Travel Agents Assail German Rail Operator's New Online Booking Tool

The newly formed business travel committee of VDR, the German travel agents' association, has criticized the launch today of a lightly managed business travel portal by German rail operator Deutsche Bahn. OBT, which stands for Online Business Travel, will offer flights, accommodation and car hire, plus management information, aimed at small and midsize clients in Germany.

Online bookings will be free, other than for air tickets, which will cost €12.50 per transaction—a fee that is below average in the German market. Offline flight bookings will cost €35. Management reporting is available for a monthly fee of €49.

OTA is run by Ludger Bals, formerly EMEA head of sales, marketing and distribution for corporate booking tool provider GetThere.

DRV criticized OTA for using state funding to obtain what the association perceives as an unfair competitive advantage in the German marketplace. "Deutsche Bahn is owned and financed by the German government," said DRV director of communications Torsten Schäfer.

DRV launched its business travel committee earlier this month. Chairman Stefan Vorndran, who is CEO of BCD Travel in Germany, said one of committee's first priorities is to create a framework for service-level agreements between travel management companies and their corporate customers. The intention is to avoid unnecessary duplication among TMCs, while leaving the frameworks easily customizable for the requirements of individual customers.

The association has launched the committee to strengthen the voice of TMCs in the German market, according to Schäfer. It comes at an important time, with both agents and corporate customers campaigning vigorously against the Preferred Fares Plan of Lufthansa, which in essence passes the airline's global distribution system costs on to corporate clients via travel management companies.