GE Offering European Travelers Direct Booking Access

At a time when at least a half dozen vendors in Europe are parading their solutions for integrating Web-only content with global distribution systems, General Electric, which maintains one of the largest and most respected travel management programs in the world, has thrown in the towel.

In lieu of a pending solution from its online booking provider, Sabre's GetThere, GE has spotlighted on its European travel extranet pages the opportunity for travelers to make reservations directly with rail providers and low-cost carriers "not available through the local GE Travel Centre or GETRes." GETRes is GE's name for the online booking technology it uses, a mix of the former Sabre BTS and GetThere DirectCorporate systems. The extranet pages offer links that direct travelers to the public Web sites of such low-cost airlines as Ryanair and Easyjet. Another page, updated in December, offers a map of western Europe which links to Web sites of most countries' rail providers.

"Booking directly with these providers saves you time and GE money—a winning solution for everyone," the site declares, followed by a cautionary note. "Because you are making reservations directly with a third-party service provider, GE Travel Management Services cannot provide assistance or customer support with these types of reservations. If you have questions regarding an existing or new third-party reservation, or need to make a change or cancellation, you must contact the service provider directly."

That's the rub that has prevented most corporations that manage travel from allowing travelers to book directly—not to mention the lack of tracked booking data and, in cases where such rates exist, the inability to book negotiated fares.

Catherine Lundberg, owner and senior consultant with CMM Consulting in Stockholm, said GE is not the only company in Europe that both manages travel and allows employees to book directly with suppliers unavailable in the GDS. "Some of them are doing it because they see they can save so much money," she said. "But some companies won't allow it because they are concerned about security and knowing where their travelers are." While self-booking providers in Europe are working to include such suppliers in their systems—GetThere is expected to do so soon—some buyers are not waiting, she said, because the "frustration has been so big that you cannot book low-cost carriers via the travel agency. You can't just sit there and wait for something to happen, therefore you have eased the controlling."

According to Colin Brain, chairman and CEO of Management Solutions Ltd. in London, the practice of sending travelers directly is "rare, but gaining in substance. On one or two sites that we've helped build, they have put in low-cost airlines." One company's use of low-cost airlines cut its air budget by one-third, Brain said.

Calling the practice "unusual," TQ3 Travel Solutions EMEA marketing director Melanie Garrett said, "We would never want any clients to recommend something like that." She said the company's new Web Fare-It solution facilitates non-GDS reservations while capturing data. "It's an answer to the increasing population of travelers wanting a lower fare." She said TQ3 agents traditionally do book low-cost carriers by telephone or online, "but only if a client requests it. It's not what we recommend. It's not within travel policy, which is not good for anyone."

"Our European deployments haven't integrated Easyjet or Ryanair," said Bill Niejadlik, senior vice president and general manager of the Atlanta-based WorldTravel Interactive division of WorldTravel BTI. "The standard practice is to keep travelers from those types of services. As for tracking, we frame third-party sites and can track the URL travelers go to, but once they do, you've lost them from the back office. There's no reporting or people tracking."

The issue illustrates a growing tension as companies that manage travel weigh control and preferred relationships with transportation suppliers and agencies against simply buying the lowest available fare. The decision to make direct access available to travelers could not have been an easy one for GE, whose travel policy, laid out elsewhere on the extranet, indicates that "all bookings must be made through the GE-selected travel agency." Still, booking low-cost carriers supports what some consider a more sensible approach of buying the cheapest possible fares on the least restrictive possible itineraries. It also avoids the travel agency fee that sometimes can add up to a significant portion of the fare itself.

According to a GE case study recently featured on GetThere's site, GE introduced GetThere's online booking system to Europe about three years ago. The case study indicates GE's European travel operation services 15,000 travelers who take about 100,000 trips a year and spend about $60 million on air travel. "Today, up to 50 percent of GE travelers in the U.K. and up to 35 percent of travelers in the Benelux region are booking their business trips online through the GetThere system," according to the case study. The system is available in the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain. GE expects to save $2 million on its travel spend, the case study said, after reaching 50 percent adoption in Europe. It further states that GE in Europe is saving 25 percent on travel transaction costs and 7 percent on its average ticket price—and it expects to cut 30 percent of its European Carlson Wagonlit Travel agents.

According to a statement in the case study attributed to regional manager for Travel Management Services at GE International Keith Mullineux, "GetThere's online booking system provides us with the security of knowing that we have a solid platform in place that will be able to capture data from whatever sources become the standard, so we can manage our travel program with global consistency." Asked to clarify whether and how the direct bookings are integrated with that platform, Mullineux deferred to a GE Phoenix-based travel official who could not be reached for comment.