17 March 2009

Business travellers warned against low price travel websites

Companies being lured by travel websites promising ‘lowest rates’ could end up paying a higher price in the long term, a leading travel management company claims.

FCm Travel Solutions is warning of the ‘real’ cost of using online booking sites for air travel, hotels, car hire and rail travel, that require pre-payment in full and provide no flexibility on tickets.

Executive general manager Anthony Grigson said FCm had seen evidence of small to mid-sized companies believing travel websites offered the most cost-effective solutions in the current economic downturn.

"This may be tenable for companies whose travel plans never change. But for most this is not a realistic approach and some degree of flexibility is needed in their travel itineraries," he said.

"We have seen companies forfeit hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost room nights or air fares when their travel plans have changed, after booking and paying for tickets that could not be amended and were non-refundable.

"Every company is focused on value right now - even more than before. However, value in travel doesn’t come from buying what appear to be the cheapest tickets online. There are several factors that can push up the total cost of these bookings.

"While costs associated with booking changes were the biggest factor to consider, lost employee productivity was also a potentially significant expense, Grigson warned.

"A business traveller or personal assistant can spend hours trawling the internet to findwhat they perceive to be the best rates, when not all available fares are displayed on the internet and there are hourly price changes. That’s time and productivity impacting the real cost of the ticket and the company’s bottom line," he said.

"There is also the issue of pinpointing the location of your travellers in an emergency - which is part of any company’s duty of care - and tracking what all your travellers are spending on their trips. Web bookings do not provide any of these benefits, which can be critical to overall expenditure.

"TMCs can take as little as five minutes to complete a point-to-point booking, while a corporate employee could easily spend an hour or more surfing the web to make the same booking. Furthermore, by tapping into our multiple fare sources and negotiating with suppliers based on volume, we can book world-best fares that are most suited to your business needs.

"Every booking is made under a policy designed to produce long-term savings, and we target every opportunity to streamline a company’s travel activity, processes and suppliers. Cost control is achieved through extensive reporting and benchmarking, which provides total transparency.

"Grigson said companies using TMCs also had the peace of mind of traveller security services and 24/7 emergency assistance.

"Corporates need to ultimately weigh up whether they want short-term gains or long-term consolidation, which is value that can only be driven by strategic travel management with a holistic approach to their travel and purchasing activity," he said.

by Phil Davies

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Your Comments (2)

agree to disagree

I agree in part to the articles worries. And yes on some sites everything is non refundable.. but when you look at a flexible non refundable ticket at 50 pounds with a 20- pounds amendment charge. it beats a 450 pound ticket to the same location by miles.. even if you booked and cancelled the ticket 6 times and lost the money on each rebook you would still be quids in.. and for the accommodation side there are systems out there that do not charge until a few days before arrival and will amend at not extra charge. unlike the old corporate agencies that charge for every single change to a hotel booking. I also do not understand the point of being able to find you employee if you book with an outside agency .. surely each company draws up an itineray of where the employee is at all times and even if it does not the company with whom they have booked with will have those details.

By Elsa Goncalves, Wednesday, March 18, 2009
what a load of garbage !!!

Very few business types actually change their travel plans but Flight Centre is saying, if you don't buy expensive tickets form us, you'll be in trouble. This is worse than the myth spread by the airlines who have these high fares. Most busienss types would be best buying the cheapest fare & then paying the change fee if, in a small % of cases they want to change flights.

By Craig Mathews, Tuesday, March 17, 2009