Travel managers on both sides of the English Channel for the first time can begin integrating rail fully into their managed programs thanks to a new generation of online booking and reporting tools.
Eurostar has launched an extranet solution, called Byrail, that allows corporate travelers to book both Eurostar and U.K. domestic rail tickets, with the data captured in an online management information system. It is competing with two corporate extranets that offer U.K. domestic rail only—Qjump and Thetrainline. Byrail so far has signed 10 direct clients and has been incorporated into the newest release from the French-based online booking tool provider KDS
(see story, page 22). A similar deal with GetThere is pending, according to Eurostar executive director of sales and distribution Adrian Watts.
KDS officials said if passengers input a trip request for Paris to London, they will find flight and rail departures and prices listed on the same display. The new KDS release also offers online booking with French rail operator SNCF and trans-European high-speed train network Thalys.
Traveldoo—another French online booking tool provider whose clients include Sony Europe and TotalFinaElf—has announced it also is upgrading its rail capability from looking to booking. It too offers SNCF, Eurostar and Thalys. Travel managers can customize the policy filter to specify which mode of transport must be used on any city pair. Chief executive Nabil el Aroussi said Traveldoo can handle multimodal bookings, such as Eurostar from Paris to London, followed by a flight to Seattle—a destination not served directly from France.
Peter Kite, director of client services for BTI UK, said online rail booking would be a huge benefit to corporate travel buyers. "Rail is the next piece of travel for corporations to gain control over," he said. "It fits well into the online environment because it has a low transaction value. We believe the take-up will be rapid."
Rail has become an increasing problem for corporations and their agents since the disappearance of airline commission ended what effectively was cross-subsidization of a transport mode with low ticket prices and a high administrative burden. One issue that makes rail especially tricky in the United Kingdom is the fractured ownership of the network. Since privatization in the 1990s, services have been run by a couple of dozen different operators.
Wherever they are in Europe, agents typically have to deal with 50 percent more refunds on rail tickets than air, to take one example, yet the average U.K. rail fare handled by business agents is $113—a similar figure to France, according to Traveldoo. Agents now are imposing transaction fees for rail, which range from $25 to $65, the average being around $40—clearly an unacceptable percentage against the ticket price.
"Distribution costs through the agent can be as much as the price of the ticket," said Bob Lewis, travel manager for business support services company Amey, which is one of Byrail's first corporate clients. Like many companies, Amey therefore has left its travelers to purchase many of their rail tickets on the day at the station. The purchasing information is not captured, leaving Lewis with no idea how much Amey spends on rail. Now travelers call Amey's travel operations department, which books on their behalf. Lewis is looking hard at putting Byrail on travelers' desktops later this year.
Even when travelers do use an agent, Lewis said the process of obtaining management information is slow and not always accurate. He believes Byrail offers much better MI, which is why he expects the system will not only bring down transaction costs but lead to lower purchasing costs as well. "The management information is excellent," he said. "It gives me city pairs and how much individual travelers have paid, and I will be able to use it for doing deals with rail companies. It is becoming easier to do deals if you have the information, but not many corporates do have it."
BTI UK's Kite said Qjump, Thetrainline and Byrail all are user-friendly and provide excellent management information. Byrail possesses two apparent advantages over its rivals: It also offers Eurostar and is a front-end for Elgar, the Eurostar rail reservations system that is used by 1,100 agents in the United Kingdom. This means agents can distribute the tickets, or clients can install an ATB2 ticket printer, an option being considered by Amey. Qjump and Byrail rely on sending travelers tickets by post or allowing them to collect from a limited number of railway stations.
The advent of corporate online booking solutions comes against a background of continually improving rail facilities and increasing uptake of the train by business travelers. The latest high-speed rail link to open is the $6 billion Cologne-Frankfurt line, where the journey time has been halved to one hour. Lufthansa passengers can check their bags at Cologne railway station and need not retrieve them until arriving at their destination. Meanwhile, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has introduced a set of fares that offer savings of up to 40 percent for seven-day advance purchases.
Even the United Kingdom is making some progress. Later this year, Eurostar trains finally will run at higher speeds on the English side of the tunnel, reducing journey times from three hours to two hours, 40 minutes. Eurostar, which accounts for 60 percent of the London to Paris market, has introduced price cuts on offpeak, fully flexible departures from $803 to $481 in first class and $480 to $320 in standard class.
In France, SNCF now claims to have 1,100 corporate deals. It also has intermodal through-ticketing arrangements with Air France, American and United airlines and Lufthansa, a facility availed by 100,000 travelers in 2002.