Attention ACTE Members:
USA TODAY.com Travel carried an article, "Employee vs. the corporate travel manager: The rogue wins" on August 1, 2002, which gave the impression that travelers booking Web fares were a more effective cost containment measure that adhering to the company travel policy.
The story can be viewed at:
USA Today Article
I felt the misleading nature of this story required an immediate response on behalf of our membership, and their companies. My letter read:
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August 1, 2002
Chris Woodyard
Business Travel Editor
USA TODAY
via e-mail: [email protected]
Dear Mr. Woodyard:
"Rogue bookings" may give the impression they save a company boatloads of money ("Employee vs. the corporate travel manager: The rogue wins," August 1, 2002), but it's our experience they can set travelers free on a sea of lost revenue.
While I have no doubt the booking methods you've described in your article are not uncommon in corporate America, they are also not the most cost effective, and reflect an even more common failing: For upper management to properly align a travel policy with company objectives.
Travel management is a big picture science. Discounts are negotiated on the premise that the corporate consumer will hit a guaranteed volume, lowering the overall cost of travel. "Rogue booking" (making reservations outside the travel program) circumvents that process. You might save a thousand dollars here and there. Under new contractual agreements, however, failing to meet the negotiated volume could cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional charges.
Your premise seems based on the idea that a business traveler will always find a less expensive seat, scheduled on a flight that will leave at exactly the right time. I can tell you the professional experience of our 2,500 members proves otherwise.
The nature of business travel to date -- last-minute plans, last-second changes to the same, and split-second cancellations -- whittles away the return on "rogue bookings." And according to a study conducted by Topaz International, Web fares are higher 77 percent of the time, given the same search parameters. A well-managed travel program minimizes cancellation and change fees, while maximizing the return from preferred supplier arrangements.
Your article makes it sound as if the only options are "rogue booking" and agent-assisted reservations. This is very misleading. Corporate booking tools are the new mainstay of effective business travel management programs. (Approximately 30% of all reservations are now being handled by these tools.) They allow the traveler an increased number of options and convenience, while remaining within the parameters of the travel management program.
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives will be pleased to put you in touch with a cross-section of our membership who not only rely on these systems to keep travel costs down, but who also keep transactions costs to a minimum. (The process you described in your article burns money in both time and transaction fees, which can vary from $3 to $10 as you try and confirm fare prices.)
You began your article with the statement "There is a little war going on..." There is, but it is between business travel managers and carriers, who want to deny their best customers access to Web fares (under the terms of the volume purchasing agreement,) when they do become available. The battlefield is airfare reform. We believe that the occasional Web fare and all promotional fares should be made available to the business traveler through their corporate booking tools.
We freely admit that all travel management programs are not equal. Travel policies are as varied as the corporate cultures they serve. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives is working to create a global standard for travel management based on consistent performance and a guaranteed return.
Please feel free to contact me directly for more information. As the president of this association, I want to assure you that our response to matters like this one are always appropriate and fast.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Hutchinson
President
Association of Corporate Travel Executives
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