The ScotRail Business Travel team exist to make organising and booking train travel as easy as possible for every business: whether small, medium or large across Scotland.
It’s a free service, tailored to your organisation’s exact needs and budget. Whether you need help to implement a travel policy, organise season passes for your employees, book business travel between offices around Scotland or want to be able to book UK wide train travel, the ScotRail Business Travel team can assist.
Meet the team
The team consists of Sales Development Manager, Karene-M Aitchison; Business Development Manager, Elaine Chester; Groups Manager, Jill Hampton and Sales and Marketing Executive, Angelika Buzun. All have a wealth of experience in delivering exceptional customer service and a passion for train travel.
We sat down with the team to get to know a bit more about what they do and what they enjoy doing outside of work.
Karene-M Aitchison, Sales Manager
Hi, I’m Karene. I joined the ScotRail Sales and Marketing team in January 2020 and have so far relished the challenge of learning about a new and multi-faceted industry. I lead the sales team, focusing on the business development of oversees Tour and Group markets and Business Travel.
Before joining ScotRail I gained more than 25 years of experience within the hospitality industry in Scotland, London and Europe. For 24 years I was responsible for business development and insights at Stirling Venues. I’m a Non-Executive Director and Co-Chair of the highly renowned Destination Stirling tourism group with a wealth of contacts in the tourism and business conference sector. I’m a qualified and experienced event manager and also hold a postgraduate masters in PR.
My favourite thing about my role is meeting existing and new clients.
When I’m not working, I love to Ski in the winter and garden in the summer.
You can contact me on [email protected]
Elaine Chester, Business Development Manager
Hi, I’m Elaine. Within the ScotRail Business Travel team I work with a diverse portfolio of businesses across Scotland and support them with their rail travel requirements. That can be implementing a Season Ticket Scheme for employees, providing our tailored online booking facility – ScotRail Business Travel, or helping with travel and sustainability policies.
I love a challenge so this role is perfect for me. Every day I help solve problems and provide solutions for our clients and their business travel needs. I could go on about the things I love about my role so I’ll leave it there for now.
When I’m not at work, you’ll find me exploring the outdoors - hill walking, canoeing, cycling and running are my idea of fun. Equally, I’m just as happy with a good book and a chilled glass of wine or socialising with friends.
You can contact me on [email protected]
Jill Hampton, Account Manager Groups and Leisure
Hi, I’m Jill. My main responsibility within the ScotRail Business Travel team is selling rail travel to the travel trade including Tour Operators and Travel Management Companies. I enjoy creating bespoke itineraries that suit the customer’s needs. You’ll often find me at travel shows promoting what ScotRail has to offer. If you see me at one, do come and say hello.
I’m a real people-person so one of the things I enjoy most about my role is being able to get out and about to meet new people. The added bonus is that I get to see lots of our beautiful country while travelling.
When I’m not working, I love to visit venues and restaurants and enjoy a good glass of wine.
You can contact me on [email protected]
Angelika Buzun, Business Sales Executive
Hi, I’m Angelika. I’ve worked for the ScotRail Business team since May 2019 and before that gained a lot of experience working on the trains. My main responsibilities are managing and supporting our diverse portfolio of businesses across Scotland. I love coming up with ways to help clients maximise their travel budget and to generate new revenue for ScotRail by targeting sales and marketing opportunities.
My favourite thing about my role is using my skills to help business travel grow. We have a great product and I enjoy seeking out new business opportunities that I know would benefit from using ScotRail Business Travel.
When I’m not working, I love to stay active! You can usually find me running, cycling or traveling and exploring the unknown. My interests also boil down to whipping something up in the kitchen and grasping Spanish culture and language.
You can contact me on [email protected]
Now you’ve met the team, it’s time to find out more about ScotRail Business Travel.
The most important thing to note about the ScotRail Business Travel online booking tool is that there are no fees. No sign up fees and no booking fees. You just pay for what you spend on tickets.
The online booking tool is tailored to your organisation so that you have full control over how it’s used. This allows you to implement your own travel policy such as only travelling standard class or at off-peak times. The system can book travel for anywhere within the UK so if your organisation does a lot of travelling both in Scotland and further afield, all of your travel needs are taken care of in one place. This makes it a lot easier when it comes to reconciling spend, creating reports and reduces the need for numerous travel expenses from employees.
Making your business travel more environmentally-friendly
The ScotRail Business Travel team makes choosing to travel by train the obvious option in terms of ease, cost and its impact on the environment. The train is one of the lowest carbon modes of transport and when travelling long distances can really make an impact in the reduction of emissions. You can calculate emissions saved by choosing the train with our carbon calculator here .
We hope that you’ve gained a good insight into what the ScotRail Business Travel team offers and how it could help your business in the future. Please share this article with anyone in your network who could benefit from using ScotRail Business Travel.