Corporate Travel Offices
Do you ever feel like you're shoveling it against the tide? Well, our company has a policy that requires the use of a designated travel agency as our "Corporate Travel" office.
In theory, this is a good thing, because it relegates the risks associated with purchasing airline tickets directly to the company. I have no problem with that.
The problem stems with the timeliness of communication and the visibility by the travel agency into various systems.
These comments come after several attempts to secure flights back and forth to my client site. I live in Atlanta which is THE major hub for the South East so traveling to anyplace should be a piece of cake.
I usually logon to either the Delta or AirTran web sites and figure out which flight(s) I need and then call the agent.
I am currently working on a government contract in the Washington DC Metro area, so my preference is to fly into Washington National (Reagan).
In this particular case, I am logged into Delta's site and I can see a few seats left and about 15 "preferred" seats. The preferred seats are set aside for those travelers who attain Medallion status (lots of flying + frequent flyer miles). I call the travel agent who is "out to lunch."
By the time she calls me back, all of the regular seats are gone and she cannot see the preferred seats so I cannot get a seat on the flight.
I end up having to switch planes in Columbus. A flight that should be just under 2 hours gate to gate took me almost 6 hours.
So, I took matters in my own hands and using my "Medallion" status, I bought plane tickets on a very large airline headquartered in Atlanta.
Well, this earned me the "big shame on you award for the week" from my company along with threats of non-payment for these airline tickets.
Well, in principal, I understand the need to streamline (after all, this is what we do when we integrate customers..), but there doesn't seem to be any direct interface to solve the communication issue.
At least with webMethods, I can ping the port, test the JDBC connection, or query document fields on the broker... but there doesn't seem to be a satisfactory manner in which my grievances with travel agency will result in anything promising for the future.
Another case in point: The travel policy specifically states that we are to use _________ agency for Flights, Hotels, Rentals Cars, Kayaks, etc.
When I called them for a hotel, they couldn't see anything under $275.00 a night in the immediate area. My goal is to get a hotel close enough to the work location so that I can ditch the rental car totally. At the time, I was driving from Fairfax (near webMethods corporate office) into Metro DC on I-66. Anyone from up here knows that I-66 is HOV-2 after 6:30am until 9:30am, which means I had to leave at 6:00am to get into the city on time.
Sidenote on driving on the HOV lane: The first offense is $250, second is $500.00 and third is $1000.00 for just driving to work.
The travel agent seemed exasperated that she couldn't solve my travel issue and told me that all she could do is look at a screen.
So, with multiple strikes against her, I went out on my own and contacted a local hotel here that gave me a rate between $119.00 - $139.00 a night which is under the per diem rate for Metro DC.
I checked several web sites as well and they all seemingly had rooms well under the $275.00 per night she found.
Why couldn't this very capable "Corporate Travel" agent do this for me? After all, I am forced to use them but to what good use if I have to do all the work?
Anyway, the company (correctly I must add) has decided to reimburse me for these few rogue tickets (which by the way, I saved them anywhere from 15-20% on the ticket purchases) although they say it will take longer for the reimbursement as punishment for me trying to make sure that I have a life on the weekend and take a flight out that supports that!!
Anyone else have any hellish corporate travel stories? I'll add more as they happen..
In theory, this is a good thing, because it relegates the risks associated with purchasing airline tickets directly to the company. I have no problem with that.
The problem stems with the timeliness of communication and the visibility by the travel agency into various systems.
These comments come after several attempts to secure flights back and forth to my client site. I live in Atlanta which is THE major hub for the South East so traveling to anyplace should be a piece of cake.
I usually logon to either the Delta or AirTran web sites and figure out which flight(s) I need and then call the agent.
I am currently working on a government contract in the Washington DC Metro area, so my preference is to fly into Washington National (Reagan).
In this particular case, I am logged into Delta's site and I can see a few seats left and about 15 "preferred" seats. The preferred seats are set aside for those travelers who attain Medallion status (lots of flying + frequent flyer miles). I call the travel agent who is "out to lunch."
