Travel Agencies Offer More Than Cheap Airfare

By Jay Ellenby



Airlines have cut all commissions to travel agencies. How is your company affected? If you think that your business is immune to the repercussions surrounding the recent actions by airlines to eliminate commissions, you are wrong.

As an informed business owner or manager, the decisions you make now about how you arrange business (and personal) travel will directly affect the money you spend, the service you receive and your continued ability to conduct business via travel with the fewest interruptions possible.

Let's be clear about something immediately. Most of your employees are traveling to further the economic imperatives of your company. The more conveniently they get to and from their destination, the more knowledgeable they are of the location, the more cohesively the other details of the itinerary are developed and executed, and the more support they have, the more efficiently these key parts of your team can be efficient and profitable.

That starts with the decision as to whether to use a travel agent.

The temptation is to be led to the airline or airline-sponsored/participating web site (or to call the airline directly). Look at all of the remarkably low fares you can find on your lunch break. Look at the money you presumably saved your employer.

A 2001 study by Topaz International Ltd., a national airfare auditing and statistical information firm, found that fares provided by bricks-and-mortar agencies averaged $170 less than fares offered for the same itineraries on Internet sites.

These findings resulted in overall savings exceeding 27%.

Topaz found lower fares on the Internet less than 7% of the time while conducting their research.

Think about that in the broader sense with respect to the Internet and travel. How long after businesses have decided to open their own travel "departments" or sever their relationships with their professional agencies before the airlines, then clearly in control, bring the businesses into their pricing game?

Look at the events of Sept. 11. Travel agencies across the country helped travelers, including those who had booked through the Internet, get home to their families regardless of the circumstances. And the human element of dealing with a real travel agent, as important and reassuring as that is, pales in comparison to the human element of your employees being stranded, requiring a flight change or risking limited deals that backfire at the ticket counter.

So, when is a $20, $100 or $400 savings on an Internet ticket not a savings? When the employee can't rebook a flight due to the restrictions and has to stay longer or leave earlier than was planned to responsibly and effectively conduct their business. Or when an employee spends time away from his or her other duties to perform searches for the lowest rate.

Ask your travel agency what its hard dollar cost saving record is. How much money did your travel agency save you last year? If you don't know, ask. It is not unusual for a qualified travel agency to save a company 12% to 20% in hard dollar savings. That includes all of the obvious benefits of dealing with a full-service travel management company.



Jay M. Ellenby, president and CEO of Safe Harbors Travel Group Inc. in Baltimore, can be reached at 410-547-6565.