GUEST BLOG: Off-Channel Bookings: How to Manage What You Can't See

Off-channel bookings continue to be a source of great headaches amongst corporate travel managers, and with that activity continuing to grow, those headaches won’t abate anytime soon.  A recent GBTA survey of European companies shows that approximately seven out of 10 travellers booked some component of their trip outside their official booking channel in the past year -- a statistic that, anecdotally, may even be understated.

But chances are, you already knew that -- and it’s one of the reasons you’re attending this conference.  What to do about it?

Data accessibility has quickly become one of the hottest topics in any discussion of travel management strategies, particularly as it relates to risk management and duty of care.  

New, truly automated solutions for capturing this off-channel data as it occurs are gaining traction with corporate clients across both the enterprise and mid-market sector. Offerings like Traxo FILTER, which automatically detects confirmation emails for virtually any off-channel bookings as they occur and distributes that data to the company’s risk management, expense, and travel management company (TMC) providers, and Concur’s TripLink, which import details from a traveler’s linked supplier account for nearly a dozen suppliers, go a long way toward filling in the gaps is program data visibility in a timely manner.

Figure 1 Travel Managers’ Top 3 Most Time-Consuming Activities

“…with 57% of travel managers citing travel data analysis to track program performance as one of their top-three most time-consuming activities, the problem is compounding with new supplier-direct booking.” 

(GBTA Foundation, July 2015)

Alternatively, traditional techniques for sourcing this data have relied heavily on time-consuming manual labour: either the travel manager having to manually reconcile data from their TMC(s), credit card(s), and expense management application(s), and/or the traveller having to remember to forward in copies of their off-channel confirmation emails in a timely manner.  Rarely is this data captured early enough in the travel lifecycle to be of any meaningful use for duty of care, compliance enforcement, or budget forecasting.

Testing out these new automated solutions can provide a travel manager with low-risk way to gain a wealth of new data points to help inform all aspects of their programme - from supplier negotiations to policy compliance to vendor selection.  For example, one of our clients, a boutique consultancy with a global client base, uncovered some particularly insightful details about their off-channel activity:  they assumed most of their off-channel hotel activity was going directly to supplier websites, given that their consultants are typically required to book their clients’ corporate rate directly with the property; however, data showed a fair amount of activity going to online travel agencies (OTAs) like Kayak, Booking.com, and Hotels.com, as well as AirBnB, pointing to opportunity to bring that activity back into their managed program.

With the availability of new technology solutions for tracking this “leakage” activity, there is no need to keep flying blind when it comes to managing your travel program.  Push your TMCs, expense management solutions, and duty of care providers to help you corral this data, and look into other solution suites on offer for corporate clients to bring this off-channel data back in house, where it ultimately belongs – because you can’t manage what you can’t see.

This blog was posted by Cara Whitehill, Chief Commercial Officer for Traxo, who is exhibiting at the Business Travel Show next month. Please register for your free visitor pass at http://www.businesstravelshow.com/

EUROPE AMONG TOP THREE HIGHEST RISK DESTINATIONS

In a recent poll of 230 European corporate travel managers, almost one third (30 per cent) chose Europe as one of three territories they believe pose the highest risk to their travellers.

The question asked, ‘Which territories do you believe present the highest threat to your travellers?’ Each buyer was asked to nominate three from a drop-down list. The results were as follows:

·       61%     Middle East and North Africa

·       43%     West Africa

·       34%     Central Africa

·       33%     South America

·       30%     Europe

·       17%     South Asia

·       9%       Central Asia

When asked which territories they had either stopped – or planned to stop – sending travellers to, the top three responses were Middle East and North Africa (36 per cent), Central Africa (30 per cent) and West Africa (25 per cent), while 7 per cent said Europe.

Terrorism was cited as the number one fear driving this behaviour by over half of travel managers (56 per cent). This was followed by civil/political unrest (18 per cent), general safety concerns including crime (13 per cent), gun control (2 per cent) and Islamophobia (1 per cent).  

The poll was undertaken by Business Travel Summit Amsterdam, which takes place 26-27 September at the city’s RAI Conference Centre.

The survey also revealed that, despite 84 per cent of travel managers claiming they see the duty of care for travellers as their responsibility, only 78 per cent could confirm they have a traveller risk strategy. 7 per cent do not know whether one exists for their organisation.

Of those organisations who do have a traveller risk strategy, more than half (52 per cent) include extra consideration for solo women travellers. 27 per cent do the same for LGBTQ travellers. 64 per cent renew their strategies at least once a year and 40 per cent include scenario training. For 15 per cent of organisations with a strategy, that strategy has been in place for less than 12 months.

“It’s not surprising to see the Middle East and Africa among the territories European travel managers believe present the highest risk to their travellers, or that some have stopped sending travellers to those destinations,” said David Chapple, Group Event Director, Business Travel Summit Amsterdam.

“But, despite the recent terrorist attacks in London, Paris and Barcelona, it was still a surprise for me to see Europe on that list. Being wary – and aware – of the risks posed in all territories is, sadly, simply a sign of the times and that’s why it’s so important for organisations to have a traveller risk strategy in place.”

The Amsterdam Business Travel Summit brings together travel managers and buyers from across the Nordic and Benelux region to explore best practice, the latest trends and innovative solutions. It takes place 26-27 September 2017 at the city’s RAI Exhibition and Convention Centre. Buyers can book a free place at www.amsterdam.businesstravel-summit.com/