With the immense scale and complexity of air travel, our
industry still relies on many legacy frameworks that weren’t designed to meet
the needs of modern travelers. One framework—the stark division between the
direct and indirect air travel sales channels—will be dismantled in 2020.
Airlines, travel managers and travel management companies
need to collaborate to build omnichannel solutions, delivering greater
transparency and an enhanced customer experience.
Business travelers are high-value clients for both airlines
and travel agencies, and they generate revenue for their employers. Those
travelers want to book in their preferred channel, whether that’s through their
TMC, online booking tool, or the airline website or app, where they can take
advantage of loyalty perks. By booking direct, however, travelers lose access
to valuable TMC servicing and duty of care, leaving their travel managers with
gaps in program data.
Travelers expect seamless experiences: They want the ability
to buy anywhere and receive service from anywhere. Airlines want to enable
direct booking experiences that give travel managers and TMCs transparent
access to that important traveler data they’re missing. Travel managers want to
open up servicing capabilities to TMCs.
In 2020, channel-agnostic technology providers will begin to
connect the dots between airlines, travelers, travel buyers and their partners
in the direct channel. As transparency increases across these connections, a
new ecosystem will emerge, where direct and indirect bookings are essentially
treated as one and the same.
As the omnichannel environment expands, corporate travel
programs will become more traveler-friendly without sacrificing high-quality
data. Travel managers will begin to transition from “looking the other way” for
certain travelers’ direct bookings to more actively engaging with and managing
them, creating deeper transparency and accountability, while designing more
creative, traveler-centric policies that measure new key performance indicators
like trip success.
As travel programs become more diverse in design and scope,
TMCs will be the linchpins that hold them together. Managing post-ticketing
functions on behalf of travelers, travel buyers and airlines will remain
critical in an environment where about one-quarter of corporate itineraries
require changes.
The role of TMCs as data and reporting stewards will also
expand, delivering even greater value in simplifying complexity for corporate
customers. As transparency increases, data privacy and security will also need
to be carefully managed.
Travel managers will turn to TMC partners for more
consultative guidance in this progressively complex environment. By managing
disparate traveler data, TMCs will have a unique perspective that equips them
to advise on program and policy design, as well as technology selection and
implementation.
As a result, airlines, travel managers, TMCs and travel
agencies will all reap the benefits of happier, more productive business
travelers. Beyond 2020, travelers will ultimately be able to buy anywhere and
service anywhere—with perks and within policy.