Research conducted by the Institute of Travel Management (ITM) among its panel of 135 travel managers and procurement heads, has found an increase in non-compliance to travel policies.
According to ITM, the results reflect the proliferation of low cost carriers in the industry, as well as web-based marketing directed towards the end user and travel management companies (TMCs) not providing integrated web and global distribution system (GDS) technology.
”Most managed travel programmes require the corporate, TMC, distribution systems and suppliers to work in harmony,” explained ITM executive director, Paul Tilstone. ”Whilst in general this is very much the case, the massive changes to the distribution chain in recent years can sometimes undermine that harmony.”
Although the majority of TMCs now provide both web and GDS-based services to clients, almost half of those surveyed (46%) said such integrated technology is unavailable with their TMC for anything other than air travel and one in five revealed their TMC provides GDS content only.
”The internet provides more and better content and rates for hotels, car rental and other travel services, than GDS and yet this is clearly not being offered to buyers by a substantial proportion of TMCs,” said Tilstone.
More than half of respondents (52%) felt the relationship between agent and supplier still has a significant effect on the fares offered to their companies, although ITM buyers estimate that around 40% of all reservations involve opportunities for an intermediary to influence the purchasing decision.
Airline and hotel loyalty schemes continue to hold a significant influence for travel buyers, with 99% saying they are swayed by such schemes when booking and 90% saying they undermine managed travel programmes.