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THE ONLINE CORPORATE TRAVEL REVOLUTION

The only constant is change. This is especially true in the travel industry, and the corporate market in specific. So far in 2003, the going has been tough for all players in the travel equation after an even more challenging year in 2002. General concerns about the economy have restricted corporate travel budgets, major airlines, once industry titans, are now reorganizing under bankruptcy protection. Conference calls and Web conferences are up, business travel is down, travel agencies, once operating on commission and fees, now see those profit sources shrinking. Service and support are key to the travel management value proposition, but now more than ever, price can be the determinant factor. Everyone wants the lowest price – for every product – every time. At least that’s what they say. Examine what they mean and it turns out that what they want is value; which in the case of corporate travel, is the best price taking into consideration a number of other crucial and fundamental service and product factors such as:

handle their travel needs at a lower transaction cost and at service levels that meet or exceed those they enjoyed in the past. Travel management companies are faced with an environment of Internet channel shift, reduced number of staff to manage a greater number of travel transactions, all in an environment where vendor commissions for their services are eroding or have long since disappeared.

How does a corporate travel management company, squeezed on one end by bankrupt air carriers and on the other by corporations with complex and extensive travel policies to curtail costs, manage to not only survive, but also thrive? For many, the answer is simple – create an “in-house” channel shift and move eligible transactions online.

CHANNEL SURFINGAccording to the latest studies, the share of business travel handled by traditional offline travel management will continue to erode into other channels, primarily online (Figure B). The good news, is that the trend over the coming three years does not show significant erosion of share away from the agency distribution channel. The challenge faced by travel management companies is how to best approach what is clearly a marketplace mandate to shift transactions to the corporate online channel.

• personalized service• efficiency and speed in booking travel• accuracy in fares quotation• timely ticket delivery• easy to follow business process• comprehensive management reports

By and large, travelers continue to prefer to work with full service travel management companies over other marketplace options (Figure A). As corporations solicit bids for their business, they expect their travel management companies to

Traditional Agency

48%

Online Agency19%

Supplier23%

Other/No Response

10%

Source: PhoCusWright, March 2003

Travelers prefer the service and support of a travel management company over any other distribution option

Figure A

Figure B

Source: PhoCusWright, October 2003

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THE ONLINE PANACEA?

Travel management companies and corporations who have successfully integrated a corporate online booking tool and have achieved benefit from doing so can summarize the key to their success in three simple

words – Adoption, Adoption Adoption! The number of U.S. online corporate travel transactions today is roughly 39.4 million, with an adoption rate of approximately 35%, and is expected to rise to 56.4 million over the next three years, with adoption rising to 48% by 2006 (Figure C).

The introduction of an online booking tool is not a panacea that will immediately lower costs, improve efficiency and enhance traveler satisfaction. Features and benefits of a corporate online booking tool alone are not compelling reasons for the majority of corporate travelers to amend behavior. A reliable, intuitive and easy-use-use product is a necessary element of effective adoption.

Key drivers of adoption include a more diverse offering of eligible travel transactions such as international itineraries, refunds, cancellations and ticket exchanges combined with tangible cost savings that are evident to the corporation. As with any change management objective, an implementation strategy that is cross-organizational, involves all stakeholders and provides for incentives for participation is key to realizing a compelling return on investment. The ultimate goal of an effective adoption strategy is to create a culture of self sufficiency where travelers instinctively navigate to their booking tool when planning travel as opposed to reaching for the telephone.

“Adoption rate is calculated as the number of actual online transactions divided by the number of transactions eligible to be booked online”

Source: PhoCusWright, March 2003

Figure C

Figure D

The projection of increased and sustained rise in online corporate travel transactions is tied in large part to enhanced functionality of online booking tools.

WHY TRAVELPORT?Travelport is a recognized leader in providing solutions for corporate travel management programs. We combine market-leading technology with unmatched service and support - all with an eye to meeting your business travel management needs - higher adoption and efficiency. Travelport solutions and services are designed for easy integration and modification, so travelers are more likely use Travelport every time they travel. Our customers have adoption rates of over 35%, and our leading customers have adoption rates greater than 90%. Together with the Galileo GDS, we offer a corporate online booking tool perfect for you and your corporate customers.

THE TRAVELPORT SOLUTION

Starting with Travelport’s proprietary implementation and development methodology, continuing though the testing stage and the launch, the experts at Travelport are ready to consult, advise and customize a solution that makes sense for your travelers, your process and your bottom line. We ‘re experts at adoption strategies, with our most successful customer achieving over 90%!

Key Product Differentiators

• First to market with XML Structured Data Technology. The benefit of this platform is that updates to the software can be made without loading software locally.

• More than just a booking tool, the Agency Communications Portal and Interactive Travel Manager provide the benefit of targeted and interactive marketing to corporate customers.

• Increase customer satisfaction and reduce errors by ensuring all traveler and corporate data is accurate and synchronized with the GDS and other database sources with Profile Manager.

• More options and greater flexibility with Advanced Policy to apply rules based on the trip purpose or the organizational grouping or hierarchy

• Save time and reduce errors with PNR Finishing to ensure all bookings contain the requisite reporting and documentation fields for mid and back office

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In addition to the standard car and hotel booking functionality, Travelport features:

Hotel Mapping, allowing your travelers to quickly get their bearings and effectively plan their movements and activities in an unfamiliar city.

Meetings Integration to broaden your service offering and increase revenuesComprehensive Reporting to ensure you and your travelers are getting most from Travelport

When powered by the Galileo GDS, Travelport offers:

Automated Transaction Processing to streamline process and reduce errors.

Preferred Travel Content available only to Galileo customers

“We selected Travelport above the

competition for three key reasons.

First, because Travelport could

guarantee that we would meet our

extremely aggressive adoption goals –

within the first 6 months we achieved a

72% adoption rate. Second, because we

needed a solution that could

immediately support our operations.

Third, because Travelport took the time

and initiative to truly understand our

business goals and work with us to

meet our needs.”

Linda Bunt

Director of Global Travel

Siebel Systems

Our aggressive product roadmap ensures you have access to the most valuable functionality to drive adoption and remove costs

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