Despite widespread adoption of online booking tools by corporations, driving traveler use of those channels remains a struggle for many organizations. A new study indicates that simplified and streamlined booking processes may move the needle.
Of the 202 corporate travel buyers that the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and American Express Global Business Travel surveyed globally, 92 percent have adopted online booking tools, while 81 percent mandate that travelers book through such platforms. However, less than 5 percent of those surveyed reported full adoption of the OBT, and just 59 percent reported more than 70 percent adoption. Meanwhile, 5 percent of travel buyers reported less than 10 percent adoption.
Prominent among the main hurdles to adoption is employee education about the importance of in-channel booking, according to the study. Just 47 percent of buyers communicate regularly with employees about the companies' preferred booking tools, and 8 percent said their companies never had such communication with employees, even during the onboarding process. Employees also tend to think they can get better prices through other booking services, a factor that 39 percent of travel buyers cited as the primary reason for out-of-channel bookings.
To drive compliance, many companies plan to make the OBT experience mirror online retail shopping more closely, the report found. Eighty percent said the ability to access one booking platform via both mobile and desktop is important for adoption. And while only 11 percent said their companies' booking platforms incorporate chat or instant messaging, more than 35 percent plan to add such features in the future. "The booking experience needs to be highly flexible and should look and feel like it does when they book personal travel," said ACTE director of research Fitzgerald Draper. "Travel managers should look for ways to market the selected tool to their travelers, including all the benefits that come with it."
American Express GBT VP of marketing and product strategy Evan Konwiser echoed that sentiment: "For a travel program to work, companies need to implement tools that are intuitive and delightful to use while deploying a marketing tool kit to reinforce why the program is good for them and the business."