some sort of block booking or discount rate for Eurostar travel for civil servants to travel between London and Brussels?

 

[AlterEgo]

My organisation - non-ministerial, but civil service, using the same provider, has a bulk deal on Eurostar to Brussels only.

 

[Polarbear]

My organisation does do E* but all our travel arrangements are made through Redfern. No block booking that I'm aware of.

 

[adamello]

my organisation uses a third party travel agent and offers no discount to any publicly available fares

 

[godfreycomplex]

Similarly do German civil servants get a discount on the ICE?

 

[duesselmartin]

Similarly do German civil servants get a discount on the ICE?

Generally not. Certainly not those on communal or regional level. However some authorities so get discounts with Deutsche Bahn for bulk buying.

 

[EssexGonzo]

If the HMG procurement team are any good, there will probably be some sort of centralised rebate invisible to end users negotiated directly with E* and other major travel providers.

My last employer (large firm, 100k employees) used BA as the preferred flight partner. To us, it made no sense as - through the 3rd party travel agent - we could only book flights at the same fare as available on the BA website. And these were the fares charged in full to our local cost centres + something like a £15 travel agent booking fee.

The firm, however, received several £m p.a. rebate depending upon total expenditure. ISTR it was in the region of 20%+.

This keeps any discounts secret from the marketplace which makes contract negotiations better/harder depending upon which side of the table you sit.