NBTA To Release Online Booking Tool RFP

The National Business Travel Association's technology committee at this month's International Convention and Exposition in San Diego will release an online booking tool request-for-proposal template. The 28-page document is the first NBTA RFP model focused on travel technology.

The RFP template has 19 sections that cover such core areas as content, profile management, implementation, account management, reporting and pricing, as well as newer considerations like carbon calculation, mobile services and online change, cancellation and exchange capabilities.

The template also includes a section on booking non-travel services, including packing and shipping, parking and audioconferencing.

Built on a similar format to the association's other RFPs, the template is designed for flexibility so travel buyers can scale the document to fit their company's needs.

The committee plans to review and refine the template periodically to address changes the technology, global capabilities and new content, according to technology committee vice chair Theo Szymanski, also Trondent Development Corp. director of sales.

The RFP uses a four-month timetable from the time it is issued to the start of implementation. TRW Travel Consulting president Tom Wilkinson, who consulted on the project and led feedback efforts from suppliers, including mega travel management companies and online booking tool vendors, said the 120-day period is necessary because of the complexity of evaluating all supplier responses, inventory and connectivity capabilities with a corporation's other travel management and enterprise systems. "You just can't buy it like off-the-shelf software, plug it in and turn it on," said Wilkinson.

While NBTA's hotel RFP template has become widely used in the industry, the year-old airline RFP has gotten far less traction because of complexity of air programs that can include hundreds of routes and dozens of carriers. Wilkinson said online booking tools, on the other hand, are "reasonably capable of standardization.

Although Szymanski said the RFP is primarily U.S.-centric, it includes questions on self-booking tool capabilities and global inventory access. Some multinational considerations address access to rail and low-cost carrier content, language capabilities and adherence to regional security and data-privacy laws.

A subcommittee consisting of travel buyers and technology suppliers began developing the template more than a year ago, after member surveys identified the necessity of standards and sourcing guideline around the increasingly complex online booking tool evaluation process, according to Szymanski. Buyers involved in the project include committee chair and Tokyo Electron U.S. Holdings manager of travel and fleet services Dianne Bradley and Spirit AeroSystems travel manager Debbie Kilgore.