Behind the Dutch Government’s Arduous Bid to Wrest Back Its Travel Program
Skift Take
After a vendor price-gouging lawsuit, the government is moving away from legacy travel companies and instead stitching together its own program to better control costs and gain access to a wider range of airlines and hotels. It took awhile to get there.
The Dutch government is taking back control of how it manages its multi-million dollar travel program, after a protracted decade of highs and lows using large travel management companies.
After an 18-month tender process it has selected new travel partners: expense platform Yokoy, which replaces MobileXpense, and booking tool Atriis, which replaces Amadeus’s Cytric platform. It now wants to widen the pool of suppliers it can access — and keep a close eye on costs.
The Dutch government continues to use local corporate travel agency VCK Travel. But the appointment of travel technology company Atriis comes after the Dutch Ministry of Justice ran into complications with a previous corporate travel agency it used.
This 10-year saga for the Netherlands showcases how large travel buyers can often feel a loss of autonomy and how a more direct hands-on approach is fueling a desire to be nimble as the travel landscape adapts post-pandemic.
It all started when the Dutch subsidiary of ATPI was taken to court over invoice fraud for overcharging on airline tickets between 2010 and 2012, according to travel publication The Beat. ATPI had been originally selected because it charged a very low booking transaction fee.
The subsidiary, and its former managing
