What Today’s Travel Agents Must Know to Succeed in the Corporate Travel Sector
Corporate Travel Agents. This period, which has been aptly dubbed the age of traveler-centricity, is also ushering in the dawn of a new era of customized travel, which, in turn, is driving the research and development of a plethora of brand-new services that are referred to be intelligent. The command-and-control attitudes of traveling have seen significant shifts in recent decades, and the emphasis has switched to place a greater emphasis on the passenger as well as the productivity of each journey. It is therefore of the utmost importance to ensure that vacationers get the most possible return on their investments on each trip. New generations of young workers and managers, who have been growing up and living in a digital age, are climbing the ranks as travelers. These individuals are now in positions of increasing responsibility. It is now absolutely necessary to acknowledge the requirement for greater flexibility in light of the fact that employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a portion of their trip to be a leisure outlet. This is because workers see a portion of their journey as a leisure activity. Corporate travel is a hugely lucrative sector of the tourist industry. This is because globalization is accelerating, and a rising number of businesses are sending their employees abroad to network and engage with prospects, customers, and suppliers located in other countries. Before we get into how tourism businesses can better cater to business travelers, let’s first investigate the reasons why corporate travelers would rather work with specialist travel agencies than more typical travel agencies.
Why do companies use the services of corporate travel agencies?
When there are a great number of general travel agents available on the market, this is perhaps the most fundamental question that can be asked of a travel agency, which is why they need to utilize travel companies that specialize in corporate travel. The value of corporate travel firms that are equipped with internet technologies that provide business travelers with access to their whole schedule may be seen from this perspective.
The CTAs have access to the following information at their disposal:
- comprehensive specifics of a business trip schedule
- latest information on the tracking of flights (including delays or rescheduling)
- information that is easy to understand on extra prices, such as those for luggage or for services during the journey.
- travel warnings, if any are issued for the region that will be visited
- comprehensive and up-to-date information on the laws governing the acquisition of visas and the identification that is necessary
- requirements in terms of currency and rates of conversion
- What do business travelers anticipate receiving from their corporate travel agencies?
Prices That Were Negotiated
Corporate travel agencies often have relationships with hotels, car rental companies, airlines, and other travel providers, which enables them to get access to discounted rates that are exclusively available to regular business travelers. However, discounted costs are not the only benefit offered by this company; in addition, when needed, they will provide aircraft upgrades, accommodation upgrades, and VIP check-in lines.
Comprehensive information pertaining to the tourism business
Every other kind of travel agency, even those that specialize in pleasure vacations, is at a disadvantage when compared to the advantages enjoyed by corporate travel agencies. The addition of additional information helps to make the work travels more pleasant and easy.
Alterations to the Itinerary
There is a considerable chance that the airline or the online service provider may charge you a large sum of money if you need to delay or cancel an airline ticket. When making reservations with a business travel agency, it is possible to make adjustments to your itinerary with little to no additional cost almost all of the time.
Viable emergency contacts
It is important for business travelers to be able to contact the appropriate individual in the event of an emergency. Because of their years of knowledge and professionalism, corporate travel agents are able to alleviate stress for both the business and the individual traveler.
What aspects of business travel need your attention as their frequency rises?
According to the findings of the Business Travel Barometer, business travel is experiencing a period of rapid expansion. Nevertheless, if it is improperly handled, it may no longer be a benefit to corporations and may, in fact, become a burden on such organizations. There are a few elements that need to be taken into account by companies and CTAs in order to maximize the time spent traveling.
Putting in place a travel policy
The corporation has to establish a travel policy that can be followed by travelers of any level and is appreciated by those individuals. Utilizing this policy as a guide, you should set the benchmarks that will assist in monitoring the progress made about business travel. It will eventually aid in a decrease in the package’s total costs.
Do not place restrictions on the traveler’s independence.
It is the responsibility of management to create a travel policy budget, which assists in the enhancement of cost management. Despite this contribution to improved cost management, it is vital that the traveler be granted some degree of independence. The policy need to include sufficient leeway for the employee to adjust the nature of the trip in light of the circumstances.
