Direct Booking Pushes Are Causing Complications for Travel Managers
Skift Take
Travel managers know there's no way to stop direct booking. Now the question is how policies and tech tools evolve to keep track of where business travelers are going and what they're spending, regardless of how they book their trips.
Efforts by travel companies to encourage direct bookings are forcing travel managers to re-think policies and find new ways to account for travelers who bypass traditional methods.
According to a new report from the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association, about 60 percent of travel managers who took part in the study said their policy sometimes allowed direct bookings. Another 4 percent said travelers were always allowed to book directly with a hotel, airline, or other supplier rather than use a company-sanctioned travel agent or online booking tool.
The GBTA Foundation conducted the report — which includes a survey of 84 U.S. travel managers and in-depth interviews with 11 in the U.S. and Europe — in partnership with travel
