There are many reasons to use a TMC for your corporate travel needs. However, relying solely on a consultant to book all your travel means giving control to someone else.

This might be fine for organisations with simple travel needs. Unfortunately, for others it can lead to headaches and additional costs.

The solution is using your TMC’s online booking tool (OBT) to book your own travel.  There are a number of advantages to taking this DIY approach, especially when making complex international bookings to several countries.

1. Fewer delays

Most TMCs provide tools for clients to book simple point-to-point travel online. For international and complicated itineraries, you usually have to go through the consultant.

One potential issue with this scenario is delays. After you submit a booking request, you need to wait for the consultant to get back to you. This is usually followed by back and forth communication while the details are arranged and fine-tuned.

When you can book your own complex international itinerary online, it’s faster. Most importantly, it reduces service fees and the margin of error between yourself and the consultant. You can book exactly what you need, when you need it and include any accommodation and car hire along the way.

2. Greater transparency

Another advantage to arranging your own international travel is transparency. When you rely on a consultant to make the booking, you rely on them to find you the best deals. This can be an issue if they’re remunerated based on the value of your itinerary versus the service they provide.

Unfortunately, there are some TMCs who will only show clients the fares that will give them the biggest commission. When you do it yourself through their OBT, you can see all the options available.

3. More control

You also see all routes available. A smart OBT lets you select a route and mode of transport that best suits your budget and schedule. You might find a faster or more efficient way to get from A to B. If a last-minute meeting comes up in Brussels while you’re scheduled to be in London, you can squeeze it in.

At JC Travel Professionals we use Alienta, an OBT with unprecedented flexibility and capabilities. It gives our clients the freedom and control they need to arrange point-to-point as well as complex international itineraries.

4. Offline support remains available

When you DIY, TMC consultants remain available to provide offline support, troubleshooting issues and answering any questions you might have.

By using your TMC’s OBT yourself, you get the benefit of comparing all the options. At the same time, you can save consultant fees and stay in control of your budget and schedule. If you do get stuck, help is always at hand.

Arranging your own corporate travel with support from a travel consultant really is the best of both worlds.

An efficient workflow is crucial to any business especially travel. Without a clear coporate travel workflow, you’ll experience frustration and delays, instead of a seamless and stress-free booking process.

Not all workflows are created equal. Here are a few features of an optimum booking workflow.

The right basics

While every organisation is different, the best corporate travel workflows share a few common features.

These include:

• Integration with third party suppliers
• Integration with company approvals processes and financial systems
• Customisation to suit the individual company policies and timeframes
• The ability to manage and approve travel from anywhere

Setting up associations

In corporate travel, it’s common for delays to occur while waiting for booking approvals. To speed up the process, you’ll need to set up associations with clear responsibilities. This is the cornerstone of an efficient workflow. It should be one of the first things you do.

Once the travellers, arrangers and approvers are set up, you can largely automate the approvals and booking process. Besides that, it’s important that everyone knows what they can or can’t book. This is where the corporate travel policy comes in handy.  A great online booking tool (OBT) will allow you to set up as many layers of travel policy as you need.

Centralised communication

Centralised communication is another feature of an efficient corporate travel workflow. The OBT should contain a record of all communication regarding travel bookings.

This means that if an itinerary is declined, the reason can be provided in the system. When there is a centralised communication system it saves going back and forth and keeps everyone in the loop. If you have a complaint or a question, you won’t have to have the same conversation with multiple people. This makes for greater transparency and clarity, not to mention faster resolution of problems.

Without a clearly mapped workflow it’s very difficult to manage your corporate travel effectively. If you’re thinking about engaging a TMC, make sure they have a clear, effective workflow mapped out.

Many TMCs take a one-size fits all approach to their client workflows, so look for one that’s flexible and adaptable to your needs.

If you’re looking to streamline your corporate travel procurement, talk to us about how we can help make the booking process faster, more efficient and cost-effective.