Posted by Aaron Aycock on Fri, Aug 26, 2011 @ 02:33 AM
I have a dilemma. On one hand, I don’t want this post to sound like an advertisement. On the other hand, I have to mention a project that I’m pretty excited about. So, I apologize in advance if I accidentally wander into marketing territory. 
Launching a new product is always exciting. If you weren’t at TRX World to see the launch of TRAVELINX, you missed a fun show. But no worries- you can still join the hundreds who have already signed up for the beta and we’d love to get your feedback.
What is TRAVELINX? TRAVELINX is a tool that makes it easy to organize trips. It brings together trip itinerary details, meetings, driving directions and contacts- all in one place. Our goal for the project was simple- build a tool that users love. So, we got out of the building and spent a lot of time talking to our customers about what they’d like to see. We heard a few recurring themes. They wanted it to work automatically without any manual effort (no email forwarding, etc). They wanted it to be fast and easy to use. And they wanted a mobile version that worked well.
Making it work automatically was pretty easy. TRAVELINX is powered by existing TRX products. Whether you are a RESX, CORREX or TRAVELTRAX customer, we already have the structured itinerary data needed. In fact, we’ve processed tens of thousands of itineraries already. If you are a RESX customer, you can sign up for the beta now and start using the product right away.
Making the product fast and easy to use is very important to us. Therefore, we’re going to conduct regular usability tests. In these tests, we ask real users to give us feedback on what works well and what doesn’t. We’ve been amazed by what we’ve learned just by watching new users interact with the tool. And it isn’t unusual for an idea sparked by a customer one week to appear in the product the next week.
What about mobile support? We’re using some of the best new technology in mobile development to build TRAVELINX. A good example is the way we handle driving directions based on how your business trip is actually scheduled that allows for flexibility when plans change.
My favorite aspect of a product launch is the feedback from users. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on TRAVELINX. Signing up is very easy. Just go to http://viewmytrip.com and register. Remember, the itinerary data is driven by our products. So if you’re a RESX user, your trip data should be ready to go. If your company uses another TRX product like CORREX or TRAVELTRAX, we can help you get started.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Posted by John Broaddus on Fri, Aug 12, 2011 @ 10:44 AM
I talk to travel agents pretty much every week. Whether it is existing customers or new customers whom we are trying to sell, I constantlyhear the same two things: either they have absolutely no technology, or they have a medleyof technology from multiple vendors. Other than the very small agencies, it always blows my mind to talk to larger agencies that don’t have a mid-office solution. How can they think that doing things manually is the way to go? I get the “it’s the way we’ve always done it” or the “if it ain’t broke don’t fit it” arguments. However, most of the times things are “broken”. The agency just doesn’t know it. But that’s a story for another time.
This post is about those agencies that have technology. In fact, they have too much of it. Well, not really too much of it, but too much from too many different vendors. Why does that matter you ask? Perhaps this anecdote will illustrate the point I am trying to make.
Not too long ago, I made the decision to switch from my cable company, Comcast where I had “the bundle” (TV, phone, and internet) to DirecTV, and AT&T for my internet and phone service. After about a week, I noticed that my on demand service was not working (on demand is like pay-per-view). With Comcast, the on demand started the moment you bought the movie…they stream it directly to your TV. With DirecTV, you have to wait for the movie to be downloaded before you can watch it (something they conveniently forgot to tell me when I signed up). To make a VERY long story short, after many calls to DirecTV customer support, they finally came to the conclusion that my problem was not their problem. It was either my internet connection or my router or both or none of them. Either way they were convinced it was not their fault. So, I called AT&T (the company DirecTV partners with for internet) and they said “everything’s working fine on our end” and that it was either the cable company or the router (and they are not authorized to give me any help on the router since they didn’t put it in). Needless to say, my blood was boiling at this point. Against my better judgment, I decided to call the manufacturer of my router. You guessed it. They ran some tests and my router checked out. According to them, it had to be a problem with my internet (AT&T) or with my DirectTV service. One thing I didn’t mention is that each of the service providers, AT&T and DirecTV, had several pieces of equipment installed in my house; the actual problem could have been in one of 8 different pieces of equipment or services.
ARGHHHHH! This back and forth went on for a month. I finally got so frustrated that I yanked the services all together and went back to Comcast and my bundle. Yes, that’s right, I paid a $400 early termination fee with DirecTV and went back to the cable company! The reason wasn’t because my pay-per-view didn’t work. It was because when I have a problem with anything having to do with my TV, phone, or internet, I simply call one number and get it sorted out. Since they control everything, they can’t conveniently blame a third party (and yes, they even help troubleshoot my router).
