The Business Travel Magazine Dec/Jan 2019/20

TMCs / Service delivery
audit department checked us every six
months for the green-colour savings and
we delivered each time.”
What should be clarified in the contract is
what level of account management is
included and when that cuts off, triggering
higher consultancy services. This early level
of transparency will pay dividends later.
Day-to-day account management should
feel like an extension of the travel
manager’s role and client team. Account
managers should know the programme
intimately, be driving it forward and
optimising spend after analysing six
months’ worth of data. Priorities will differ
from client to client but basics should
include review meetings, travel analysis
reporting, technology implementation and
training, loyalty programme management
and supplier negotiations.
TMCs should understand the company
culture and be fully conversant with the
programme vision. A poor level of account
management is often at the root of a client
moving TMCs, not service, underscoring
the fact that although automation deals
with the majority of bookings, it’s still a
people business.
Some TMCs treat their account managers
as consultants who look after the totality
of the account and that's part of the
overall fee, while others separate it out as
a lucrative income stream. That’s more
likely to happen with larger clients when
specialist services are required, such as
programme improvement, benchmarking
a programme by size or industry,
formulating a strategic vision, innovation,
global consistency and so on.
For example, an account manager could
not be expected to source a full hotel
programme single handedly. “When there
is a new requirement from the client that
is resource heavy and will not benefit
another customer, this is where
consultancy fees usually begin,” says Anne
Marie Crawford, Head of Sales at Inntel.
BCD's consultancy arm Advito specialises
in complex air and hotel programmes
across the globe and specific bespoke
communications programmes to change
traveller behaviour. ”There is a cost to
providing this high-level and intelligent
programme activity. If clients had to go out
to the market and speak to a third party
they would pay significantly more,” says
Tony McGetrick, VP & Director of Sales &
Marketing UK & Ireland at BCD. “We sell in
the benefits and the genuine ROI.”
Flexible pricing
What you pay is a moot point. Pricing
models are in a state of flux as buyers seek
more consumer-based pricing models so
the market is ripe for change. Transaction
fees are the norm, but subscription-based
pricing and trip-based pricing are likely to
become more popular pay-as-you-go
formulas which suit SMEs.
“The key thing is that we have to be
flexible about how we price our services,”
What you pay is a
moot point. Pricing
models are in a state of flux as
buyers seek more consumerbased
pricing models so the
market is ripe for change”
says Durkin at Good Travel Management.
“It’s done on a case by case basis, driven
by the client, and can make us more
competitive.” The TMC is using trip-based
pricing with clients in the renewable
energy sector where travel is billable.
Inntel is doing the same with some clients.
Business Travel Direct is currently in
discussion with some clients on pricing
alternatives. “The subscription model really
excites me if we are going to be more
solutions-driven and not fulfilment-driven
but it’s got to be a collaborative process
as not one size fits all,” says the TMC's
Managing Director Julie Oliver.
As ever, the market is in a state of flux,
the dynamics of which help move the
industry forward, but it’s worth noting that
the fundamentals of transparency and
honesty remain the core values desired by
buyers from their TMC suppliers.
64 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com