Challenge
A major direct marketing firm with extensive travel across the U.S. and Australia needed to boost their online booking tool adoption rate. The company’s travel manager discovered that approximately 59% of their travelers were booking outside of the travel program. The effect this behavior had on the travel program was detrimental to the organization’s duty of care efforts and ability to leverage their travel spend for contracted rates in negotiations with their supplier base. In a questionnaire to the company’s travelers, the travel manager learned that the online booking tool was not intuitive and that they could find less expensive rates by booking on leisure travel websites. The travel manager and senior leadership team reached out to the Travel Leaders / Destinations Unlimited Corporate Travel Department to gain an independent assessment of their current booking tool and to compare the alternatives available to them.
Solution
After consulting with the company’s travelers and travel manager, it was determined that the booking tool they were using was not capable of the functionality needed by their travelers. After reviewing their options, the company moved to one of the leading online corporate booking tools supported by Travel Leaders / Destinations Unlimited. To ensure a successful launch of the new booking tool, the Travel Leaders / Destinations Unlimited implementation team provided on-site training to the company’s travelers and travel manager.
“As a certified administrator of the tool, I have helpful insights I can share with travelers to make their booking experience easier and faster,” Travel Leaders / Destinations Unlimited Account Executive stated.
Results
In the first year of using the new booking tool, the company’s online adoption rate increased from 41% to 74%, and correspondingly, overall agency fees decreased 17%. In addition, fare savings of $57,000 were achieved by means of proper loading of contracted rates and subsequent GDS and booking tool audits.