ALEXANDRIA, Va. and BELLEVUE, Wash., Aug.
17, 2011-- The GBTA Foundation, the research arm of the Global
Business Travel Association, and Egencia®, the corporate travel arm
of Expedia, Inc., today released the 2011 Corporate Travel Policy
Benchmarking and Insight study, evaluating travel management trends and
policies across North American and European organizations and assessing
travel policy effectiveness overall. New to this year's study are
findings around ancillary fees, which account for eight percent of
total travel spend.
"GBTA Foundation research has shown that although business
travel continues to rebound from its recession lows, it is growing at a
much slower rate than we would like to see," said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director
and COO. "The importance of a carefully managed travel program has
never been more important. The 2010 study clearly established the
effectiveness of travel policy to help organizations minimize corporate
travel costs and we expect this year's report will be even more
effective now that we have points of comparison."
Based on best practices and insights from 651 primarily North
American travel buyers, the study takes a comprehensive look at policy
mandates versus guidelines, consolidation, booking procedures, class of
service, advanced purchase, pre-trip approval, groups/meetings and
emergencies, ancillary fees, among other issues – all of which comprise
variables that make travel difficult to standardize.
"Egencia is constantly speaking and engaging with our
customers, and one thing is clear – one size does not fit all, and the
best travel program solutions are custom-tailored to each company to
meet their unique needs, whether that be advanced reporting technology
to track spend or a robust offering of preferred rate hotels," said Mark Hollyhead, Senior Vice President,
Egencia Americas. "These hand-crafted programs paired with keen
industry insights will allow companies to maximize cost savings and
innovate for future industry changes."
Ancillary Fees
The 2011 survey collected information on if and how companies are
tracking ancillary fees, finding that only 21% of travel managers in
2011 are currently tracking these fees. Those that do track them rely
on data from internal expense reimbursement systems (81%), corporate
charge cards (53%), or Travel Management Companies (TMCs)(23%). Of this
21%, it is estimated that ancillary fees comprise just over eight
percent of total travel spend. For a company that spends $40 million on business travel, this accounts
for $3.2 million in ancillary fee spend.
Travel managers said that they are most likely to reimburse
travelers for the following ancillary fees for air and hotel:
- Air: will reimburse for baggage fees (91%), itinerary
changes (73%), in-flight meals (47%), and in-flight Wi-Fi (35%). Fewer
organizations will reimburse for preferred seating (13%), priority
boarding (8%), or in-flight entertainment (3%).
- Hotel: will reimburse for parking (89%), internet access
(84%), airport shuttle (70%). Fewer companies will reimburse for late
check-out (24%), early check-in (23%), fitness center (21%), mini-bar
(9%), and entertainment (4%).
Of the 79% of travel managers that do not track ancillary expenses, 41%
plan to in the next 12 months, and another 6% believe they will within
the next two years. Five percent believe it will take longer than two
years or will never happen, and 42% confessed that they do not know.
Enforcing Travel Policy
Sixty-one percent of respondents said travel policy is more a guideline
than a mandate, and 72% percent said there are few to no consequences
for policy violations. The study suggests that organizations could
dramatically benefit from better enforcement. The 2010 Corporate Travel
Policy: Benchmarking and Insight study found that stricter policies
could equate to nearly $30 billion in
savings.
Lowest Logical Fares (LLF)
The study also explores policy standards around LLFs, which represents
the lowest fare that is consistent with a corporation's travel policy.
- Booking Windows: 78% of 2011 survey respondents
include windows in their policy, with 56% of respondents requiring
travelers to consider lower fare alternatives departing up to 2-hours
before or after their originally preferred departure time.
- Connections: 57% of respondents require travelers to
accept connections when savings are available.
- Non-Refundable Fares: 70% of responding
organizations report that they take advantage of these fares by
directing travelers to accept non-refundable tickets whenever they are
available. This is a slight increase from the 68% reported in 2010.
- Advanced Purchase: There was a 6% increase
year-over-year in respondents whose policy instructs travelers to book
their airfare at least seven days in advance.
Class of Service
Only 10% of organizations allow travelers to upgrade to first or
business class (aka, 'premium class') on flights within
North America. However, 33% authorize
business class on flights to
Europe,
32% to
South America, 42% on flights
to
India,
Africa,
or the
Middle East, and 47% on
flights to
Asia-Pacific. While these
percentages are substantially unchanged since 2010, there was a 5%
decline in companies that do not allow any premium-class air travel,
from 47% in 2010 to 42% in 2011.
The complete 2011 Corporate Travel
Policy: Benchmarking and Insight study is available through http://www.gbta.org/Lists/Resource%20Library/Forms/Foundation_Research_and_Surveys.aspx.
About the GBTA Foundation
The GBTA Foundation is the education and research foundation of the
Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), the world's premier business
travel and corporate meetings organization. Collectively, GBTA's
5,000-plus members manage over $340 billion
of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA
provides its network of 17,000 business and government travel and
meetings managers, as well as travel service providers, with networking
events, news, education & professional development, research, and
advocacy. The foundation was established in 1997 to support GBTA's
members and the industry as a whole. As the leading education and
research foundation in the business travel industry, the GBTA
Foundation seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel
profession. The GBTA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
For more information, see gbta.org and www.gbtafoundation.org.
About Egencia, an Expedia, Inc. Company
Egencia is the fifth largest travel management company in the world. As
part of Expedia, Inc., (NASDAQ: EXPE), the world's largest travel marketplace,
Egencia helps businesses get ahead by offering the only truly
integrated corporate travel service. Egencia's industry expertise helps
drive results that matter, delivering meaningful advancements that have
a real impact. By combining a powerful offline and online service,
Egencia delivers a complete corporate travel offering supported by
global market expertise and a best-in-class technology platform.
For more information, go to www.egencia.com.
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2011 Egencia, LLC. All rights reserved. CST # 2083922-50