Travel buyers want TMCs to expand more beyond their traditional roles and focus on areas such as improving the traveller experience, a GBTA study has found.
The GBTA Foundation report shows around half of buyers in the US want their TMC to improve on traveller convenience, which includes minimal layovers, convenient flight times and convenient hotel locations.
The TMCs Today and Tomorrow study of 297 buyers also want improvement on cost savings, data analysis measurement and reporting.
GBTA Foundation VP of research, Joseph Bates, said that as booking behaviours change TMCs have a “major role” to play in helping buyers manage this.
“Understanding why travelers like booking direct and integrating as much as possible from that experience into booking through an online booking tool can increase the level of satisfaction and compliance with a corporate tool,” said Bates.
“Increased education on travel policies, better use of technology to capture data generated outside of the corporate system and partnerships with suppliers are all ways a TMC can help travel programs better manage traveler behavior.”
The research showed that around 40 per cent of buyers whose companies currently allow booking through alternative channels believe they will be less likely to so in the next five years.
Additionally, two-thirds of the U.S.-based travel buyer respondents also said that their organisation does not ever allow travelers to book directly through supplier channels or online travel agencies.
The study also surveyed 710 business travellers and found theyare generally satisfied with booking business trips through the various channels they used in the past year. Booking directly with an airline or hotel had the highest satisfaction rate at 87 percent followed closely by calling or emailing a travel manager/travel agent (82 per cent) and using an online travel agency or travel site (74 per cent).
Concur VP of business development, R.J. Filipski, said: “Without understanding of the purchasing behaviors and booking preferences of business travelers, travel management programs are at a loss: spend occurring outside of policy is invisible to the travel manager, thus lessening the impact of negotiated contracts and, most importantly, the effectiveness of Duty of Care obligations.”