naturally to better buying behaviour, booking early and achieving the keenest prices in the market.”
Certainly the era of big data – where, like consumer shopping, business travel habits are collected en masse, analysed and then acted upon to generate better behaviour – is progressing. The issue is that a lot of data exists in silos, whether at the company or travel management level, and best practices are not shared. ‘Adaptive search’ is one tool that is
increasingly used. This limits or adapts future travel-booking patterns based on past habits. It can provide streamlined, anchor choices or corporate preferred rates that are within policy and also make the booking process quicker. “When a business traveller books the same trip three times per quarter, it makes sense that the booking tool remembers their preferences and serves them up when it’s time to book the next trip,” explains Graham Kingsmill, UK managing director at Egencia. There is also the issue that a lot of off- plan behaviour isn’t logged, making any
“It’s all about simplifying travel – the fact is, endless options can be exhausting”
analysis difficult. “Sometimes travellers book their trip in policy and then, when they reach the hotel, upgrade their room and expense it back on their return,” says Spencer Allen, key account manager at Hillgate Travel. “This is hard to monitor but it can be controlled by consolidating travel management company and expense data.” Buying business travel may not have
reached the heady heights of retail online shopping when it comes to employing behavioural economics or nudges, but some of the best techniques are filtering down. BCD’s Kreidt says: “It’s all about simplify- ing travel in the future. The fact is, endless options can be exhausting.”
‘Real rewards’
Graham Kingsmill, Egencia’s UK managing director, discusses traveller behaviour
“NUDGES, OR SUGGESTIONS BASED ON BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS, can help encourage good behaviour by rewarding repeat business with loyalty points, in-flight rewards, access, and speeded-up check-ins and booking processes. “Fundamentally, nudges do work
in eliciting an emotional response but you have to offer a real reward. If it’s only a marginal discount you risk angering your loyal corporate customer. We’ve seen some pretty creative ideas with our customers as well. One links booking travel with a charitable donation – the more the travellers book within the company’s system, the more the company donates to the named charity.”
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BBT MAY/JUNE 2016 107
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