BOO! Are you haunted by rogue bookings?
The scariest thing about Halloween this year isn’t ghosts, ghouls, or goblins. It’s actually something we’ve sensed skulking around in the shadows for a while: travel managers turning a blind eye to out-of-channel bookings.
Yes, we’ve seen this frightening trend rising up like Frankenstein’s monster. And maybe you’re wondering why you should be spooked by this. Well, we’ve compiled the top three things that can come back and haunt you if you choose to let travellers go rogue.
Creepy crawly costs
Everyone wants to be cost efficient, so it may seem obvious to allow travelers to book outside of the OBT to save money. No TMC fees, perceived control over the shopping experience, and skirting around policy parameters are things that may be attractive to both the traveller and the travel manager. However, carving your TMC out of the booking process will cause you to spend more money in the long run. TMCs have a lot of buying and negotiating power via established partnerships with airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and more. This means they can secure you the best rates, creating an ROI that far outweighs the apparent immediate savings.
Terrifying traveller management
Many enterprises who allow (or just choose to ignore) out-of-channel bookings forget to take one monstrous detail into account: traveller support. This will involve answering hundreds of emails and an equal number of calls. Does the idea of fielding things like “I need to reschedule my flight, but I booked on Expedia, how do I get a refund?” or “Why can’t I book this hotel in Los Angeles?” all day send shivers down your spine? Don’t fear, your TMC has this covered when travellers book within the correct channels, taking the stress off your shoulders.
A leaky cauldron
Booking out of channel is a bone-chilling fear for most corporate travel managers. This leaves you in the dark when it comes to traveler safety and reporting. If a traveller books outside of correct channels, their booking won’t appear in the OBT and your TMC won’t be able to track a traveller and deploy safety notifications to them, putting your duty of care responsibilities at risk. Leakage also weakens your travel programme overall and threatens stability and efficiency in both the short and long term. However, if you lean on your TMC, they can provide you with supernatural tech, spook-proof policies, and practical (magic) advice.
No tricks here
Eerie should be relegated to horror movies, or that haunted attraction your friends drag you to…not corporate travel. That’s why we developed our one-of-a-kind ghostbusting browser plugin, The FCM Extension. It has the power to banish out-of-channel bookings before travellers click “complete.” Don’t rely on salt circles to fight out-of-channel bookings, reach out to FCM instead.