In an effort to reduce costs, travel and procurement managers are cracking down on enforcing travel policy and they are seeing results, according to BCD Travel’s 2007 Annual Client Benchmark Survey. The survey will be…
In an effort to reduce costs, travel and procurement managers are cracking down on enforcing travel policy and they are seeing results, according to BCD Travel’s 2007 Annual Client Benchmark Survey. The survey will be released on July 23 at the National Business Travel Association’s 39th Annual Convention & Trade Show (Boston). Conducted in May, the Annual Client Benchmark Survey represents the views of 219 BCD Travel customers.
Advito, BCD Travel’s independent consulting division, supplements the survey results with analysis of the data and predictions for the coming year, making the survey an invaluable benchmarking and planning resource for those who manage travel.
The 2007 Annual Client Benchmark Survey examines air, hotel, rail, meetings and the other major areas of travel. It also discusses the latest advances in expense automation and online booking adoption.
A small sample of the survey’s key findings includes:
- In a landscape of increasing pressure on costs, compliance is a red-hot issue. 2007 marks the first time in three years that mandating travel policy has ranked as the No. 1 policy change.
- Hotels continue to be an area in which corporations are still struggling for solutions. Forty-seven percent of respondents report a compliance level of less than 70 percent.
- The battle to increase online adoption rates has reached people’s wallets. In the list of top drivers of online adoption, “lower transaction fees for online bookings” jumped from fifth place in 2006 to third place in 2007.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
