Mystery buyer
In each issue, one of our travel buyer readers tackles a subject close to their heart, sparking lively debate on our online forum. Join in at
www.buyingbusinesstravel.com/forum
WHAT ABOUT A BIT OF OLD- FASHIONED DISCIPLINE?
I’M HEARING A LOT OF TALK about the consumerisation of business travel. It is all about embracing dozens of gee-whizz apps and all-singing, all-dancing booking sites. It is open booking, travel management 2.0, the demands of generation X, Y or Z, or wherever we’re up to (do we go back to Gen A in a few years, like car registrations?)... But I think we’re missing several points, such as: do we really want to let our travellers go their own way and do what they want? Bear in mind that when they use this technology, it – rather than me
– captures their whereabouts and spend if they book by
staysomewherefunkytonite.com, or whatever the latest start-up is. I also don’t see how it makes sense to let them waste half day by picking a flight that goes at the wrong time, but gets them enough points for their next holiday – and waste another half a day surfing the web to find those ‘best’ flights and hotels. How does this model really
help my programme and my company? My company’s employees aren’t allowed to choose their salary, their working hours and days, the
brand and model of their office computer, their responsibilities or their own budgets. Hell, many people are even told what to wear to work. So I don’t see why, in the so-called ‘emotive’ world of travel, should they choose their hotels, airlines and cabins. In addition, for the ‘encourage
the traveller to choose to do the right thing’ model to work, everyone says you need buy-in from your C-level folks. Meaning they ought to travel like everyone else in the company, setting the right example. But in the real world, do most chief executives really
fly at the back of the plane and take the airport bus to a budget hotel to set a good example? No, of course not. We are travel professionals
and should be able to run a sensible programme that saves employees from wasting valuable time, takes into account HR responsibilities, keeps travellers fit and productive, and ensures leverage on any volume- based agreements. Surely, insisting that employees comply with this is better than having them while away the hours online as amateur travel managers?
FORUM RESPONSE
www.buyingbusinesstravel.com/forum
Surely insisting that employees comply is better than having them while away the hours online – but ‘insisting’ doesn't cut it with some Gen Y travellers. That's when travel managers are encouraged to let them book their travel the way they want, provided they get the best price on the day. If insisting was all it took, we'd all have compliance in the high 90s. As for how long they waste looking up flights, judging by how often they tell me they could have got the flight cheaper, I think they do that anyway.
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This is always going to be tricky – as buyers we don’t want to come down really heavily on those that decide to book independently, despite all the encouragement we give them to use the tools we provide them with. The truth is, corporate booking tools are still lagging behind what’s available in the leisure sector – it’s hardly surprising that our travellers are frustrated by having to use clunky corporate travel websites or apps. Maybe the corporate sector will catch up one day
– but by then the leisure industry will probably be offering an even better experience online. If we don’t give our travellers the best booking tools , we can’t be shocked when they book out of policy and programme.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Join the conversation at the travel buyers’ forum:
www.buyingbusinesstravel.com/forum
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
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