Who are you going to call?

When it’s 3am, the hotel is shut and the road to the airport is closed you’re not going to call an online booking tool to rescue you

 

For any organisation in which travel is non-negotiable, it’s about striking the right balance between cost and value.

 

Individuals self-book trips and holidays all the time so they often assume they can find something cheaper. But when it comes to business travel, cheapest isn’t always the best.

 

The conflict in the Middle East has brought this into sharp focus. Booking business travel through a travel management company (TMC) ensures a proper duty of care.

 

Travellers might save a few pounds on a booking, but their organisation could spend thousands of pounds fixing what goes wrong if a member of staff is suddenly stranded because of cancelled flights, with no obvious way of getting home.

 

The Middle East situation is not the first we’ve seen over the past few years, and it’s not just conflicts – natural disasters and severe weather incidents are happening more frequently.

 

In the academic and NGO sectors especially, people frequently end up travelling to parts of the world which are more susceptible to disruption.

 

Travel is complicated. So many things can go wrong. There are so many points of failure. An online booking tool on its own can’t reassure you that you’re protected and will be looked after.

 

What you want is a phone number that you know someone is going to answer when you find yourself in a difficult situation. When it’s late, the hotel is closed, a road is shut or borders disrupted, you want someone picking up that phone who can talk you through a solution calmly.

 

Travel might be essential, and ensuring safety for the traveller more so, but so is controlling how much it costs.

 

If a TMC customer needs to cut travel spend by 20% but still has to keep travelling, the focus shifts to spending smarter not travelling less, and this is where a TMC can add real value.

 

We use data to show where small changes to policies can reduce costs without limiting choice. 

 

For example, reducing a hotel spending cap from £120 to £100 would still give access to 85% of the same hotels. 

 

Say a policy allows business class or premium economy for journeys over six hours. By analysing booking data, we can highlight how often this rule has been used over the past 12 months and identify potential savings.

 

TMCs have access to data that helps us make these recommendations and enables a client to make informed decisions.

 

Savings can also be made through driving efficiencies around an organisation’s travel calendar and processes – approvals, data capture, invoicing and payments. Individual travellers likely doesn’t care about that. They just want the hotel and flight time they choose. 

 

Ultimately, TMCs are service-led, people-focused organisations. Tech can support and enhance human expertise but not replace it.

Eddie Shaw is group chief financial officer of travel management company DGI, formerly Diversity Travel