Do Travel Management Companies Make Your Life Easier? Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Full-Service Account Management

Guest post with contributions by our own Heather McKibben – Account Manager

File this right under Things We’ve Never Heard Before: “Why do I need a travel management company? I can just book my own flight and hotel reservations.” If you’ve ever said something similar, your eyes are about to be opened to a whole new world, not unlike someone having their very first taste of chocolate.

As your company grows, travel planning becomes complex and onerous, cancellations expensive and remote traveler crises demand a capable, measured person on the other end of the phone. There’s a good reason travel management companies exist. We asked one of our valued Account Managers at AmTrav to itemize the many ways in which she helps companies manage their travel as the first point of contact for everything except the booking process. We think you’ll be surprised at the many inner workings and the granular detail work our team does behind the scenes. Without further adieu, here’s her briefing:

Implementation

• Schedule weekly Implementation calls
• Track progress in Implementation timeline
• Review or provide sample for a Travel Policy
• Implement approval process
• Determine programming and policy for online tool
• Schedule and conduct online tool training with travelers
• Collect all vendor corporate discounts from new account

Soft dollar management

• Monitor reports to ensure account is enrolled in all applicable programs
• Watch balances, suggest strategies to redeem points, train administrator on the program
• Redeem rewards, work with agents to apply to reservations
• Track savings to share at their review

Vendor Negotiations

• Track volume via reporting to determine if an airline discount contract, or validate if soft dollar opportunities exist
• Conduct RFPs for car-rental bids
• Track hotel room nights and negotiate corporate rates with eligible volume

Cost Analysis

• Regularly review total volumes on air, car and hotel, contract and soft dollar savings, value adds
• Set up reporting and train of reporting tool

Customer Service

• Investigate issues causing customer dissatisfaction

So…how did you like the chocolate?

The next time you wonder if a travel management company might be helpful, consider that travel expenditures are the most likely to run amok without the steady scrutiny of a trusted AmTrav account manager protecting your bottom line. While you may envy the fun our team has tracking all of these moving parts, odds are, you’d prefer focusing on the work you enjoy. Have questions about our services? Please call AmTrav at 1-800-795-8371 or visit AmTrav.com and our friendly bots will be happy to answer your query.

Written by: Denise Dorman