NBTA Announces Enhancements To Benchmarking Tool, Educational Offerings

The National Business Travel Association at its International Convention & Exposition in Chicago today made several announcements regarding its educational and research efforts that included enhancements to its Managed Travel Index and Benchmarking Tool, the formation of a global risk management committee and three new global events.

NBTA's Managed Travel Index and Benchmarking Tool, announced last year, currently has 150 companies using the tool to measure the effectiveness of their corporate travel programs through the collection of data and benchmark comparisons. In addition to the ability to benchmark program structure and policy, partnerships with Smith Travel Research and SH&E Consulting, MTI enables users to view hotel data from the top 95 metro markets in four hotel tiers and to drill down geographically within the top 25 markets, as well as graphically compare average ticket price to any U.S. carrier's ATP on any route.

"You can also revise answers to get a new score and we track every time you do that and do some research to determine best practices," said Daphne Bryant, NBTA foundation director. Attendees of NBTA's convention in Chicago can preview the tool and its enhancements at the organization's booth on Tuesday.

Bryant today said the organization is also in discussions with a mega agency to put 200 United States-based clients into the tool, which would help create a larger database.

Attendees of an educational session on the tool at NBTA's conference tomorrow can receive a discounted subscription fee of $199 through the end of the year, rather than paying the normal $595 annual rate.

NBTA also announced the formation of the Global Risk Management Committee, dedicated to helping members managed travel-related risks. The committee is "very important and necessary for today's travel manager," said Suzanne Fletcher, NBTA president. The group will address such topics as domestic and international security and health and safety issues.

Further announcements today centered on NBTA conferences that include a Corporate Travel Buyer Think Tank this September in London, Mexico Corporate Travel Conference in January 2007 in Mexico City and a Latin American Corporate Travel and Technology Exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil in March 2007 in partnership with the Brazilian Business Travel Association.