Follow our step-by-step guide to avoid the pitfalls and ensure the savings
STEP 1: Define your objective: reduce average ticket price and fees, increase policy compliance and/or use of preferred suppliers, introduce a new travel policy, streamline processes or re-assign roles of travel bookers. “Cost is usually the biggest driver,” says Tina Wilkinson, manager strategic online consultancy at Reed & Mackay.
STEP 2: It’s a project that needs a start date, implementation time, costs and idea of ROI (return on investment). “It’s a process of change management so work the road map out first,” advises Wilkinson.
STEP 3: Consult your travel management company. They should have a view on what will work best for you and will almost certainly have other clients working with a SBT (self booking tool).
STEP 4: Look at your travel patterns and policy. Some travel may be more suited to remain offline, eg more complicated itineraries, restricted airfares, even premium economy airfares. Many of the US-based SBTs can’t deal with restricted outbound/flexible inbound air tickets, for example, but European SBTs can. “This preparatory work is key,” stresses Wilkinson.
STEP 5: Choose the right SBT. Your TMC should be able to recommend one that is best suited to your travel patterns. Alternatively, research suppliers direct. Ask about integration to your TMC, crucially. “I have a check list of around 150 questions,” says Wilkinson. “Can they validate your reference fields online? Can it duplicate trips? Is a support network based in Dallas – so no calls before 1pm – going to work for you? Can we extract the data in the correct format? It’s easier and more cost effective to clone a site if the TMC has got one up and running with another client,” advises Wilkinson. The fullfillment process should also be automated to gain maximum efficiencies.
STEP 6:
Configure and customise the tool. Set up a ‘look, don’t book’ site, identify key bookers and involve them in the implementation process. “Empower them and incentivise them,” advises Wilkinson. The SBT or TMC should provide training.
STEP 7: Don’t mandate online bookings initially. Get adoption rates up first, voluntarily, but ensure senior management buy-in. Expect 20 per cent in Year 1 and 40 per cent in Year 2. Negotiate an annual maintenance support fee with your TMC and ensure they have a dedicated help desk. “Generally, we get five or six calls from travel bookers when they first start -– perhaps they’ve forgotten their password or just need support making their first few bookings – then you never hear from them again,” says Wilkinson.
STEP 8: Request reports to track adoption rates. Deal with the persistent non-users. The adoption rate can fall if you have a high staff turnover, for example, so budget for additional training.
STEP 9: Undertake a post-implementation review as part of your general account management and continue to monitor and review online to ensure its continued success.
CHOOSING AN SBT GET THERE (Sabre) Duplicate trip function allows reservations to be ‘cloned’ for another traveller on the same itinerary. This saves the booker from starting the availability and pricing search again. Great website with case studies
KDS AND CYTRIC Allows the user to select economy tickets by booking class. This means mixed restriction tickets (restricted outbound and flexible return) can be booked online
CLIQBOOK Is working on integration with Concur, a T&E management system
ResX Has an ‘email itinerary’ feature that allows bookers to send the availability/schedules and prices directly to the traveller to view prior to making a reservation. Saves several phone calls and emails to discuss options
In addition, each GDS has its own SBT: TRAVEL PORT (formerly Cendant) Offers the KDS Portal product in the EMEA region
