KDS, a European provider of online business travel management solutions, announced that KDS Corporate is smarter than ever in helping companies travel cheaper. A new Lost Savings feature oversees…
KDS, a European provider of online business travel management solutions, announced that KDS Corporate is smarter than ever in helping companies travel cheaper. A new Lost Savings feature oversees trip selection and uses a proprietary business rules engine to warn users when cheaper trip alternatives exist.
KDS Corporate has become the market reference in online booking. Its highly customizable environment and powerful fare engine have enabled users to attain average adoption rates of 80 percent and enabled cost savings between 5 to 10 percent in thousands of companies.
Lost Savings Feature
Lost Savings is a fully customizable feature completing an array of existing visual cues designed to promote selected inventories to the travel booker. In KDS Corporate, fares and availability display is based on rules set by the travel policy. Until now, travel managers usually customized KDS Corporate to list cheaper negotiated inventory first and to colour code policy compliant fares.
With the Lost Saving feature, travellers selecting a trip will be shown an extract of the fares that were displayed to them during the selection process. This contextual message informs them whether they have chosen the best option or if they have missed some savings. The precise amounts lost are calculated for the travellers.
The fares used for benchmarking are chosen according to numerous rules previously set by the corporation. Hence, the rule engine can retain –for better alternatives– the best corporate negotiated fare, the lowest refundable, the cheapest low cost or rail option, and many more…
Monitoring and Tracking
Reporting proper travel spend information is essential to travel managers. Once a lost saving is detected, the information is tracked in KDS Corporate’s reporting tool. In parallel, a workflow process can be triggered to send a warning to the traveller’s supervisor, signalling that the booked trip has a better alternative.
Online Travel Management
Best practices show that corporate travel spends reduction is achieved by enforcing a travel policy, optimizing supplier relations, and partnering with the right travel management company. Finally, once the company is ready, implementing a SBT is the best solution to reach optimum savings. KDS’s powerful fare engine and direct link feature provide travellers with unmatched fare choices.
By maximizing the rate of first pass yield (untouched transaction fulfilled online without human intervention) SBT help to further reduce travel costs.
“Given the wide array of choices available for business travel, determining the best value for the corporation and recommending that choice to the traveller at the point of booking empowers employees to make the right cost efficient decision,” said Norm Rose, President of US-based Travel Tech Consulting, Inc.
“The ability to use advanced software technology to evaluate all available choices and recommend the right choice to the traveller increases the value of the KDS SBT. Influencing traveller behaviour at the point of sale is a critical part of an effective travel procurement strategy,” adds Rose.
KDS Lost Savings feature contributes to what travel management experts call “the visual guilt factor”. Experience proves that, when faced with price alternatives, online bookers naturally tend to select the cheapest option. In some cases travellers will even adjust their initial schedule to reserve a competitive alternative.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
