It is becoming increasingly difficult for TMCs to demonstrate their value to clients, and travellers will try to find lower fares themselves.

• 57% cited demonstrating the value of a TMC to stakeholders and travellers as a challenge.
• 53% cited access to fares through their online booking tool (OBT) as a challenge.
• 47% cited managing travellers who are price-checking and booking themselves as a challenge.

The piece suggests that TMCs, more than ever, are having to work overtime to prove why they are needed, and that travellers are becoming increasingly alienated. It points to a new crop of younger travellers who want to self-serve – a group who believe they can find lower fares and think they are doing the right thing.

💡Why Gray Dawes Is Different

But it is important to remember that value is not only derived from the power of proprietary travel technology or the cheapness of fares. It is also gained by taking the time to understand the needs of a business traveller and reinforced by awesome customer service. Our High Touch approach to understanding our clients, their culture, and their business objectives allows us to craft tailored travel solutions and deliver unique experiences that go beyond monetary benefit.

The value of a TMC is determined by several factors, from the power of its technology to the content options it offers to clients. Not to mention outstanding customer service that’s ALWAYS ON.

At Gray Dawes, we’re there for our clients whenever and wherever they need us.

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From the Business Travel Magazine

“TMCs find themselves having to reassert their value to travellers and the feeling of déjà vu is palpable. The global pandemic was a successful exercise in doing that but two years later a new trigger – access to content – is causing concern.”

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Enhanced Traveller Experience

NDC puts the traveller at the centre of the distribution process. By providing access to a wider range of content, including ancillary services, seat selection, and personalized offers, NDC empowers travellers to tailor their journey according to their preferences.

This flexibility also includes the ability to identify a frequent flyer or loyalty programme member and pass this information onto the airline in return for a personalised offer – whether this be a cheaper fare or free or discounted ancillaries.

Increased Choice

NDC enables airlines to showcase their offerings and differentiated services more effectively. By providing access to their full range of products and ancillary services, airlines can differentiate themselves from competitors and highlight their unique value propositions.

This transparency gives travellers a broader choice, allowing them to explore and select the options that best align with their preferences and budget. Ultimately, NDC fosters healthy competition, driving airlines to innovate and deliver more compelling offers to attract customers.

Seamless Integration

NDC offers a standardized, XML-based messaging protocol that facilitates seamless integration between airlines, travel management companies (TMCs) travel agents, and other travel service providers.

This interoperability ensures efficient communication and connectivity across the travel ecosystem. With NDC, airlines can directly distribute their content to various sales channels, including TMCs, online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch engines, and corporate booking tools. This streamlined connectivity reduces distribution costs, limits intermediaries, and enables faster time-to-market for new products and services.

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Hi Matt. It’s great to speak to you. Could you tell us a little bit more about the Client Innovation Hub Event?

Of course. We invited a range of our customers to the beautiful Marylebone Hotel to talk tech. What did they think of our existing technology? What did they want to see more of? What do they want technology to be able to do for them and their travel programmes?

It was all about finding out what innovation Gray Dawes could bring to the TMC market. Getting fantastic client insights to really drive our technology roadmap!

I was joined by a number of my colleagues across the IT and Account Management teams. Plus we had members of our Senior and Executive Leadership Teams there, too. 

We really wanted to get people together and talking openly. What was brilliant was that we had attendees from across the spectrum of our client base – from new customers to experienced industry heads – and a really varied collection of voices. That was exactly what we wanted.

As a company, we do communicate extensively with our clients, sharing news of what we’re doing and where we’re heading. And our Account Managers are great at talking to clients face to face on a one-to-one basis. But, as an IT team, we really wanted to engage personally with a passionate group, all together in the same room, to spark debate. Obviously, it’s been almost a year since we’ve been able to bring people face to face, so we were delighted to be able to do this in January.

The hub was a great experience. We knew there’d be fantastic input from our clients, but their commitment surpassed even our highest expectations. Everyone was extremely engaged, asking questions and firing ideas off of each other. It was brilliant to see how comfortable people were around the table.

We began by showing our audience some of our own tech innovations, to get the conversations rolling. They absolutely loved the refreshed look and feel of YourTrip[our online booking tool] ; there was a genuine excitement in the room when we unveiled the proposed design with its modern energy and slick, easy-to-use elements.

In fact, the group expressed a lot of positivity towards all of our core technology. They seemed impressed by how we package and deliver our products and, crucially, also by the nuts and bolts that make everything tick behind the scenes.