I tried so save money by getting multiple companies to deliver my services. In the long run, it ended up costing me more money, time, and headaches. So it is with trying to work with too many technology vendors. I understand that as an agency, you want to offer your customers choices. So, working with several booking tool vendors makes sense. However, when it comes to technology involved in agency operations (back office, mid-office, profile management, reporting, etc), you really don’t need to have three, four, or five different vendors.
Look for technology partners who can provide bundledsolutions. For example, TRX not only provides a mid-office solution, CORREX, for QC functions, but included with CORREX is auto-ticketing, low-fare search, seat assignment, and document delivery. If you purchase all of these from TRX, you not only get an integrated solution, you also get the benefits of bundled pricing. So, whether it’s your TV, phone, and internet or your agency operations technology, take a look at vendors who can bundle. Not only will it save you money, but a lot of headaches in the long run.
Posted by Tom Tulloch on Wed, Aug 03, 2011 @ 12:48 AM
With billions of dollars in play, the data-driven approach is the preferred approach to ancillary fee tracking and reporting.
Upon reviewing AirPlus’ new Ancillary Fees reports, we would simply like to say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. We believe their approach validates the methodology we’ve followed for a few years now with our Data Intelligence solution, TRAVELTRAX® which follows the premise that the corporate card, not the expense tool, is the preferred method for accurately identifying and tracking airline ancillary fees, given the current level of reporting by airlines.
While we applaud AirPlus’ championing of our methodology, we believe their approach, which as reported relies heavily on assumptions, has some significant limitations. We recognize AirPlus has deep insight into their AirPlus Corporate Card data, however, the scope and complexity of airline ancillary fees demands a solution which encompasses multiple corporate card fees, TMC, GDS data, and direct connect links for it to be truly classified as “cracking the code”.
As we all know, the lack of uniform reporting of charges, either from the airlines, GDSs or the corporate cards, is the primary obstacle to accurately identifying airline ancillary fees. Purchased across multiple points of sale with multiple methods of payment, charges are reported in any number of formats and are constantly being modified, combined or changed as airlines seek new and varied revenue sources.
I think this can be best illustrated in a real life example: A traveler purchases an airline ticket via their company’s online booking tool using a Ghost Card through their TMC as the method of payment. While at the ticket counter, the traveler pays cash to check a bag on the flight, also at the airport they purchase a club pass and while on the flight they purchase internet access both with their Corporate Card. Reporting on these fees requires the ability to analyze data from multiple sources and forms of payment, encompassing TMC back-office, credit card, data and corporate expense reporting data
While AirPlus can accurately analyze data from their systems, there is no guarantee that, the analysis applied could be reused with other card issuers with the same success. With billions of dollars in play, there’s no room for assumption-based approaches in ancillary fee tracking and reporting. This is where our approach differs.
Admittedly, until there are reporting standards in place, making assumptions will always be part of the solution to provide corporate buyers with better insight into ancillary fee spend. Our goal is and has always been to limit the amount of assumptions needed to provide the most accurate view into ancillary fees.
That’s why, over the years, we’ve developed a unique set of algorithms used to categorize spend data, through routinely and systematically analyzing corporate card transaction data and spend indicators which we tie to spend categories from more than 20 major card issuers around the world. As a matter of fact, in 2010 alone TRX processed and analyzed over $35 billion in T&E spend driven by 160 million credit card transactions of which 80 million where related to airline fees and ancillary purchases.
We further strengthen the accuracy of our analysis by integrating additional tools, such as our credit card matchback travel utility. This utility compares a company’s credit card spend with their agency’s booked data. Through this additional data filtering, TRX can eliminate agency fees, promotional fares and exchange fees. We can also identify the point of sale which is often a determining factor in how airlines record many of the routine ancillary charges. Without such identification, ancillary fee matching based on assumptions alone, can yield inaccurate and inconsistent results.
By combining multiple data references with our unique data analysis and reporting solutions, we believe TRX is the only company that provides corporate travel managers with true and accurate visibility into their airline ancillary fee spend, providing suppliers spend information they can leverage in contract negotiations. While we do leverage “assumptions” to make determinations where data is absent, we’ve found those instances to be infrequent and rare, given the sheer volume of data we process. For example, without giving away our trade secrets, we can 100% of the time identify Delta’s first bag checked fees, even though it’s been reported that Delta does not provide that data. This and other examples are overcome with TRX’s unique approach, which at its core is based on a simple premise – “more, accurate data means less assumption making”. With billions of dollars in play, the data-driven approach is the preferred approach to ancillary fee tracking and reporting.
