Maritz Agents Beat Web Fares

<B> Maritz Agents Beat Web Fares</B>

By Sarah Welt

<I>St. Louis, Mo.</I> - In a Maritz Travel Co. research study conducted for the agency by R.D. Brown Co., airfares quoted by travel agents beat those offered by three public booking Websites and one airline site in 59 out of 80 instances on 20 different itineraries.

The 59 lower fares found by Maritz agents led to a total savings of $783, or 7.4 percent of the entire cost of the 20 itineraries, while the one lower fare found on the Internet led to a savings of $32, representing 0.3 percent of the $10,545 total cost. The remaining 20 fares were found by both the Internet and Maritz, or were found by Maritz and declined by the traveler.

Said Maritz Travel's technology marketing director Rebecca March, "The proliferation of Internet bookings will continue to grow, but travel managers are beginning to understand how the Internet could undermine a corporate travel program."

Shimon Avish, consultant for the Alexandria, Va.-based Travel Management Group, called the study "fascinating, because it undermines our usual beliefs that Internet fares are going to be cheaper. We often hear clients voice concerns about agency fares, because they can go to the Web and find cheaper fares." Noting that the Internet rates came from public rather than corporate sites, Avish recommended that corporate buyers get booking tools on their intranets so that travelers can become familiar with them.