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The chauffeured transportation space has seen a seismic shift in recent
years with the rise of ridehailing apps. Traditional suppliers, already having
consolidated significantly in recent years, have been turning their attention
to the delivery side, looking at tech solutions that can mimic the convenience
of the ridehailing apps. The apps themselves, meanwhile, have grown their
corporate base with programs especially for corporate travel management. The
following guide will help determine the right strategy and questions to ask
ground transportation suppliers in order to develop a program best suited to
travelers’ needs.
I. Gather Data
- Sources.
- All car service companies can and should provide expense data for the prior year. If you allow personal rides that the company does not pay for, it will boost your volume.
- Corporate card data should be crossed-referenced with the preferred supplier's data to show leakage. This data also provides car services charges via merchant category codes, though some card suppliers lump car services with rentals and taxis. Many car service companies have a parent company with a different name.
- Corporate accounting may provide the percentage of T&E spent on each taxis, parking reimbursement and chauffeured services.
- Expense systems can specify a chauffeur category. Some let you mandate that travelers include supplier names. Expense reporting technology also should provide granular detail, such as pickup and dropoff info.
- Booking technology companies like GroundSpan and Deem can provide competitive bidding data either through an RFI or an RFP.
- Combine meetings and events data with transient data for greater negotiating leverage.
- Gather information on overall use and frequent routes.
- A typical trip contains, at minimum, four ground transportation opportunities: to and from the arrival airport and to and from the destination airport.
- Include frequent high-use destinations, your company's offices and international locations and frequented airports.
- Include the reporting you need, cost center or case number data and whether to use direct billing versus credit card billing.
- Average trip length.
- Vehicle volume and transaction, broken down by pickup and dropoff points and use by individuals and groups.
- Point out special events that would require chauffeured volume.
- Service requirements like Wi-Fi, refreshments, vehicle types and C-suite needs.
- Historical reservation method by percentage: phone, supplier direct, online booking tool, dedicated phone number, dedicated email and bridge technology.
- Average cancellation time and charges incurred.