1995 Autumn ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Demystifying the Internet | International Task Force Report

But the Internet, hype and all, does have an important, and growing, place in travel management today-even though the Net is still in its infancy, even though it's rapidly evolving, even though its short- and long-term applications aren't yet entirely clear. And while it's true that travel suppliers are marketing their products and services primarily to leisure travelers right now, more and more companies are focusing on business travel-one of many reasons why travel managers ought to get wired.

From the travel manager's standpoint, the Internet has two key functions. It may, sometime soon, allow for a new, efficient way to book corporate travel. And it already serves as a powerful information tool that helps travelers manage their time more efficiently before, during and after a business trip.

"Travel managers have been notoriously slow at recognizing that their jobs require them to be information managers, not merely travel arrangers and documenters," suggests Philip Wolf, President of PhoCusWright, the travel technology consultancy. "And I don't just mean reservation information. I mean destination information, or even useful information that can be communicated among employees."

Here's one of many possible scenarios: Twenty people from several corporate divisions scattered across six regions are all going to be in Chicago at the same time. Some are attending a trade show. Some are seeing clients. Some are in town for an internal meeting. The travel arranger may be able to negotiate a discount meeting fare for all of them, and arrange for cost-effective airport transfers. The meeting manager can post an electronic template for attendees to fill out, covering flight information, room requests, special needs, department codes, and so on. The electronic bulletin board helps everyone save time, especially the meeting planner, who only has to post a communique once for all 20 people, instead of faxing each person separately. And other employees can see who's going to be where when-another opportunity to coordinate schedules and pool resources.

Wolf went on to say that travel managers shouldn't wait to be nagged or prodded by their travelers, or respond to an edict from on high, to start netsurfing. "There's a lot on-line right now that will help managers do their jobs better, smarter, faster," he said.

Wolf isn't exaggerating. Right now there are more than 700 travel applications on the Internet-everything from satellite navigation systems to detailed destination information. Weissmann Travel Reports has in-depth information on thousands of cities in 400 countries; the reports are updated as necessary -often daily-to keep the information fresh. Need a visa for Taiwan or a malaria shot for Lagos? Has the high security alert been lifted for Jordan? You can also use Weissmann to look up your destination on the morning of departure and, for example, see that there's a rail strike (again) in Paris, or a Papal visit that's going to completely snaggle traffic, a hurricane that's making a beeline for the East Coast, or construction delays near the airport. Web sites can offer interesting information from unconventional sources-Perrier, of eau minerale fame, just put up a site with restaurant reviews for Los Angeles and New York. But many of the traditional business travel suppliers have made huge financial and creative commitments to the Internet as well.

Alamo, for instance, was the first car rental company to produce a home page on the Web so browsers can check real-time availability, download and print maps, and look for special business-traveler promotions. Hotel companies offer electronic brochures, some surprisingly sophisticated, with far more visual and print information than the traditional paper kind. Thisco's Travel Web, one of the oldest and most comprehensive travel sites on the Internet, offers information on 15 major hotel chains. Hypertext links allow users to flow from the hotel listings to other areas, such as guidebooks, convention and visitors bureaus, and general destination information pages. Radisson's Web site offers information on 74 properties in four languages (English, Spanish, French and German), with floor plans and capacity charts for meeting space; Hilton's "Internet Travel Center" uses a cute cartoon "concierge" icon that guides browsers through the site so they can retrieve information on any of Hilton's 200 domestic properties.

Another advantage of information retrieved this way is that it comes from various sources in various styles. "The info can be editorial, written by impartial or at least critical journalists," says Charles Zug, director of marketing for Thisco. "It can come from advertising. Or it can come from locals. You can post a question-where's the best place to take a client in Kansas City, where's the best mid-priced hotel near the airport, what should I do when I have a free evening, where is there a Kinko's to get presentation boards made and laminated at two in the morning. The amount of information at your fingertips is really staggering."

Still another advantage: The Net gives travel managers and travelers an alternative source of destination information to their travel agency. This was pointed out by an interesting advocate, Jeff Harrow, CEO of Travel One, the travel management firm in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. "Look," Harrow explained, "the tendency for travelers, especially if they're going somewhere they've never been before, is to ask their travel manager, who doesn't have a lot of time to do detailed searches. They call a travel agent, who has access to the information but not a lot of time either. Anything that makes our agents more effective and customer-responsive is a huge advantage. For us to use the Internet makes us more effective partners and gives us a huge competitive advantage. Also consider the realities in this new, fresh era of fee-based pricing. Doesn't it make sense to automate the things that can be automated, freeing up personnel for the more complex aspects of travel management?

"Then there are the soft-dollar savings involved in streamlining traveler-agent communications-savings for both sides."

Function number two is that it's possible to make travel bookings on-line, sans agent, on the Internet; it has been for several years, using, for example, Eaasy Sabre, and, more recently, TraveLogix Online. This concept seems to strike fear in the heart of many travel managers, who fear, legitimately or not, several things: one, they'll lose whatever tenuous grip they have on policy if travelers book using anything but the destinated travel agency; two, that they'll lose control over key reservation information, which may prove later on to harm volume agreements/ projections; three, they'll be encouraging their travelers to waste time doing something a service provider should be doing for them. "I don't want our top executives spending hours on their laptops looking for flights when they could be making a simple telephone call," said Cindy Perper, travel manager for Colgate Palmolive.

As for policy issues, "compliance is a matter of corporate culture, not just of how reservations are made," pointed out Colleen Guhin, travel manager for Texas Instruments. "What's perhaps more important to consider is how to capture the reservations information."

In the future, it will be possible to private-label, or customize, a cyberspace booking product for every company, with an interface to Global Distribution Systems and to the back office. "That should take care of policy issues," says Thisco's Charles Zug.

Fear it or not, industry watchers predict that once the necessary technological bridges are built, and the security issues are satisfactorily addressed, Internet bookings by consumers will be sizeable. Peter Sontag, president of OAG Travel Services, predicts that in five years about 20% of air, hotel and rental car bookings will be done on-line.

Still, no matter how easy Internet bookings become, Sontag said, "most travelers still want to interact with a human being, if for no other reason that they want someone else to take responsibility if a problem arises." His view on timing was seconded by Charles Zug. "I agree that the Internet is still three to five years away from being a viable distribution system," he told ACTE Quarterly. "Still," he says, with a tolerant laugh, "that doesn't mean travel managers can pretend it won't happen." AQ

1995 Autumn ACTE Quarterly: President's Message | Demystifying the Internet | International Task Force Report