The latest Corporate Travel Practices Survey from echnology solution provider, Abacus, uncovered a series of structural and behavioural issues that, if addressed, could dramatically improve the efficiency of the managed travel sector.
The survey, which represented the views of 82 of the region’s top corporate travel brands, offers five action points to streamline processing, while maximising policy compliance and control.
There is an increase in corporate travel spend on ancillaries. (Image credit: artisticco/IStock)
1. Consolidating fragmented content: Travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs), faced with the challenges in aligning content from multiple sources into a single, coherent itinerary, must be able to consolidate the fragmented content. 87% point to B2C sites offering lower fares and rates to their clients as a major distraction, encouraging travellers to go off policy.
Robert Bailey, president and CEO of Abacus, said, “Technology can aggregate disparate content to offer new forms of fixed and dynamic packaging. It will ensure TMCs and CTAs manage more of the clients’ business with wider sourcing countering increased competition online.”
2. Including airline ancillaries: Over half (53%) of the respondents reported an increase in corporate travel spend on ancillaries, with the same number expected to “track, manage, negotiate, as well as enforce policies on ancillary fees for their clients. Most requests are for checked bags, preferred seating and lounge passes, with over 70% of corporate travel professionals surveyed seeing higher demand for pre-selected seats.
TMCs and CTAs should therefore detail ancillary options in their clients’ travel policies, as well capture the choices made for pre-trip approval and post-trip expense reconciliation,
Bailey said, “As more ancillaries are introduced, it is vital that their processing then reveals the full cost of each flight, not just the price of an unbundled basic seat, especially with so many corporate travel policies requiring the choice of lowest available fare.” (see chart below for details on ancillaries.)
Robert Bailey: Technology can help aggregate disparate content. / Image credit: Abacus
3. Enabling self-service: A third of the TMCs and CTAs surveyed still have clients who resist self-service technology. This is despite the potential for corporate booking tools (CBTs) to channel the otherwise “rogue” searches into compliant content and safe transactions. Southeast Asian travellers prefer to talk to their travel agents, while in North Asia there is resistance to travel arranger.
Bailey explained, “Evidence has shown that where CBTs are adopted, their use expands exponentially. We have to get that initial traction to help the culture change.”
4. Deploying a mobile tool: TMCs and CTAs are also proving slower in leveraging the shift to mobile. Such inaction also poses risks.
Said Bailey, “As mobile penetration increases, non-compliant rogue booking behaviour is favouring other OTAs and LCC smartphone apps. These present an even greater out of channel compliance issue. We have to address the mobile opportunity in managed travel more aggressively and with a positive proposition.”
5. Automating expense management: This is a growing challenge for TMCs and CTAs, with four in 10 indicating their clients are putting 15% more of their travel budgets into secondary expenses. However, the nature of the expenditure is changing with 53% of respondents reported airline ancillaries and ground transportation as the two fastest moving.
Only 44% of TMCs and CTAs in the survey are currently working with their clients to capture and manage secondary expenses, while the rest have yet to address it.
Noted Bailey, “Expense management should now be integral to the TMC pitch, especially when it comes to attracting global accounts.”
• Featured image (arrows) credit: Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock
