What makes a good business travel agency (part 2)
Winfried Barczaitis
Erfahren und aktuell in allen Fragen der Gesch?ftsreisen; seasoned professional in travel management
Returning to the initial question, here are a few points for benchmarking your existing travel agency, dear corporate client:
Human Factors
o By phone, meaning that you immediately have a competent person on the line who can provide the desired assistance. This "competent person" should know who you are and who the travelers are. This can be technologically supported but is often a significant flaw, especially in call centers.
o Through written communication, whether via email or other electronic media. It is important to receive immediate confirmation that your request has been received and to be provided with a time frame within which you can expect a well-founded response or additional questions.
o Where is this service located? Is it in your language and cultural region? Is it firmly based in another country or cultural region? Or is it based on a "follow the sun" system?
o The important thing is that the service has full access to your bookings and can make any necessary changes and competently assist with any other issues that may arise during the trip.
o Keep in mind that this service is not intended for quickly booking a trip three weeks from now on a Sunday. It may be technically possible, but it is far too expensive.
o Since we are still discussing "human factors" here, it is important that you get to know "your" account management at a very early stage when working with a new travel agency and engage in conversations with the main points of contact in your company. Surely you have someone who has "STM-Strategic Travel Management" skills. These two functions will work closely together, and you won't see the salesperson often once the contract is signed.
o There will always be situations where you are unable to make progress at the "working level" and need to speak with individuals at higher hierarchical levels.
o Who are these individuals, and what competencies do they have?
o Avoid having to work your way through several levels before receiving a competent answer. However, this is not unique to travel agencies.
Technology and Digitalization
Digitalization is making significant strides in the business travel industry, although it still lags behind in some areas compared to the leisure travel industry, especially in Germany.
It is worth mentioning that my conviction remains that technology should be used based on licenses from the travel agency whenever possible. Good travel agencies offer a range of options, allowing you to choose the best solution for your company.
By having a contract with the travel agency that covers all additional services, including technology, you avoid dealing with a mess of contracts or agreements with various providers. You eliminate "media breaks" because your first point of contact is always the travel agency.
Only at a certain scale, such as DAX or blue-chip companies, it may make sense to enter into direct contracts, primarily because you probably have the necessary expertise in-house, and the travel agency is essentially only needed as a fulfillment agent. This is not the case for SMEs.
Let's take a look at the process on a timeline:
The biggest difference between technology applications in the planning and booking phases lies in the content the travel agency and the subsequent technology, described below, have access to!
This applies to air travel because the best price offers are now only found on the respective airlines' own websites.
And hotels. There are more hotels than airlines (surprise, surprise), and in each of the approximately 190,000 hotels (a stable estimate, no one knows the exact number), the director or owner has price control. Therefore, electronic intermediaries, and now also "meta-search" companies for business travel, find the best prices.
In the following list, I have put the technologies in italics that are either "nice to have" or depend on your company's decisions. All others are "must-haves."
o Pre-Trip Solutions or Door2Door systems verify in advance if the desired booking actually complies with the travel policy, provide information on travel time vs. price vs. carbon footprint, etc. Theoretically, approval by superiors may be waived if the system has positively checked all factors. Meaningful reports can be generated from the data, such as those related to the "carbon footprint."
o Bonus miles: If you want to take advantage of loyalty programs for all business trips, it is important to know which provider your travel agency works with.
o Duty of Care is a comprehensive topic that, in summary, concerns the safety and health of your business travelers. Some Pre-Trip Solutions partially integrate solutions for this. You should know exactly what your travel agency offers in this regard, whether it is an in-house development or a third-party provider. Solutions can also be contracted directly by your company.
o Online Booking Engines with appropriate selection
o Apps, mostly operated by the Online Booking Engine or the travel agency. It is important to know what each app can do. There are still too many apps that are only reactive, meaning travelers can receive information but cannot directly plan, book, enter travel expenses, etc.
o Increasingly, systems are being implemented where both the traveler and the travel agency use the same technology. Confusion or technical "media breaks" are largely eliminated in such cases.
Let's not forget about the "human factors" because there are often situations where communication with a travel agency expert is necessary, especially for planning.
o Post-Ticketing Solutions monitor the price development of the booked flight and hotel room between the booking and the trip (often weeks apart, and rightfully so!). If a better price becomes available, the travel agency is notified and can book the lower price. Always for the originally booked flight or hotel!
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o Flight passenger rights: If you want to claim compensation, it is important to know which third-party provider your travel agency works with.
o Reporting: This remains an ongoing topic for the STM (Strategic Travel Management) position in your company. You should exchange information with your travel agency's account management about which reports make sense. Sufficient time should be allocated to this, especially at the beginning of the collaboration with a new travel agency. However, please avoid paper printouts and instead have direct access to preconfigured reports and the ability to create ad-hoc reports based on the original data.
It should be noted that there are at least three different sources for reports on travel behavior and travel volume:
Travel expense accounting can be obtained through your travel agency, but it is not mandatory. In any case, specialists can significantly reduce process costs through automation, up to 75% (I only have an older calculation indicating that a non-automated travel expense report (and Excel is not automation) costs over €55 per transaction in Europe). It has surely increased since then.
VAT reclaim can be obtained through your travel agency, but it is not mandatory. The need for such a third-party provider should be coordinated with your company's finance department, as solutions may have already been found there to claim VAT paid abroad as input tax. If not, there is still considerable potential for savings here.
SOW & SLA
Once again, two "Americanisms." SOW stands for "Statement of Work" and provides a detailed description of the services agreed upon with the travel agency. SLA stands for "Service Level Agreement" and describes in detail how the travel agency will provide the agreed services. It would go beyond the scope - especially since I have already gone far beyond a mere collection of keywords - to describe all components of SOW and SLA here.
Contract
Driven by increasing requirements at the national and international levels, a contract with a travel agency is becoming more extensive.
Therefore, here are just a few tips and hints:
o Whenever possible, involve as many third-party providers, especially in the technology field, through your travel agency as is feasible. This way, the agency will be liable, and you and your legal department won't have to deal with and manage additional piles of paperwork.
o The offer that ultimately secured the contract for your travel agency should be an integral part of the agreement.
o And, of course, SOW and SLA.
o Pay attention to the "fine print," which is important for travel agency contracts, often from a commercial rather than a legal perspective. Especially if you have significantly negotiated the price, be aware that the very low transaction fee may be "re-financed" through fees for other services or interesting definitions.
o How is a transaction defined?
o Does the "online transaction fee" include the fees of the Online Booking Engine provider, or are they charged separately (if so, how much)?
o What is the cost of a man-day of Account Management?
o What is the cost of implementation?
o What is the cost of using the "emergency service"?
o What are the costs associated with individual technology components?
o What is the cost of using the technical "help desk" (first + second level support)?
o What is the cost of reporting?
o Do you have to pay extra for each copy of an invoice (even if it's electronic)?
o What parameters are subject to automatic price increases (cost of living, for example)?
o At what volume fluctuations can both sides expect or demand a renegotiation of prices (usually the assumed volume in the offer is taken as a basis, and a variation range of +/- 10% is considered normal; renegotiation may be required above or below this range)?
This list may not be exhaustive, but I believe it includes the most important examples.
If you are proficient in this subject, please forgive the inclusion of some self-evident items on the list.
I am available for questions and comments, as always, following the motto: "Every question will receive an answer. May every inquiry turn into an order."
So, what is the result of your benchmarking with the current travel agency?
Should I mention that I would be happy to support you in a travel agency tender?