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TMCs slam hotel booking agency's claims
Thursday, September 03, 2009 Travel management company bosses have rubbished another hotel booking agency survey claiming UK companies are ditching agencies and bringing travel spend in-house. German firm HRS.com once again declared corporates were shunning agencies in favour of “specialists” as management fees were too expensive. HRS commercial director Jon West said budget pressures were forcing companies to look at cost-cutting and claimed his company was reaping the benefit of changing buying habits. But Carlson Wagonlit Travel executive vice-president Andrew Waller said he had seen no evidence of trends identified in the report. “Conversely, we are seeing an increase in customers consolidating from multiple suppliers to the one-stop-shop benefits a large TMC can provide,” he said. “The driving force behind this is not only the improved reservation experience for travellers – online and offline – but greater policy control, enhanced traveller tracking and safety, lower contract management costs and integrated MI. It is vital in a world of increasing choice and complexity that a supplier is able to direct and manage business across different product groups in order to optimise a corporate travel programme and provide maximum return on investment.” Ken McLeod, director corporate for Advantage Travel Centres, said the report’s claims were well wide of the mark. “TMCs have negotiated rates with hotels airlines and ancillary services and a good TMC will show how it can reduce costs for all travel arrangements. Management fees charged by TMCs are more than offset by savings the corporate makes by employing an agency.” Last year TMC bosses lambasted HRS after it claimed they were a “dying breed”. See the comments by Jay Campbell, founder of US travel newsletter the beat.
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