Then we opened up the floor and encouraged our clients to share with us the interesting tech they had seen, from AI inventions to imaginative online booking tools. Their feedback was eye-opening, and we left the event with our collective heads buzzing with new ideas. Without their input, I might have ended up getting carried away and investing in a load of technology that I thought looked cool but nobody else was interested in!

That’s great to hear! What were some of the top innovations mentioned?  

Coming Soon…

But what we must bear in mind is that a lot of people might say they want to travel green, but when they are presented with the option o, for example, travelling 7 hours by train to get to Edinburgh from London or hopping on a plane for an hour journey, are they always going to make the greener choice? We need to consider that too.

First and foremost, just how great it was to meet just some of our clients together in one place and face-to-face. They were really engaged and super knowledgeable – they had clearly booked lots of travel in the past and knew exactly what they were talking about.

It was such a great opportunity to have frank and honest conversations about our technology and we were able to showcase some of our new ideas first-hand.

The event also made me realise that we need to do it more often! Of course, our Account Management Team are always with our clients, but for us IT geeks, we rarely get out! The dream is to run the event for 50 or more people on a kind of “client board” that regularly meet to give us feedback. That way they can see how much X, Y and Z has changed since the last meeting, off the back of client recommendations. And, of course, given our development strategy, it’s our clients – and their ‘real life’ experiences – who drive this.

It would be fantastic to get to the stage where clients are fighting to get a space in the meetings!

Thank you to all the staff at the Marylebone Hotel, who looked after us so well. We couldn’t have asked for a better venue for our first Innovation Hub. 

Get in touch about technology

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Offline

Perhaps seen as the more traditional approach, offline travel booking provides a bespoke and high touch service with an expert business travel consultant taking care of all travel booking requirements for you. You start by making an enquiry via email or by calling one of the team of expert travel consultants to talk through your requirements directly.

This is particularly useful for multi-point journeys or those where you have a specific set of unusual requirements that may otherwise prove tricky to book yourself using an online booking tool. With a wealth of experience, your business travel consultant can provide you with real peace of mind over your booking and can support you in understanding more complex travel requirements and restrictions, how to apply for relevant visas and so on.

Online

Booking online is the way to go for any straightforward trips that you feel confident about. Online booking tools, like our own YourTrip, have come a long way. They now offer a great range of travel tools at your fingertips providing quick, easy and convenient access to book travel.

Plus with corporate travel policies built in behind the scenes, you can be confident that your booking will remain compliant with your programme as the tool will filter out anything out-of-policy.

The best online booking tools also offer access to the greatest range of fares and, thanks to there being no requirement for that high-touch service, offer a lower fee for those simple point-to-point trips, compared to booking offline.

This ability to save money on a corporate travel programme is one of the key reasons why improving online adoption is so important for companies. 

Online adoption

Booking in-policy with your travel management company is fundamental to driving an efficient travel programme. In an ideal world, every client managed by a TMC would sign up and immediately all of their travel would start to be booked through them.

Of course, that’s not always the case and what’s known as ‘leakage’ can occur as travellers opt to ‘do it themselves online’. Sometimes, travel is booked through different channels outside of the TMC. This can happen for a variety of reasons that could include internal miscommunication about the TMC/travel booking process, people just being used to booking travel in other ways, or even those actively avoiding the TMC, thinking they can get a better deal by “going direct”. Not only is this more likely not the case (as TMCs have access to a wider range and often specially negotiated rates) but also bookings made outside of the TMC increases risk for both traveller and the business as they circumvent traveller tracking and duty of care tools.

So first and foremost, driving adoption of the TMC is absolutely essential for every business engaging with a travel management company and company that wants to meet their duty of care requirements to their staff. Given the lower fees associated with online booking, it’s then critical that online adoption is monitored and promoted in order to drive the best ROI and savings.

Again, sometimes extra education about the available online booking tool is all that is needed to help drive that online adoption upward. A close relationship and effective communication between the business and the TMC helps to bring everyone along in understanding the benefits that using an online booking tool can bring.

Top 5 Benefits of Online Adoption

1. Save time – your employees are able to book some of their own travel through an online booking tool, therefore freeing up your own time.

