ADVERTORIAL FEATURE
Key Travel
wins innovation award
Travelport and the GTMC recognise Key Travel’s success in utilising technology to drive online adoption and efficiencies
T
HE QUEST FOR TECHNOLOGICAL IN- NOVATION that leads to greater ef- ficiencies continues apace and entrants to this year’s second GTMC and Travelport award
have proven once more that creativity, an agile mind and a consultative approach will produce tools that exceed expecta- tions at all levels. And this year’s second winner has built an online booking platform that has inspired notable buy-in
plus a steering committee comprising 11 key NGO and academic customers that ran the gamut of size, activity and sector. After a pilot launch to four organisations
in June 2015, 170 customers from the UK, US and Benelux were integrated into the tool. “Online adoption rates have grown by 11% since migration from the old platform was completed this year, take-up has been beyond expectations,” says Saranjit Soor, Key Travel’s chief technology officer.
“Key Travel’s KT Online has embraced the particular needs of clients in the NGO and education sectors, while being intuitive and easy to use”
from reluctant travellers, while catering to their highly specialised requirements. “Key Travel’s KT Online has embraced
the particular needs of clients in the NGO and education sectors, including the ability to show specialist air fares and their condi- tions, and produce first class MI, while being intuitive and easy to use. This is no mean feat and Key Travel is a laudable winner of this aspirational award,” says CEO of the GTMC, Paul Wait. The technology was developed in col- laboration with various departments in travel management company Key Travel,
THE COMMERCIAL IMPERATIVE Key Travel’s customers require adoption of online tools for greater convenience, reduced administration and lower costs. But because they do not mandate policy, compliance can range from just 20% up to 90%. To maximise appeal, the tool had to fulfil
three main objectives: to be as intuitive as consumer booking tools, with minimum need for training; to fulfil the complex end-to-end budget allocation and approval processes required to comply with funding sources and audit requirements inherent in the sector; and to support a variety
of bookers – central travel teams, local bookers/administrators, self-booking and travellers who research their itineraries but devolve booking to others. In addition, NGOs and academic institu-
tions benefit from specialist air fares that allow favourable conditions such as extra bags, extended hold period and free cancellation. However, third party tools are not designed to facilitate the variety of searches required to identify these fares, display them in a logical order – flexibility rather than cheapest first – nor communicate the conditions to allow easy assessment of value and price.
THE TOOL Customers expect to be able to book their business travel with the ease and efficiency of their leisure travel and KT Online com- bines the required functionality of search, booking and authorisation, with client customisation, ensuring it answers to customers’ needs both today and tomorrow. The tool has a tailor-made air fare
display that uses icons and dropdowns to show available fares, making it easy to compare price, airline, flight duration, fare type and associated conditions, plus carbon emissions per flight. And it allows bookers to hold a fare up to nine months in advance of travel, without commitment to book, and to pay up to 24 hours before travel. Bookers can also store numerous trip
options in a basket, like those on consumer sites, for reviewing and comparing later,
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