Alternative ambitions

Suppliers up their game

Center’s Padgett said in many cases, SMEs coming to Center are coming from an environment where travel was booked either through consumer online travel agencies or directly with suppliers. The card and expense capabilities add the ability to “work with travel suppliers to create policy-compliant bookings that work directly with the suppliers,” she said.

At the same time, SME still have the option to work directly with suppliers in their own SME-focused programmes, which most major airlines and hotel companies, at least, have to some extent. While not the best option for companies that want travellers to be able to compare prices and options when booking, they do offer benefits to companies that work extensively with a single supplier.

Marriott International last month launched an enhanced offering, Business Access by Marriott Bonvoy, that broadens the travel management approach for SMEs. Built on the Spotnana technology stack, the programme offers broadened flight and ground transportation booking options as well as controls and duty-of-care tools such as travel policy parameters, traveller location maps, disruption monitoring and an expense management module. Similarly, Qantas last year launched a new platform for its Qantas Business Rewards – once again built on Spotnana technology – enabling broader booking and policy controls.

Supplier-direct programmes are now providing another benefit to SMEs. Melissa Allocco, head of travel for global business event company IQPC, said she takes an “old-school” approach to travel management, managing travel herself with bookings done largely through Sabre and a host agency to obtain commissions and discounts. As content has become fragmented, particularly with a growing amount of content moving exclusively to New Distribution Capability channels, the supplier-direct programmes ensure that she is still able to get access to the best rates when they are not available in Sabre, she said.

OTAs themselves have also been building programmes for SMEs, including Booking.com for Business and Kayak for Business, and both have been making moves to grow that share. Serko, which provides its Zeno travel management software as a partner in Booking.com for Business, this summer brought in former Airbnb corporate travel leader David Holyoke to build its presence in unmanaged travel. It last year brought on agency support via a partnership with CWT, which enables it to grow with clients as they move beyond the “unmanaged” label.

“As they grow past that, we bring them across to the travel management community, and those customers are still on Zeno with Booking.com,” Serko CEO Darrin Grafton said. “The sweet spot is really that small business at high scale through that platform, and they get to have the servicing and also get the mix of loyalty content, with CWT rates in there and CWT servicing.”

Kayak for Business, meanwhile, this summer launched a “premium” offering for SMEs, providing services such as group bookings, around-the-clock agency support and corporate rate access for a flat fee of $20 per trip. The idea is to be able to adapt across a wider range of SME needs, said Kayak for Business SVP Eva Fouquet.

“You can sign up, onboard and put your travel policy in and start booking straight away, but we also have a team that can onboard and help with change management,” she said.