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Online booking of European business travel continues to expand
04 May, 2004 – Latest statistics from the Web-based corporate travel reservation system GetThere show that the trend towards self-booked online business travel continues to grow significantly in Europe. Employees of European companies booked 105 percent more travel through GetThere in the first quarter of 2004 than in the same period in 2003.
This reinforces a trend towards online travel by European corporations. Booking figures for this region shot up by 204 percent in quarter one last year against the same period in 2002, while quarters two, three and four showed similar growth.
Floyd Widener, Sabre Travel Network’s vice president – corporate for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said GetThere’s bookings growth was due largely to increased adoption by existing European customers. The organisation has a team to help customers design and implement different adoption strategies, each designed to achieve maximum use of the system by travelling staff members.
“Some of our customers are seeing a huge improvement in adoption figures – one company in particular has reported that more than half of all its travel each month is being booked on our system. Much of this is driven by mandating,” Widener said.
Mandating is where companies make the use of an online travel booking system compulsory. GetThere says it notices greater levels of mandating in difficult economic climates.
Acceptance
New business is also playing an important part in GetThere’s continued growth. GetThere is now used by more than 500 organisations across Europe and Widener said local corporations were increasingly accepting that self-booking tools have an important role to play in helping to implement corporate travel policy and drive down costs.
He said GetThere was generating average savings of 15 percent on ticket prices and 50 percent on travel management fees. This could reduce the fare for a typical European business trip by as much as £80.
Agnostic
Despite being owned by Sabre Holdings and marketed by Sabre Travel Network, GetThere remains completely agnostic as far as global distribution system (GDS) affiliation is concerned. Of GetThere’s roughly 2.25 million bookings worldwide in Q4 2003, 53 percent were processed by a GDS other than Sabre.
In Europe in Q4 2003, 73 percent of GetThere bookings came through the Sabre GDS, 14 percent came through Amadeus and 13 percent came through Galileo.
“It’s important to any business using a corporate travel reservation system that the product can link to any travel management company, regardless of which GDS that agency uses,” Widener said.
No frills
Travellers using GetThere can now make bookings on European ‘no frills’ carriers entirely within the system. The latest version, launched late last year, integrates the booking process for easyJet and Ryanair and lets business travellers around the world book no frill flights within Europe to 102 regional destinations.
The two new European carriers join a range of North American no frills carriers and all the major carriers that are already bookable in the GetThere system.
When a traveller requests a flight, GetThere searches the no frills Web sites as well as the global distribution systems (GDSs) that travel agents use. It shows all available fares and itineraries in the same display, including any discounted fares that the traveller’s company may have negotiated with particular airlines. If the traveller selects a no frills option the flight can be booked entirely within the system.
“To date, most technology in this area has simply dropped travellers at no frill airline Web sites to fend for themselves,” Widener said. “This creates confusion and difficulty for the traveller and raises many questions about policies for employee privacy and security. It also means that these bookings are being made outside of the company’s managed travel programme, making it difficult for the corporate travel manger to maintain control over the programme.”
Premium Economy and rail
In a move to further broaden the range of fares bookable in the system, GetThere has added premium economy class booking capability for business travellers flying with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
It is also working with TheTrainline and European rail providers to offer travellers the option of a rail connection between cities, instead of air.
About GetThere
GetThere, a Sabre Travel Network brand, is the world's leading Web-based corporate travel reservation technology. GetThere enables global corporations and government agencies to provide a convenient way for employees to book travel and plan meetings while significantly reducing costs. GetThere's advanced technology works with all major global distribution systems (GDS) and all travel management companies. More than 1,000 corporations, including half the Fortune 200, use GetThere. More information is available at http://www.GetThere.com.
Sabre Holdings Corporation (NYSE: TSG) is a world leader in travel commerce, retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. More information about Sabre Holdings is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.
