Caught in the Web - The cost trappings of Internet bookings
The Web is enticing, but it can weave many unseen costs.
With the explosion of Internet fares over recent years, more businesses have been tempted by the opportunity to allow staff to make bookings online directly.
On the outside this option appears to be a winner, with websites spruiking 'lowest fares', 'best deals' and 'DIY convenience'. But the reality is a vastly different story. When you consider the soft cost of employees' time spent trawling websites, and the hard costs of pre-payment and booking changes, what you pay at the time of booking can be a deceptive cover for what you are really paying.
Compared with using a travel management company, booking travel on websites has a plethora of pitfalls - both cost and service related - with the main headliners including:
Lost in time: every booking made via the website soaks up an employee's valued time and prevents them doing what you are paying them to do. Research shows the average booking made online takes 25-35 minutes to complete. Compare this with five minutes to request a booking through Stage and Screen Travel Services, and soft costs are already evident.
No brainstrust: travel is a complex business and airlines use slick systems to establish demand on routes. As demand is such a crucial factor in these systems, tickets are priced by the level of flexibility they provide. Each fare can have its own complex set of rules with regard to flexibility. Is it refundable? Is it changeable? Is it transferable? What is the ticket deadline? Is it upgradeable?
Stage and Screen works hard to upskill every person in your business on these rules. If you make the decision to book online internally, you are assuming full responsibility for regularly training your people so they can be smart about their bookings. That's a substantial commitment absorbing your company's own time and productivity. And on top of that, do your people have the destination and 'insider' travel knowledge to book complex or international trips?
The endless search: finding the best fare is a painstaking process of sifting through each individual supplier website for schedules, prices and availability. And after you have jumped from website to website to find the cheapest fare, you may be confronted with the frustration of learning that the fare is no longer available!
Money now, please: most bookings direct on the Internet require full pre-payment with no flexibility to make a change from this point on. Yet when you book through Stage and Screen, your ticket may not need to be purchased instantly, and you are better placed to make a change on a nonrefundable or restricted fare.
Zero service: there is nothing personal about booking travel via a website. You have no one to rely on for travel advice, no one to answer your questions, no one who understands your travel needs and no one to help you out of any sticky situation. Stage and Screen's dedicated Travel Managers keep personal profiles for each and every traveller within your business, which not only saves time but gives you travel options that suit both you and your people.
No game plan: Internet bookings are about the here and now, and are designed for those with only a short-term view of their travel. There is no 'big picture' of how you can save money across the total volume of your travel. The real savings only start to accrue when you work with Stage and Screen to have a wealth of intelligence, reporting information, supplier negotiations, and accounting and cost coding systems at your side.
Poor compliance: unlike an Internet reservation system, Stage and Screen works closely with you to create the best travel policy for your people. Through our ongoing quality control system, every reservation is monitored for compliance and our pre-trip audit system allows you to address non-compliance head-on.
- Tickets must be purchased immediately.
- No reporting is available.
- You will lose the ability to manage your company travel policy.
- It takes approximately 25-35 minutes from beginning to end to make a booking - not taking into account a comparison with another supplier to ensure the best rate or fare is used.
- Changes and amendments incur costs and have to be done via reservations departments.
- Business travel surveys have found that on average a business traveller will change their booking 3 times, resulting in lengthy delays in dealing with reservations departments and incurring additional fees.
- In some cases where changes are not allowed, travellers need to make a whole new booking and pay full price - on top of the reservation expense they have just lost.
- There are long delays when dealing with reservations and you will be speaking with a different person every time you call.
- During airport disruptions eg. the airport being closed due to weather, if you have booked via the Internet, you will need to call the airline reservations department to make alternative arrangements. In events such as these, it is not uncommon to be placed on hold for 30 minutes - 1 hour before you are able to speak with someone who can advise and assist you.
- We only charge a flat domestic booking fee.
- We guarantee 'Best Fare of the Day'.
- Stage and Screen has a minimum of 24 hours to issue all tickets. This allows changes to be made after booking and prior to ticketing.
- It is cost effective and includes unlimited changes.
- There are no other fees for changes etc.
- We manage unused tickets.
- All Stage and Screen clients have an Account Manager assigned to their business, and whose role it is to strategically pinpoint savings opportunities.
- We offer the most efficient method to book all of your travel requirements. With one phone call / email, we take care of all your needs. If you use the Internet you have to access individual websites for each and every supplier, which is a waste of your time.
- We offer unbiased advice to obtain the best price on all travel including all airfares, hotels, rental cars and insurance.
- Stage and Screen also gives you:
- Personalised account management by senior, dedicated Travel Managers
- 24/7 emergency assistance
- Sophisticated reporting capturing all travel expenditure
- An online independent multi-carrier booking system for air, accommodation and rental cars - available free of charge to all clients
- Travel policy compliance and centralised procurement control.
