The Price IS Right
Air fares lower through travel management companies than the Internet
It’s official! For the seventh year in a row, a major study has discovered that travel management companies (TMCs) deliver lower fares - an average US$56 per journey – than when the same trip is booked on a public website.
That’s the finding of the latest annual study by U.S.-based fare auditing consultancy Topaz International. The study revealed that using the preferred TMC channel instead of surfing airline websites or online agencies such as Expedia and Travelocity was cheaper for 95 percent of all travel itineraries.
This is the seventh year in a row that Topaz has arrived at similar conclusions for its highly respected study. Topaz takes actual itineraries booked by TMCs and then looks for fares for exactly the same trip by combing public websites.
“I am not surprised by the findings,â€? says Maureen Brady, BCD Travel’s senior vice-president and managing director, global business strategy and solutions - EMEA. ‘One of the main ways TMCs provide value is by obtaining the best prices for travelers and their corporations. As a result, we invest heavily in resources such as people, training and technology to provide that service.â€?
Top TMCs like BCD Travel consistently find lower fares because they search many more channels to find the best price. In addition to public websites, BCD Travel also scans powerful global distribution systems and checks its database of private fares. In some cases, these fares are negotiated exclusively by BCD Travel; in others they are negotiated by its corporate clients. “The fares are displayed in a matrix format so the agent can really see what are the best options for the traveler’s requirements,� says Brady.
Yet in spite of the compelling evidence from Topaz International, most travel managers still have stories to tell of travelers claiming to have found a cheaper fare on the Internet. Usually, those travelers are not getting as good a deal as they thought. They may have failed to take into account all the extras charged by an airline, including tax, baggage check-in fees and credit card fees. They also often forget to compare apples with apples. The “cheaper� fare they think they have found has much stricter conditions attached to it, such as being non-changeable or non-refundable.
Brady believes more travelers have started to appreciate the TMC is the most reliable source for finding the lowest fares. “We are hearing far fewer complaints than a couple of years ago that the Internet is cheaper,� she says. “But that does not mean we are complacent. We constantly carry out audits to ensure we are sourcing the best fares on the market.�
Ensuring travelers are given the best fare is also achieved through solid partnership between BCD Travel and its clients. The two work together to monitor policy and travel patterns, which help determine buying strategy and choice of preferred suppliers. Vendors also need to be brought into the discussion to ensure clients can get the best out of their deals.
Finally, BCD Travel maintains lowest fares through rigorous quality control procedures, such as ensuring that clients’ negotiated fares are loaded correctly into the GDSs. “Our fare-finding systems and front-line travel consultants are a big reason why we continue to provide lower fares than websites,� says Brady, “but our account managers and operations staff also make a key contribution to delivering the right price at the right time.�
Tags: none
Email This Post
Print This Post
Related Posts
This entry was posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Corporate Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
