A co-operative set up to run travel management for companies in six countries had managed to cut its air fare bill by up to 41%, the Business Travel Show in Birmingham was told.
Soeren Schoedt, managing director of TravelpoolEurope, said airline route deals had been cut from 74 to 11 and 40% of bookings were now made on the web after the group opted for a “low fare driven policy.”
He said the policy offered the cheapest fares on point to point routes and companies could buy flexibility and service when they needed it.
Mr Schoedt outlined five ways the joint venture used to save money.
* stay at home and use e-conferencing. One company in the venture GE Reinsurance had cut trips by 70% after banning travel to any product meeting which lasted less than two hours.
* Always take the cheapest route.
* Buy tickets at least seven days in advance for savings of up to 50%.
* Streamline process by bypassing intermediaries and go online which could save 20%
* Restrict vendor programmes to 5-20% of spend.
He said there were advantages and disadvantages of managing travel whether a company did it in house or outsourced, whether they used the procurement department, a travel manager or the human resources department.
“Travel is one of the most complex areas of corporate management. Management often has a blindness about travel while the traveller knows a lot about it.
The essentials of a successful travel policy were the negotiations with suppliers including airlines, hotels and TMCs, a good distribution policy, good communications, security for travellers and financial control including expense reporting.
The risk areas, Mr Schoedt said, included the quality of data on which decisions were made, traveller acceptance and compliance with the policy, poor communications with travellers, the lack of infrastructure to allow fully automated processes, the new multi-channel sourcing, management support and a company's culture.