AKA “stepping over dollars to pick up pennies”

Maximizing Online Booking Tool performance

AgendaReview surveyBest Travel Case StudyOperational considerationsGeneral Q&A

Survey results

Approximately how many transactions per year do you process through your OBT?

Are you charged minimums by your OBT provider?

Do you charge your clients minimums?

Do you charge implementation fees?

Do you charge a “light touch” fee

What is the approximate contracted cost per transaction for your OBT?

How is QC for the OBT bookings completed?

Do you process exchanges through your OBT?

What is the impact of OBT upon your overrides?

What is the approximate total corporate adoption rate (excl Leisure)

Compared to my agent assisted transaction, my profit per transaction for OBT’s is…

Compared to my agent assisted transaction, my hotel attachment per transaction for OBT’s is…

Which is your primary OBT?

If I could change one thing about my OBT it would be…Fees and pricingNot pay high transaction fees to provider!!lower cost that I pay to have the toolLower provider fees per transaction and

automated exchanges.Remove minimums and be able to have volume

discounts apply to previously sold accounts

charge higher feesGet our agents to charge the extra for the

PNR's they touchA change in competitors OBT price structure,

esp. the large global

…FunctionalityIncrease hotel attachment rate.

Close second: Align corporate preferred airlines with ours without putting a net-net airline discount program in place.

I would skew the availability to have our preferred airlines

To enable more content and negotiated rates.OBT deliver non-GDS content more cost

effectivelyHBA content free of charge

Better faring and rating for international bookings.

…ExchangesAbility to do exchanges with unused tickets-

less glitches

To have the ability to have travelers make all changes and exchanges on-line. They can supposedly do that now but the reality is that to make sure they are getting the correct fares, it has to be done through an agent with Rearden.

Make me feel more comfortable with the auto exchange feature

…User Experiencehigher adoption rate

Making the tool more user friendly for users to input data for company reporting purposes.

Have clients who are better users.....

…Otherto find more customers that are willing to

pay the $15.00 per transaction that we are currently charging to most of our customers. ( now having to drop price for our largest customer)

Further automate the process.make it 100% touchlesscreate less touchesOutsource support

Case Study - Best Travel

Best TravelExhibited very strong growth of 50% Y/YOnly added 2 FTE’sNet cost per booking dropped to $1-$2 with

ReardenY/Y Profits up 16%

Could we have profitably managed the growth without the OBT?

Operational Considerations

Operational ConsiderationsExchanges / Changes online

Are we really in the age of the online fully automated online exchanges and changes?

What are best practices in supporting OBT exchanges/changes?

Operational ConsiderationsAfter Hours

What is the best practice for ticketing OBT reservations and who does them? What about if you’re A/H needs to be involved?

Should your A/H team also double as the support desk for OBT bookings?

Operational ConsiderationsInternational Bookings

What is the best practice for international reservations booked via the OBT? Need a rate desk be involved? How should documents be checked? Need a manual ticketer be part of the process?

Is it realistic to expect corporate travelers to not use the OBT for international reservations?

Operational ConsiderationsSouthwest…and direct connects

Southwest allows direct connects with Rearden and Concur. Is this the best solution for booking the carrier?

If we need direct connects for other carriers are the OBT’s ready?

General Q&A