By the time she calls me back, all of the regular seats are gone and she cannot see the preferred seats so I cannot get a seat on the flight.
I end up having to switch planes in Columbus. A flight that should be just under 2 hours gate to gate took me almost 6 hours.
So, I took matters in my own hands and using my "Medallion" status, I bought plane tickets on a very large airline headquartered in Atlanta.
Well, this earned me the "big shame on you award for the week" from my company along with threats of non-payment for these airline tickets.
Well, in principal, I understand the need to streamline (after all, this is what we do when we integrate customers..), but there doesn't seem to be any direct interface to solve the communication issue.
At least with webMethods, I can ping the port, test the JDBC connection, or query document fields on the broker... but there doesn't seem to be a satisfactory manner in which my grievances with travel agency will result in anything promising for the future.
Another case in point: The travel policy specifically states that we are to use _________ agency for Flights, Hotels, Rentals Cars, Kayaks, etc.
When I called them for a hotel, they couldn't see anything under $275.00 a night in the immediate area. My goal is to get a hotel close enough to the work location so that I can ditch the rental car totally. At the time, I was driving from Fairfax (near webMethods corporate office) into Metro DC on I-66. Anyone from up here knows that I-66 is HOV-2 after 6:30am until 9:30am, which means I had to leave at 6:00am to get into the city on time.
Sidenote on driving on the HOV lane: The first offense is $250, second is $500.00 and third is $1000.00 for just driving to work.
The travel agent seemed exasperated that she couldn't solve my travel issue and told me that all she could do is look at a screen.
So, with multiple strikes against her, I went out on my own and contacted a local hotel here that gave me a rate between $119.00 - $139.00 a night which is under the per diem rate for Metro DC.
I checked several web sites as well and they all seemingly had rooms well under the $275.00 per night she found.
Why couldn't this very capable "Corporate Travel" agent do this for me? After all, I am forced to use them but to what good use if I have to do all the work?
Anyway, the company (correctly I must add) has decided to reimburse me for these few rogue tickets (which by the way, I saved them anywhere from 15-20% on the ticket purchases) although they say it will take longer for the reimbursement as punishment for me trying to make sure that I have a life on the weekend and take a flight out that supports that!!
Anyone else have any hellish corporate travel stories? I'll add more as they happen..
posted by Ray Moser at 12:51:00 PM
3 Comments:
Ray--
One of the reason companies, especially consulting companies, get upset from consultants not using "Corporate Travel Agency" is b/c these companies' executives are often receiving kickbacks from the travel agencies. Since most consultant Travel/Expense reports are covered directly by the clients and not the consulting company itself, you saving the customer $$$ does not directly affect your company's revenues (indirectly, through customer satisfaction, retention is a different story). Since you are not using Coroprate Travel Agency, you are not saving your consulting company $$$ (or at least, dimining a portion of their residual profits). So, while you are going out of your way to save the customer $$$ by finding less-expensive travel alternatives, your executives are getting their wallets "less-greased" from the Travel agency kickbacks they would receive, had you used the Corporate Travel Agency. Kinda tough to think that your saving customers $$$ (and customer satisfaction should be your #1 goal), but your executives are not happy because they lose their kickbacks.
Jordon,
In this case, the corporate travel policy was put into place to help shoulder the cost of airfares and to streamline how travel arrangements are made by employees and consultants.
In this case, I highly doubt that anyone's pockets are being filled by the travel agency.
I merely believe that it is not an effective way for ME to arrange my travel.
However, I will use them only for my airfare since this is mandatory and they can't seem to book hotel rooms.
For those consultants whose credit is not as established as mine, it is very helpful.
Ray,
Sorry for being cynical, but the kickbacks in the form of free rental days, free tickets and other goodies are a definite reason that many consultancies mandate use of a designated agency.
I setup a corporate account with Avis for my company and have been surprise how fast the free rental days are piling up.
The sad thing about this is besides the grief it causes you, the traveller, your consulting company is also increasing the expenses for the end customer. In my mind this is a huge customer service blunder and will eventually come around to bite those consultancies that practice it.
Mark
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