I am Global - I need a Global Agent - I need a Big Travel Management Company!
What I have never been able to grasp is why organisations feel that they have to have a global agent (or TMC - Travel Management Company) - that somehow having a TMC will save them a lot of money. Having seen many of the large TMC's, I still have serious doubts. Let's take a closer look.
Before we start, I will say that some of what is talked about below, is contained in some of my other articles.
TMC's, of course, do offer their own reporting systems. Great. You can now have reports about reports, or back up the first set of reports with another set, cross anaylse them, resolve differences. You should be able to easily add at least one if not two clerks to your firm's payroll for that task alone. Great saving!
I have often seen, when visiting potential clients, piles of monthly, weekly, annual and for all I know, daily reports, gathering dust on potential clients' shelves. Reams and reams of paper - 90% clearly unread! They may have them, but they sure as anything do not know what to do with them! Stop and ask - What do you actually want a report for? Reporting can fall into two categories - Reports so that people know where they are at and what is going on, and reports made to make sure less experienced staff are doing their alloted tasks properly. The latter type, especially, are more for the benefit of the person providing the report than for the recipient.
The TMC's offer Global service!
That old chestnut. Let's just go back to our credit card for a minute. It's 0200 in the UK and you are in Hong Kong. Something has happened that means you have to be back in the UK stante pede. What do you do? Well, you can call your TMC. Give your name, answer the security question, wait while someone sorts out who you are, what you are and what is going on and, and. Or you can just call the local airline reservation office and rebook. If you have a flexible business class ticket, no cost is involved anyway (so why add a fee?) and if you do not, then you always have the flexible friend - that is precisely what it is for. Further, if you have a good frequent flyer card with that airline, chances are they are going to bend over backwards quicker than any TMC local office (who, by this time, are just trying to reboot some computer to try and find details about you, who you are and what your are!)
My own clients demand more - they have my mobile number. I am expected to know their voice, where they are and be prepared to fix something on a 24/7 basis. Naturally, I have a holiday backup - but from a group of people who have the same ethos and who are in same country as I am - not some sub-contracted call centre somewhere East of Suez.
What is strange, is that the sort of scenario listed above does not happen that often. Changes do happen "on the hoof" though usually these occur during (relatively) normal hours. At the end of the day, as long as you have a credit card in your pocket you have a global service. What is more, with the credit card, that service is more or less, free.
I have often found myself telling a client to book something themselves on-line - strange action for an agent who earns money from fees. What is driving this is the question of added value. If a flight is a simple low cost carrier, which is booked on that carriers website, what value have I added? A TMC will just book the thing on the website and send you the bill for the flight and their fee. The smaller agent, with service and added value at the forefront of their mind, may well suggest that self booking is appropriate as the use of the agent adds no value to the travel request. It may well be through circumstance, that you, the client, still ask the agent to book for you; but the important point here is that you have been given the choice.
An interesting little aspect of this comes with the staff - and the "laundering" of business travel staff. Many really good, independent, smaller business travel agents find that their staff are poached by the larger TMC's. Mainly because good business travel troops are very hard to come by. The ethos, not to mention the pay rates, are generally much higher in the independent sector and some of the best paid business travel staff are in the (smaller) independent sector. Large TMC's especially, take in "raw" staff and very often have to start their training from scratch - or re-train leisure orientated front line troops. The larger TMC's then supplement their front line with a smattering of ex-independent, quality supervisors who are brought in at a higher rate. That higher pay rate stays the same for longer which invariably means that the quality staff then leave to return to the independent sector. Or they return through frustration at the plethora and intensity of internal systems. (This neatly refers back to what is mentioned about "reports" mentioned earlier.)
You, the client, do not see this. All you see are salesman or "relationship managers". It is unlikely that you will meet, let alone get a chance to interview, the people that are going to deal with your queries on a day to day basis. This is a vital, yet overlooked point - because, as I have said in other articles, any agent is only as good as the the person that deals with your specific request.
Travel, business travel, is a curious beast. A good business travel agent is one who has matured. Has years of experience, has learnt all the wrinkles and work-arounds. It is the agent who has the skill of years that can see how to achieve the best value for any travel requirement. TMC's can rarely afford that experience and skill.
Travel Management Companies
