How to explain the costs of using TMC versus self-booking online

[davluna]

Hello, I am having trouble getting my users to fully adopt using the Concur tool to book business travel through our TMC versus booking travel online directly from the vendor. 

I am going to send a communication (once again) asking them to use the tools we provide. I know there will be some resistance and pushbank against this, mainly about TMC fees and convenience. 

Does anyone have any strategies to counter these arguments? Making sure I can answer these questions before I send the email. 

Thanks for any help and advice!

[cmanthe]

Hello there,

The most important recommendation would be to work closely with your TMC on this, especially if the travellers main reason to book direct is to avoid TMC fees. They will have encountered this many times and it is imperative to align on strategies. They can tell you the value that they bring to your travel programme, and work with you on changing behaviour.

Without knowing the details of your travel programme and types of travel, here are just some of the common/generic reasons to promote booking via the approved channels:-

• Duty of care to traveller - bookings routed through the TMC are able to be added to traveller tracking tools which enables you to support those travellers pre-trip and in-trip. Especially important in current times. 
• Protecting the negotiated programme - many companies have negotiated rates with their top suppliers and in order to maintain these, it is important to be able to report on all bookings. Bookings made outside of the programme may not be factored into your supplier reporting. 
• CO2 reporting - once you start to lose control of where the bookings are made, you will also not be able to report on CO2 emissions if this is a business objective that you have. 

Many thanks,

Charlotte

[davluna]

Charlotte, thank you for the detailed response. I appreciate your insight and this will definitely help me when answering questions from my employees who travel. Thank you!