travel tech insights

During the past decade it has certainly seemed to be the case that disruption has been experienced to a far greater degree on the leisure side of travel rather than business side. Leisure travel has been impacted by OTA and witnessed the role of the travel agent - though still a force now – reduced in decision-making influence to that of friends, family and social media.

Sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it? How could a travel agency be its own worst sales enemy? And, if somehow it was, why would any management team in its right mind allow the situation to continue?

Like every other sector of the travel industry, steady growth in business travel doesn’t necessarily translate into increased sales for every travel management company (TMC). The travel sector is challenging because the business model is complex and competition is fierce.

Part 1 of this series explored why controlling the cost of employee travel is difficult due to issues that cannot be eliminated and are not easily handled. Part 1 also discussed why these difficulties often lead organizations to use travel management companies (TMC) for their business travel -  with their responsibilities ranging from administering corporate travel policies to booking employee business trips.

Business managers often find the challenges of controlling business travel costs to stay top of mind for two reasons: 1) travel costs often appear deceptively easy to manage and control – only to turn out to be quite the opposite; 2) travel is expensive, meaning these costs can quickly become significant if not controlled.  Travel costs appear easy to control because the amounts almost always require a formal approval mechanism. However, travel approval procedures in most companies tend to stumble in two ways.