Travel Manager Prioritize Online Booking Tool Optimization for 2023

Optimizing online booking tools has been found as a top priority for the following year

According to the most recent survey of ITM members, optimizing online booking tools (OBT) has been identified by travel managers as their top priority for 2023. Duty of care, budget control, and sustainable practices have also been identified.

Online booking performance has become a significant concern for buyers. It has jumped from fifth to first place on buyers' priority lists within the past 12 months. 40% of respondents felt their OBT was "not ready" in support of delivery against their top priorities. This included the duty of care information at the point of sale, integrated air/rail display and booking changes, and disruption handling.

75 percent of buyers are dissatisfied that their OBT does not include carbon emissions and carbon budgets at the point of sale.

The ITM conducted its annual survey of members over two weeks at the end of November. 100 corporate travel managers, buyers, and heads of travel had to respond.

Management supply chain failure/servicing, another sign of times, made its debut on the top 10 priority list, ranking eighth.

Scott Davis, CEO of ITM, stated that this year's survey "reflects both the complexity of the industry's recovery post-Covid and the perfect storm created by global inflation as well as the cost-of-living crisis".

"It's not surprising to see that budget control has moved back up the list of priorities to be back in the top three for the first time since 2021, as global inflation and rising costs are starting to impact on travel budgets and volumes next year," he added.

Inspiring sustainable practice, traveller safety, and traveller confidence were highlighted as top challenges. They were followed by managing EA/PA relations, industry resourcing, service delivery, and TMC Servicing.

Half of the respondents expected their budgets to rise in 2023. 25% said they would stay the same and the rest expects a decrease.

Nearly 60% of buyers believe that the current economic climate and high cost of travel will have the largest negative impact on travel volume next year. The current supply chain disruptions and service levels (17%), and sustainability (11%) are other factors that could cause the volume to drop.

24% of respondents stated that they would introduce carbon budgets by 2023, with a greater focus on sustainability.

Buyers also stated that suppliers must comply with the following measures. According to the survey, only 25% of buyers consider these criteria mandatory.

"Responsible travel choices are still a key trend as corporates increasingly focus on meeting their organisation's sustainability objectives," said Davis.

"There's been progress in moving the dial to bring supplier sustainability measures into travel programmes, but there's still a lot of work to be done to embed these initiatives and influence traveller behavior. That's another reason why OBT's need to evolve and play a critical role in helping travellers and bookers make responsible choices," he explained.