ACTE Survey: Buyers Doubt GDS Alternatives

Travel managers remain split on issues of distribution incentives and largely unconvinced of the viability of global distribution system alternatives, according to survey of its members issued today by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives.

Of 127 corporate travel managers responding, 46 percent reported having already considered GDS alternatives and 50 percent said those technologies are not yet sufficiently developed to handle business travel. Another one-quarter of respondents said GDS fees may not represent a large enough portion of airlines' reducible expenses to justify taking the alternatives seriously at this time.

"The high response rate to this survey clearly indicates the significance of this issue to our members," said ACTE president Greeley Koch, adding that, by facilitating educational efforts and open industry communication, ACTE hopes "to keep a major issue from becoming an industry confrontation."

The issue of GDS incentive payments proved even more divisive than that of GDS alternatives among ACTE's surveyed members. While 64 percent of respondents said GDSs should stop paying incentives to agencies and travel buyers to use their services, more than one-third reported thinking the practice should continue. Still, a majority combined from both camps called into question the real value of those payments. Sixty-eight percent of all respondents said they did not consider rebates "deal-breakers" in the GDS selection process, and of that group, more than one-quarter said the rebate wasn't at all important.

Whether helming the GDS selection process or working in conjunction with a travel management company, 42 percent of those corporate travel managers who reported involvement in the decision said both economics and technology factored into GDS selection at their respective companies. Less than 10 percent of involved respondents said economics drove selection, whereas 22 percent said they based that decision primarily on technology.