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THE ONLINE CORPORATE TRAVEL REVOLUTION
The only constant is change. This is especially true in the travel industry, and the corporate market in
specific. So far in 2003, the going has been tough for all players in the travel equation after an even more
challenging year in 2002. General concerns about the economy have restricted corporate travel budgets,
major airlines, once industry titans, are now reorganizing under bankruptcy protection. Conference calls
and Web conferences are up, business travel is down, travel agencies, once operating on commission
and fees, now see those profit sources shrinking. Service and support are key to the travel management
value proposition, but now more than ever, price can be the determinant factor. Everyone wants the
lowest price – for every product – every time. At least that’s what they say. Examine what they mean
and it turns out that what they want is value; which in the case of corporate travel, is the best price taking
into consideration a number of other crucial and fundamental service and product factors such as:
Figure A
• personalized service
• efficiency and speed in booking travel
• accuracy in fares quotation
• timely ticket delivery
• easy to follow business process
• comprehensive management reports
By and large, travelers continue to prefer to work
with full service travel management companies
over other marketplace options (Figure A). As
corporations solicit bids for their business, they
expect their travel management companies to
Other/No
Response
10%
Supplier
23%
Traditional
Agency
48%
Online Agency
19%
Travelers prefer the service and support of a
travel management company over any other
distribution option
Source: PhoCusWright, March 2003
handle their travel needs at a lower transaction cost and at service levels that meet or exceed those they
enjoyed in the past. Travel management companies are faced with an environment of Internet channel
shift, reduced number of staff to manage a greater number of travel transactions, all in an environment
where vendor commissions for their services are eroding or have long since disappeared.
Figure B
How does a corporate travel management company,
squeezed on one end by bankrupt air carriers and on the
other by corporations with complex and extensive travel
policies to curtail costs, manage to not only survive, but
also thrive? For many, the answer is simple – create an
“in-house” channel shift and move eligible
transactions online.
CHANNEL SURFING
According to the latest studies, the share of business
travel handled by traditional offline travel management
will continue to erode into other channels, primarily
online (Figure B). The good news, is that the trend over
the coming three years does not show significant
erosion of share away from the agency distribution
channel. The challenge faced by travel management
companies is how to best approach what is clearly a
marketplace mandate to shift transactions to the
corporate online channel.
Source: PhoCusWright, October 2003
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Figure C
THE ONLINE PANACEA?
Travel management companies and corporations who
have successfully integrated a corporate online booking
tool and have achieved benefit from doing so can
summarize the key to their success in three simple
words – Adoption, Adoption Adoption! The
number of U.S. online corporate travel transactions
today is roughly 39.4 million, with an adoption rate of
approximately 35%, and is expected to rise to 56.4
million over the next three years, with adoption rising to
48% by 2006 (Figure C).
The introduction of an online booking tool is not a
panacea that will immediately lower costs, improve
efficiency and enhance traveler satisfaction. Features
“Adoption rate is calculated as the
and benefits of a corporate online booking tool alone are
number of actual online transactions
not compelling reasons for the majority of corporate
divided by the number of transactions
travelers to amend behavior. A reliable, intuitive and
eligible to be booked online”
easy-use-use product is a necessary element of
Source: PhoCusWright, March 2003
effective adoption.
Key drivers of adoption include a more diverse offering of
eligible travel transactions such as international itineraries,
refunds, cancellations and ticket exchanges combined with
The projection of increased and
tangible cost savings that are evident to the corporation. As
sustained rise in online corporate
with any change management objective, an implementation
travel transactions is tied in large
strategy that is cross-organizational, involves all
part to enhanced functionality of
stakeholders and provides for incentives for participation is
online booking tools.
key to realizing a compelling return on investment. The
Figure D
ultimate goal of an effective adoption strategy is to create a
culture of self sufficiency where travelers instinctively
navigate to their booking tool when planning travel as
opposed to reaching for the telephone.
WHY TRAVELPORT?
Travelport is a recognized leader in providing solutions
for corporate travel management programs. We
combine market-leading technology with unmatched
service and support - all with an eye to meeting your
business travel management needs - higher adoption
and efficiency. Travelport solutions and services are
designed for easy integration and modification, so
travelers are more likely use Travelport every time they
travel. Our customers have adoption rates of over 35%,
and our leading customers have adoption rates greater
than 90%. Together with the Galileo GDS, we offer a
corporate online booking tool perfect for you and your
corporate customers.
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THE TRAVELPORT SOLUTION
Starting with Travelport’s proprietary implementation
and development methodology, continuing though the
testing stage and the launch, the experts at Travelport
are ready to consult, advise and customize a solution
that makes sense for your travelers, your process and
your bottom line. We ‘re experts at adoption
strategies, with our most successful customer
achieving over 90%!
Key Product Differentiators
•
•
•
“We selected Travelport above the
competition for three key reasons.
First, because Travelport could
guarantee that we would meet our
extremely aggressive adoption goals –
within the first 6 months we achieved a
72% adoption rate. Second, because we
needed a solution that could
immediately support our operations.
Third, because Travelport took the time
First to market with XML Structured Data
Technology. The benefit of this platform is that
updates to the software can be made without
loading software locally.
and initiative to truly understand our
More than just a booking tool, the Agency
Communications Portal and Interactive Travel
Manager provide the benefit of targeted and
interactive marketing to corporate customers.
Linda Bunt
Increase customer satisfaction and reduce errors
by ensuring all traveler and corporate data is
accurate and synchronized with the GDS and
other database sources with Profile Manager.
•
More options and greater flexibility with
Advanced Policy to apply rules based on the trip
purpose or the organizational grouping or
hierarchy
•
Save time and reduce errors with PNR Finishing
to ensure all bookings contain the requisite
reporting and documentation fields for mid and
back office
Our aggressive product roadmap ensures you have
access to the most valuable functionality to drive
adoption and remove costs
business goals and work with us to
meet our needs.”
Director of Global Travel
Siebel Systems
In addition to the standard car and hotel
booking functionality, Travelport features:
Hotel Mapping, allowing your travelers to quickly
get their bearings and effectively plan their
movements and activities in an unfamiliar city.
Meetings Integration to broaden your service
offering and increase revenues
Comprehensive Reporting to ensure you and
your travelers are getting most from Travelport
When powered by the Galileo
GDS, Travelport offers:
Automated Transaction
Processing to streamline
process and reduce errors.
Preferred Travel Content
available only to Galileo
customers
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