2. Save money – by gaining access to corporate rales, discounts and the best deals… plus lower fees!

3. Travel policy compliance – by only displaying rates from preferred suppliers.

4. An end-to-end solution – ability to book everything from air to hotel, rail and car hire.

5. Book on the go – all you need is an internet connection.

Offering clear guidance, training sessions and open forums for discussion and questions allow travellers and bookers the opportunity to understand how best to utilise the online booking tools available to them to realise the benefits they can bring.

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Over the last two years it’s no surprise that corporate travel became a complicated process. With varying domestic and international travel restrictions, passenger locator forms, vaccination requirements, isolation and quarantine periods, PCR tests and much, much more, travel became incredibly difficult to organise.  

Thankfully, that’s where travel management companies come in, supporting businesses by providing the much-needed insight and expertise to help their travellers in getting around, not to mention the cost savings a good TMC can achieve compared to “finding it cheaper yourself online”. And in addition to helping you get from A to B, booking via a TMC helps ensure both employer and employee avoid risk and meet their duty of care obligations to one another.

As travel begins to return in earnest, ensuring the safety of travellers is paramount. This starts with booking in–policy to ensure travellers are trackable throughout their journey. This isn’t a case of big brother keeping an eye on you. Making bookings through your selected travel partner ensures that, in the case of an emergency, your company and your TMC can identify where travellers are, help keep them safe or get them home fast.  

Consider this scenario…

You book the flights for your multi-point business trip to mainland Europe through your TMC – a great first step. However, you then book your hotel… and an international rail journey and a second hotel for the final leg of your trip, all directly with the providers. Perhaps you do this in order to claim some sort of points or benefit through a personal account?

After you’ve alighted from that first flight, no one has any idea where you are. A situation could unfold in your original destination country after you’ve left and both your company and TMC may spend frantic and unnecessary time (and money) trying to locate you to ensure your safety. Or worse still, your final destination could experience some sort of emergency and your safety isn’t considered as there’s no knowledge that you’re even there.   

Booking all corporate travel with your TMC not only ensures you remain compliant and in-policy, it reduces risk, helps support your duty of care to your employer and more often than not provides the best available rates in one place.  

The latest feature addition to our booking tool, YourTrip+ enhanced with Grapevine’s AI engine, enables automated recommendations for additional trip requirements such as hotels, transfers and more.  

By booking through these recommendation communications, you’re guaranteed a great rate and play your part in reducing risk and meeting your duty of care requirements. All travel is booked in-policy and in one place, providing full visibility of your entire trip. And thanks to the advanced Artificial Intelligence engine built in to YourTrip+, the more you book, the more the tool understands your preferences and can provide personalised options based on your typical booking tastes. 

In addition to this great feature, YourTrip also delivers additional options to enhance traveller safety. YourTrip Cares provides insights during the booking process from your destination country’s foreign affairs channels, serving up–to–the–minute, relevant information that allows you to make an informed choice. This might include information on entry and exit requirements, Covid–19 considerations, natural hazards, health insights and so on.   

Our Stay Safe service can also be added to bookings made through YourTrip. Stay Safe provides email and mobile notifications for your chosen destination and updates you as necessary both before and during your trip. Prior to your journey you’ll receive emails with information that you should know before you go, and while you’re away mobile notifications can be delivered in real time with any breaking or updated news that’s directly relevant to you and your trip.   

For the back office, YourTrip Cares’ Global Monitoring provides comprehensive traveller tracking to ensure organisations know where their travelling employees are, at all times. If an in–country risk unfolds, Global Monitoring provides the tools to communicate with relevant travellers to help ensure their safety. 

As companies and their employees begin returning to business travel, there’s no better time to ensure that the right processes are in place to not only save money but reduce risk and ensure employee safety. But this is a two-way street. Businesses of course have a duty of care to their employees – they must provide the tools and procedures to keep them secure and safe.  

But individual travellers have an equal stake in ensuring their own safety and meeting duty of care obligations to their employers. Confirming travellers fully understand this should be a priority for any company asking their employees to travel on business.  

Highlighting the reasons behind the need to remain in policy is the best way to ensure the message sinks in and processes are followed. You can have the best, most comprehensive travel policy in the world, but if your travellers don’t understand why they need to follow the rules and are booking elsewhere, then that policy may as well not exist.  

With many years of specialist experience, TMCs are well versed in finding ways to help make those policies stick. It’s this insight that has driven the advancement of business travel technology and the continual development of tools such as YourTrip. Even so, the features it provides rely on both businesses and their travellers understanding that they have a big part to play in self-regulating and following best practice for their own and the greater good.