CASE STUDY
IMPLEMENTATION & ON CONTRACT SPEND
ABOUT THE CLIENT The university has a growing population of 6,000 students, studying across nine different schools. This client boasts an award-winning business school, which attracts both international and domestic students. Although the university were already working with a travel management company, the procurement department received many complaints in relation to the level of service that was being provided, and bookers believed they were not getting the most competitive prices on their corporate travel.
The lack of booking content & provider support meant there was little uptake of the travel management services. Bookers had no access to an online booking tool, which resulted in many bookings being completed off contract. This in turn made it extremely difficult to track expenditure and control the travel budget.
OBJECTIVES As with every academic account, a key requirement from the university was for their travel management company to be able to prove their value added. That required us to be able to provide evidence of competitive rates across multiple routes and across both land and air product. We were required to provide strategy in relation to implementation, demonstrating real cost savings & cost control on behalf of the university. As their previous provider had failed to provide users with one, the university wanted a user friendly online booking tool. It was imperative that this tool was rich with booking content, providing multiple options for users, whilst being easy to
navigate. This would ensure that all bookers were engaged with the contract that was now easily accessible to them. Alongside an online tool, it was important that the bookers felt fully supported throughout the process with access to expert helpdesk support. That’s why we offered a 24-hour global travel help team, able to assist with emergency issues. In terms of training & day-to-day support, the university was given an account manager and a dedicated booking team, so personalisation was added to all offline bookings.
IMPLEMENTATION FLOW
ONE
Implemented cytric to improve productivity, encourage spend within policy and give visibility to expenditure. We have a strong implementation team fully certified as cytric resellers allowing us to build & tailor sites to our clients exacting specifications.
TWO
Provided an inhouse team of Travel Experts for offline enquiries and 24/7 support services. The enquiry team consists of a maximum of 5 Travel Experts, allowing our people to fully understand the complex needs of their accounts and to get to know the individual bookers.
THREE
Automatic tailored reporting provided on a weekly basis, pulled directly from our customer tailored reporting tool. Additionally, allows the customer instant access to their MI data including traveller behaviour, expenditure, CO2 data, missed opportunities to save and compliance.
FOUR
‘SafeGuard’ implemented to provide a risk management and duty of care programme. Using a consistent communication platform to measure and broadcast risk provides assurance and confidence to the travellers and their employee.
FIVE
Dedicated account manager provides a range of training in the form of information packs and discovery days, both on location and via webinar. Followed up with face to face sessions, and survey-based feedback with the bookers to ensure satisfaction across the board.
GLOBAL REACH LOCAL SERVICE Have hundreds of stores worldwide, operating in sixty markets, with services that span from corporate travel to group travel. The global power
of STA Travel means all our clients receive a localised service, whilst receiving the advantage rates only a global company can leverage.
IMPLEMENTED SOLUTIONS STA Travel works closely with clients to ensure that their needs and expectations are met every step of the way. Solutions include an online integrated booking tool, comprehensive account management, bespoke reporting, traveller tracking and accurate
carbon footprint tracking. As with every account, implemented solutions are completely tailored to the needs, requirements and the demand of the client.
DATA PRIVACY & INFORMATION SECURITY We understand that data privacy and security is at the top of the agenda for all of our clients, that’s why we ensure we handle data with the ultimate care. With us you can guarantee peace of mind on every booking & beyond. STA Travel handles, disposes of, and stores data in an extremely process driven and secure environment. That’s why we’re an ISO27001 accredited company.
We understand the data risks that come along with managing travel services. We are constantly reviewing our processes, implementation and checking adherence is paramount. To ensure high compliance, our in-house team work directly with Travel Experts on data storage and risk prevention.
Tried & trusted
Internationally recognised
IT risks covered
WHY ISO27001 IS CRUCIAL
Quick detection of risk
Structured approach to protection
Reduced risk of security breaches
KEY OUTPUTS ON CONTRACT BOOKING
CHANGE IN BOOKER BEHAVIOUR
A travel policy was mutually agreed during the implementation period. For our client it was imperative that this policy fed seamlessly into the online tool, ensuring any restrictions were flagged in the tool and ’off policy’ bookings were blocked off. This gave bookers clear visibility & guidelines, whilst giving procurement clear areas where bookers may have booked off policy.
We worked closely with the procurement department to drive engagement and encourage bookers to spend on contract. This support manifested itself in onsite training, a comprehensive online booking tool, a dedicated account manager, a dedicated offline booking team, a well-versed online support team and continued webinar training.
As well as booking.com content being available to the bookers, we negotiated preferential rates at key hotels around the university campus, providing further savings. We actively demonstrate the value added by these negotiations in quarterly reviews.
The procurement team made the decision to gradually start turning off their multiple university credit cards. This was only once training had been fulfilled and they were confident all bookers had the tools they needed to book online. Due to the expert training and lack of other credit facilities to book travel, bookers were actively being encouraged to book travel through ourselves.
The results: Currently at 90% on contract spend
We hold regular booker engagement days, giving bookers the opportunity to come along and provide us with invaluable feedback on what is working well and how we can improve.
LOCAL ENGAGEMENT Analysing past data from the client, we found a large majority of their hotel bookings were in the vicinity of their campus. Therefore, we found value in negotiating preferred rates with these properties, the average nightly rate fell from £113 to £99 per night. Once contracts had been agreed, these rates were immediately loaded into the online tool, so all bookers could immediately take advantage of these rates and cut company spending. To encourage bookings at one hotel, we managed to negotiate free nights at the accommodation for bookers to use to encourage bookers to choose the hotel as their first choice. The results: Reduction in land expenditure of over 12%
The results: All bookers are now booking on contract
FEEDBACK
“Before going out to market, we were aware that we struggled with spend leakage and a lack of well managed systems or processes that prevented us from gaining best value from our previous TMC. In the early days after contract award, STA Travel were rigorous in their program of end user engagement and training. A combination of classroom and online sessions were used to imbed the new service, as well as helping to communicate our revised internal processes that would underpin improved compliance. We’ve seen significantly better end user satisfaction and a pronounced reduction in off-contract expenditure” - Head of Procurement
“The STA agent that I book through, Georgia Sinclair, is absolutely brilliant. She provides invaluable support whenever I have problems to solve, and she will frequently provide alternative options that work better than what I have requested.” - Key Travel Booker
GET IN TOUCH 0333 321 3101 businesstravel@statravel.co.uk businesstravel.statravel.co.uk St George’s House, 56 Peter Street, Manchester, M2 3NQ