Posted by John Broaddus on Thu, Jun 23, 2011 @ 01:42 PM
In the not so distant past, owning a travel agency meant making a very nice living. Airlines paid commissions, GDS’s paid incentives, and customers got a great service. The more bookings you gave the airlines, the more money you made (especially on higher fare flights). Then in 1995, things started to change. Delta decided to put a $50 cap on commissions. Two years later United put a cap of 8% on commissions. A year later, United lead the charge by introducing an international commission cap of $100. United continued their 3 year run of cuts by reducing commissions to 5%. Not to be outdone, in 2001, American decided to introduce a commission cap of $20. Finally, in 2001, Delta trumped everyone by eliminating commissions all together (and, of course, everyone else followed). Then in 2006, the legacy carriers pushed for the reduction of GDS incentive payments to travel agencies.
So, there you have it. The airlines effectively said, “Sell our stuff and, oh, by the way, we’re not going to pay you to do it”. But, as they say, that’s ancient history. As an agency owner, this is your reality whether you like it or not. It’s no surprise that, in the last 5 years, the number of travel agencies has been reduced by 40%.
But alas, all is not lost. There still are thousands of agencies in the United States that manage to not only survive year after year, but make a handsome profit. Commission income has been replaced by service fee income; charge the customer for the service you provide. Not a bad thought. Its how most businesses survive in this country. In addition to the service fee income, agencies still do earn money from the GDS’s and some even receive overrides from airlines. Unfortunately, the GDS payouts are small and the override programs are meaningless to most small agencies. So, that really leaves the service fee income. Most agencies that I speak to charge anywhere from $25 to $50 for an agent assisted booking depending on the type of booking (e.g. domestic versus international) and the type of client (e.g. low volume versus high volume). For an online booking, those fees drop to $8 to $12 plus touch fees should the traveler contact a live agent.
Yes, I know you are thinking “but agencies make a ton of money off of hotel commissions”. While this might be true theoretically (making money, not the “ton” part), the fact is the agency must collect these commissions before they add to the bottom line. That’s a whole other future blog topic which I won’t cover here. Let’s just stick to the air discussion for now.
So, just to recap the income side of things: 1) agencies used to be paid by the airlines, they really aren’t anymore; and 2) they are now paid service fees by their customers for the services they provide.
Let’s now take a look at the expense side of the house. You have to pay for a lot of things to run your business. Salaries, sales and marketing expenses, GDS fees, technology license fees, association fees, “mistake fees” (can you say mis-ticketing and debit memos), and 10 million other expenses and fees every small business has to pay. And guess what, as your expenses rise, you can’t do what most businesses can: raise your fees. I mean, you could raise your fees, but chances are your customers would go somewhere else to get the same service (and by “service”, I mean the actual service provided, not the capital “S” kind of service…again, a whole other topic).
Since you can’t raise the fees you charge (and many times, you actually have to end up lowering them to win new business), the only thing you can do is reduce your expenses. Some things are out of your control. You can only cut salaries so much. You can’t really affect the GDS fees. You can’t change the cost of printer ink (although you can print less, but that’s usually a rounding error). You can’t change how much you pay for your back office license.
So what can you do? How can you get “blood from a stone”? The only answer is to get more efficient. Rely on technology to do many of the things that you now need people to do. While there are many examples of travel agencies that use technology to their advantage, it never ceases to amaze me the number of agencies that use no technology; agencies that process tens of thousands of bookings each year, and still do most tasks manually. Sure, a Greyhound bus can get you from Atlanta to New York, but a plane will get you there much faster. The reality is, in this day and age an agency must consider some form of automation (i.e. technology) to make themselves more efficient in order to increase the bottom line.
I talk to many agencies on a daily basis and it shocks me when I hear agency owners, small business owners, say things like “I’ll worry about getting more efficient when I get more business” and in the same conversation say, “I wonder how I can get more business”. A corporate agency told me the other day that “booking tools aren’t really a big thing in our part of the country. Huh? I might expect that from an agency located in a remote part of Alaska, but this agency is located in a large metropolitan area.
Effectively using technology is not just about saving money it’s also about attracting new business. You can bet that the “big guys” are all out pitching their technology. They show customers how they are more efficient than the “little guys”, how they can save their customers more money by effectively using technology. Look at any agency RFP that is issued and you will see a large section on technology. A few other ways using technology helps wring more blood out of that stone:
- Needless expense. People get busy and forget to do things. Wait too long to ticket and you pay the difference. Technology can assure that doesn’t happen.
- Fewer errors. People also make mistakes. Entering the wrong contract code in an air booking can be very costly!