The safety of travelers should be one of your top priorities.
Business travelers have a responsibility to ensure their own safety. In order for the organization to maintain the honesty of its employees, it must adhere to the standards it has established. The CTAs want to work with dependable partners (travel insurance, airlines, hotel chains etc.).
Mobilization and mechanization
It is important for the administration of management platforms to have automated procedures, both to save time and to make the processes easier to follow. This indicates that companies should implement mobile solutions that provide for fast, easy, and on-the-go access to search possibilities, trip notifications, ticket bookings, and other similar services.
Trends in Business Travel for the Year 2016
The trends in corporate travel tend to shift on a regular basis. 2016 has not been any different in this regard, and both travel management companies (TMCs) and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) are highly focused on providing stable if not robust axis all over the world. Some of the things that they are concentrating on include the expansion of the MICE industry, investments in mobile and big data technology, and an increased emphasis on duty of care.
Increases in cost
The expression “increasing prices” has become the consensus buzzword among worldwide suppliers, airfares, lodging rates, and other related topics. When there is a significant drop in demand, it is frequently in the best interest of suppliers A strong global economy in 2016 has caused plane ticket prices to climb by a few percentage points, and average hotel rates are expected to grow by 4% to 6% globally. The degree of competition in the car rental market will also stay low.
a responsibility toward caring
Corporations place a significant amount of importance on risk management as one of their primary areas of focus. Corporate clients are permitting new regulations and enhanced technology to track the whereabouts of workers in the event of an emergency. This trend is particularly prevalent when employees are traveling to foreign locations. Concur Risk Messaging, for instance, may assist in the identification of passengers who are travelling around the globe and can notify those individuals of alternative travel arrangements as and when they are required.
Putting an emphasis on MICE
The meetings business is a significant sector that is expanding, and the trend of corporate travel is emerging on it. It would be in the best interest of the corporate travel agencies to begin harmonizing the different conference procurement strategies with their transitory travel sourcing as soon as possible. One of the strategies would be to increase the number of services that are offered for meetings by including incentive trips as one of those options.
Putting money towards technological pursuits
By incorporating technology that are favorable to mobile devices, an organization may sharpen its emphasis on creating value while also becoming more traveler-centric. To make their platform more attractive, corporate travel agencies really need to concentrate their technical efforts on mobile and big data. These are probably the two most crucial technological investments.
Analysis of travel for business purposes after Brexit
As a result of Brexit, ACTE and CAPA discussed their hypotheses together. According to them, the decline in the value of the pound relative to other currencies across the globe would have the most significant impact in the near term on the tourism business. Organization of Business Travel Executives executive director Greeley Koch believes that currency depreciation will have a major effect on the business travel industry. While some businesses will take advantage of the weaker pound by traveling more, others may choose to delay business travel until world markets find their own level.
The effect that terrorism has had on business travelers
The growing fear of terrorism should serve as a compass for those who develop and administer travel policies. It is the responsibility of travel agents and corporate travel agencies (CTAs) to provide confidence for the executives and staff members of companies who are traveling on the company’s behalf via the implementation of travel policies. It is quite probable that the polls done over corporate passengers reflect the broad anxiety of business travelers throughout the world over the recent spate of terrorist attacks. However, it is impossible to dispute the reality that the danger posed by terrorists is altering the routines associated with business travel. The most important implication of this is to bear in mind that businesses that provide travel services for business travelers need to strengthen their concentration on security and the dangers connected with doing so when they are offering services to corporate customers. According to the findings of a recent study, travel managers have a more optimistic view of the success of their policies in mitigating risk compared to business travelers who are more pessimistic. Corporate Travel Agents
Concluding
Despite the fact that the business travel sector has continued to make strides forward, the industry is nevertheless confronted with a great number of obstacles. Before organizing business travels, it is important to take into account a number of different fulcrum points, including a consumer market that is undergoing fast change, the advent of new business models, the effect of technology, as well as both man-made and natural disasters. Corporate Travel Agents
