ONLINE BOOKING TOOLS
SELF BOOK
WAITING TO C
Online self-booking tools are evolving slowly, despite travellers’ enthusiasm for them. So what’s obstructing their widespread use?
ORPORATE SELF-BOOKING TOOLS have evolved in recent years to provide a better user experience and access to greater choice of content, which helps to keep travellers in policy. Some offer expense management tools making for a more seamless experience and improved spend visibility.
However, self-booking tools still represent an ongoing challenge to travel managers and what it often seems to boil down to is that they are being oversold. One corporate travel manager, who has used a
number of the systems in the market, feels there needs to be far more due diligence carried out when it comes to selecting a self-booking tool. She says companies really need to sit down and decide what they want from a system because, in many cases, technology promises a lot that it cannot necessarily deliver. “I’m not saying there are not good online booking
tools, I just think they should be transparent about what they can and can’t do, and we should be very clear about what the expectations are.” There are challenges, such as the technology’s ability to work across different geographies, as well as its ability to integrate with all the required TMCs. There’s a conversation to be had between the
88 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
WORDS LINDA FOX 2018
corporate and the TMCs they work with before any contract is signed for a self-booking tool, especially when you consider the three-year contracts involved. Some thought should also be given to the companies that offer the technology you’re planning to implement. Will they give you a dedicated person who acts as a central point for any issues? Or, will it be someone different each time. The latter creates “confusion and delays”, says the travel manager. What’s interesting is that these problems don’t relate to the technology itself, which many buyers simply just want to use to enable their travellers to make simple online bookings, integrated with the TMC they work with and taking into account corporate travel policy and any approval constraints. Most travel managers seem to have accepted that this is what they do and anything that deviates much from this, such as customisation, might require a rethink. Another buyer told BBT that their current booking tool from their TMC was great at doing the simple
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