- Proper allocation. Let’s say you do have an override program with an airline. How do you effectively manage the segments required to get the override? Technology can automate the process, so you don’t have to manage it (thus maximizing your earning potential).
- Reduced people cost. No one likes letting any employee go. Unless you are completely heartless, it’s hard to even fire under performing employees much less the dedicated agent who’s been with your agency for years. However, technology can allow you to do more with less people. At the very least, technology will allow you to focus resources less on operating (expense) and more on producing (revenue).
I realize that travel agencies are high touch, high service businesses. The big reason customers choose one agency over another is precisely for the people element. But just because it is people driven on the front-end, doesn’t mean it has to be labor intensive on the back-end. In fact, the only way an agency can increase profits as a percentage to expenses is to reduce labor costs. The only way to reduce labor costs is to use technology to become more efficient. So, if you are looking to get blood from a stone look no further than your own mid and back office operations. You’ll be surprised at just exactly what you can squeeze out.
Posted by Shane Hammond on Wed, Jun 22, 2011 @ 03:49 PM
I was pondering Alan Tyson's, Databasics CEO, guest commentary in the Beat the other day and a few things struck me about this whole dialogue regarding booking and expense integration. Alan's right that the benefits of integrated booking and expense have not been fully realized by many organizations. But it's not because there are no benefits.
An integrated booking and expense tool can deliver tremendous value, and with new innovations in data intelligence we're just starting to scratch the surface of what's possible. Intelligent pre-approval with benchmarking, booked-to-billed analytics and expense report automation are just a few "useful things" available to help organizations save money and deliver on budget. And since T&E is the second-biggest category of spend for many companies, it is a worthwhile endeavor.
A Match Made In Heaven
Pre-filling expense reports with booking data and intelligently matching it to card transactions will save the traveler time, no doubt about it. But there's much more to the story. Booking data gives us detail like check-in/check-out dates. Armed with this seemingly simple data, incidental transactions on the road can be logically grouped together to provide the true cost of a trip, regardless of how an employee chooses to organize or categorize expenses.
When merging, we've found you don't need to worry about which fields to overwrite. In fact, we see no need to overwrite data when merging booked and billed details. The real insight comes from keeping the data separate for analysis.
Suppose the expense solution can display the booked and billed data together at a glance for everyone in the approval chain. Further, if the expense solution would then aggregate all booked-to-billed data and display trends over time, then decision-makers would have a new level of visibility into corporate expenses to drive more effective policies. This is how we work with booked and billed data in our solution and is just one way we deliver value from the marriage of booking and expense tools.
There's More To Pre-Approval
The pre-trip authorization process is designed to give managers the right information at the right time, before a card has been swiped.
Sure, you could try a simple yes/no approval process with a not-to-exceed budget. You'd think this would be fairly easy to implement, but we've found the opposite is true. Managers have to juggle more and more each day, and keeping track of manual requests and approvals (usually hiding in an overloaded email inbox) is a no-win situation.
With integrated booking, the pre-approval process is completely automated and can screen for more sophisticated policies, such as flagging multiple employees traveling to the same location at the same time when one employee will suffice. Once you have access to integrated booking data, you can also support intelligent pre-approval processes based on market benchmarks rather than just dollars over the approved amount.
Keeping It Simple
The right expense solution must provide an easy way to submit expenses, facilitate communication between the approver and expense creator, and most importantly provide visibility into expense data to drive savings. Providing more visibility to travelers, approvers and decision-makers is never a bad thing as long as the solution remains easy to use.
CFOs, business owners and travel managers are looking for more than traveler time savings. They want to drive costs out of their business. Our customers choose an integrated booking and expense solution because it gives them more tools to control spend. The time savings delivered by the solution are just a bonus.
Posted by Stephen Carroll on Thu, Apr 07, 2011 @ 12:39 PM
Welcome to the TRXperts Blog!
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new Blog website which can be accessed at www.trx.com aptly titled “TRXperts”. At TRX we consider ourselves experts in the travel technology and automation space with over 20 years of experience providing services and insights to travel agencies, corporations, and other parties seeking to improve their bottom-line performance through cost savings and efficiency gains.
We look forward to sharing our stories, thoughts and ideas with you as relayed by our panel of TRXperts:
Shane – Thought Leadership
Tom – Data Intelligence
Aaron – Technology Trends
Holly – Policy & Adoption
John - Agency Advocate
Stephen – Industry Trends
We invite you to learn more about our “TRXperts” by clicking on the links above to view their backgrounds as well as their upcoming blog commentary.
Please check back soon and often for our unique perspective on the travel industry