LABTA Self-Booking
CORPORATE SELF BOOKING – An idea whose time has come – Almost
(Appeared in the LABTA Newsletter April 2002)
The use of self-booking tools dramatically increased last year as corporate America looked to reduce travel expenses. Not surprisingly, sellers of self-booking technology have reported growth in the percentage of transactions (referred to as the “adoption rate”) going through these systems. Corporate self-booking has finally arrived and it is now necessary for companies to prepare for this emerging trend.
Properly administered, online tools can produce savings in agency fees, travel operating costs and better utilization of lower airfares. However, there are many other T & E elements that really should be addressed first. For example, determine if your company’s travelers are adhering to such policy basics as the use of the designated travel agency, preferred airline(s), hotel program and utilization of an organized corporate payment system (i.e. corporate card). If you have no discipline in any of these procurement areas, a self-booking tool may not do much to lower your company’s T & E costs. Lost savings opportunities in business travel usually have more to do with traveler non-compliance, the company’s lack of policy enforcement and the absence of any negotiated rates.
Incorporating self-booking into your travel program is a major adjustment and can be a shock to your company’s corporate culture. Many of the early implementers of these systems failed to attain high adoption rates usually because of cultural or technical issues. Even today, self-booking has yet to reach the masses. Self-booking vendors only report an average adoption rate of between 13% and 25% for current clients (although rates are expected to double over the next few months). Adoption rates still vary broadly from company to company and range anywhere from 0% to 98%.
If your company is ready to consider online booking, here are a few helpful hints:
Company Readiness: The company facility needs to be technical equipped (high speed Internet, etc.) and most travelers/travel arrangers need to have access to this system. Also, determine if travel company patterns are conducive to self-booking (i.e. simple domestic round trips, low ratio of international and complex routings).
Purpose: Identify the purpose and scope for this travel program change. Ensure that the rationale is consistent with current corporate objectives and travel management strategies. Establish what you wish to accomplish and state your adoption rate goals. Have a plan; don’t just make the system available to travelers and travel arrangers.
Senior Management Commitment: Self-booking requires technical investment, time and commitment. Executives must be willing to eventually support a mandate to self-booking. Have the CEO/CFO do a video to introduce the new online tool. Also, division heads should endorse company wide compliance of self-booking
Corporate Culture: Travel is very emotional for many; utilize change management strategies and tactics to encourage new traveler behavior. Employees should be technically driven since some of these tools are not as consumer instinctive as commonly used leisure Internet travel sites (i.e. Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, etc.).
Choosing the Right Tool: Tools vary widely in price, flexibility, and speed. Other selection criteria include profile management, file-finishing capabilities, ability to customize, implementation and service support. Systems can be acquired as a stand-alone tool from third party vendors or acquired as part of your travel agency services.
Travel Agency Support: Discuss fees, systems, processes and fulfillment with your designated travel agency before acquiring tool to ensure GDS and functional compatibility.
Training: Venues to use for training include face to face, Webcast, cyber cafe demo, travel fairs, road shows, and on-going seminars. Conduct separate sessions for travel arrangers and solicit their specific feedback. Training needs to be constant.
Communication: A communication marketing campaign with internal advertising must start well before implementation. The plan should create awareness by using branding, logos, newsletters, memos, telephone “on hold” messages, paycheck envelope stuffers, e-mail messages, company Intranet “splash” page, etc. Follow up communication should regularly publicize the success of the program (i.e. adoption rates, air fare savings, etc.).
Incentives: Motivate usage with agency fee waivers and lower transaction cost.
Tightening up the T & E basics and following some of these tips should help make your corporate self-booking implementation more efficient and successful.
Ed O’Connor is president of Corporate Travel Directions (www.ctdirections.com), an independent travel management consulting firm, based in Thousand Oaks, CA
