Online booking saves companies up to 15%, says Amex

Business Travel Show 2004 Special: American Express says it is doing around 5% of its UK transactions online, but hopes it will grow to 15% by the end of the year when companies realise the cost savings. Vice president of Corporate Travel UK, Pearse Reynolds told TravelMole: “The driver pushing online usage is shaping a consistent pattern that customers going online are making big savings on their ticket price – 10% to 15% on average.” Mr Reynolds says the reason for this is two-fold. “First is what we call visual guilt. Travellers viewing the fare options online feel more pressure to choose the cheapest option because they feel like they are being watched and the process is monitored. “Secondly, where a traveller is talking to a counsellor they don’t often give them as many options as they would examine themselves online. If they can see from the options online that they can make considerable savings by travelling two hours earlier, they will.” Mr Reynolds says the UK will follow the US. “About two or three years ago in the US online bookings suddenly took off once customers could see the case studies of companies that have got over the 50% mark [for the proportion of tickets bought online]. This is starting to happen in the UK and in three or four years we’ll be up to 30% or even 50% of tickets being sold online.” Recently appointed senior vice president, head of Corporate Travel Europe, Ron Dileo says Amex is investing money in its Nice-based operations to investigate online technology. “We are going to turn internet travel booking into something you want to do rather than something that has been imposed on you” he said. He added: “But we don’t want people to think we don’t want to talk to them. “I would like to double the size of the company without taking on any more travel counsellors. We can sell new clients into the capacity made by the increase in online bookings.” However, Mr Dileo says there is a ceiling to online bookings. He said: “I think there is a plateau of about 50% or 60% that companies can reach for online booking.” According to Mr Dileo the plateau is there because some business travellers want to book more complex itineraries over the phone, and for others its just a case that they are technophobes. Report by Ginny McGrath