How much are Business Travel service fees?
Typically when researching Business Travel Agencies (BTA) – or Travel Management Companies (TMC), one of the first factors to be considered is price. Not only the price of airfares or hotel rooms but also how much does it cost to employ a business travel agency to make bookings on a company’s behalf?
Choosing an agency to work with long-term is like selecting an accountant or a solicitor.
You want to build a relationship with that person or organisation and work with them closely, much as you would your own team. The decision is therefore important as you don’t want to end up repeating the process, but there are so many factors to consider. Will the agent scour the market on your behalf to find the very best deal? Will they pay attention to what is important to you and the travellers you are looking after?
Size does matter!
You may be a large organisation whose priority is to engage with a team of sufficient size to expedite the volume of bookings you need completed every day … or you may be a smaller outfit, looking for a boutique management style, with a focus on comfort, airline loyalty points and hotel upgrades, rather than initial cost. Then again, your company may be a considerable size & you believe that just because you turn over hundreds of transactions, you see no reason why you can’t have the boutique service too … or a Management Consultant, not interested in bells & whistles, just a there-and-back service. You need a TMC that will tailor make their service to your business.
There are more important priorities than price when it comes to safe travel.
Every traveller or organisation’s priorities, when it comes to booking business travel, vary considerably. Many people would say it’s all about price but actually when they consider what they expect when employing an agent, often it turns out the price is far down the list. Some would like an online booking tool or an app, some to pick up the phone, discuss options via Zoom, send a detailed brief by email, or just send a one-liner. For many, a call centre works – provided that comprehensive notes are shared, why does it matter who picks up the phone or if 5 consultants deal with your trip to Paris at the various stages? For others, they must speak to their personal consultant every time, for every part of the booking process and will only entertain deviating from this if their personal consultant is away from the office, for whatever reason.
There is also the depth of service offered. There are clients who are content with the basic research & booking procedures, followed by admin back up and an invoice. Others require more attention, such as restaurant research & reservations, local gyms, means to travel from the airport to the city, taxi bookings, laundry, calendar reminders, check-in assistance … the options are endless. If your BTA / TMC offers a Concierge Package, you have access to so much more than a simple there-and-back booking service.
A good BTA / TMC will strive to become one of the team within your organisation.
If you consider the cost of their service fees versus employing additional staff members to handle the required travel arrangements within your organisation, who aren’t travel trained & don’t have access to the Global Distribution Systems, the amount you pay to benefit from experts within your team will appear to be reasonable.
What do you need your TMC to do?
Unfortunately, some procurement officers only focus on the basic service fees, without putting them into such context, as they simply have the goal of finding the cheapest contractor. This path, while ok for a few, is generally short-term as it sacrifices the quality of service, reliability and that long-term relationship, which nurtured correctly will flourish.
A little goes a long way
TMC fees will vary, according to the set-up of their business and service level agreements in place. Flight fees typically range between £20 – £70 per booking and hotel reservations start at around £10.00. Principal Business Travel’s fees are placed mid to high end to reflect our quality of service and commitment to you & your business. For those requiring a more discerning solution, we offer our Concierge Package taking care of every possible detail you could think of … and a few that you don’t!
Surely your time is worth so much more?
Whatever the fees you pay, the numbers we are talking about bear little resemblance to what your hourly rate must be worth, so why spend any more of your or your employees’ time undertaking tasks that could be easily completed by an expert?
