Topaz Studies
Booking Business Travel via the Internet
For the past eight years Topaz International has done comparison reviews of booking business travel on public internet websites versus booking via traditional travel agencies. "Year after year, the results are similar, which might indicate nothing is really changing" suggested Bradley J Seitz, President and CEO of Topaz International "however value to companies and their travel management firms year after year is to better understand how their managed travel programs are performing and what opportunities exist for improvement.""Even while agency airfares are higher only 8.44% of the times, for every $10 million of air spend, this represents lost savings of over $100,000 each year. Not only does this add up very quickly, it provides great opportunity for improvement to your travel program by eliminating this leakage."
| Agency Fare Equal or Lower | Agency Fare Higher | Average Agency Fare | Average Internet Fare | Difference | |
| 2001 | 93.26% | 6.74% | $458 | $629 | $171 |
| 2002 | 91.13% | 8.87% | $594 | $748 | $154 |
| 2003 | 91.02% | 8.98% | $503 | $572 | $69 |
| 2004 | 93.57% | 6.43% | $478 | $558 | $80 |
| 2005 | 93.29% | 6.71% | $427 | $483 | $56 |
| 2006 | 94.03% | 5.97% | $508 | $583 | $75 |
| 2007 | 94.85% | 5.15% | $442 | $498 | $56 |
| 2008 | 91.56% | 8.44% | $497 | $558 | $61 |
"The challenge during difficult economic times is to ensure their travelers are spending precious resources wisely, and airfare is one of the highest expenditures in many corporations."
Topaz International will continue to conduct these independent studies where we compare data between traditional booking sources and various internet sources, giving corporations the ability to measure the performance of their travel program against alternative distribution channels.
About Topaz International
Topaz International provides strategic support to the corporate travel management professional. With over 25 years of experience analyzing travel related expenditures, Topaz is a world leader in airfare & hotel auditing, providing benchmark information and consultancy services to improve the delivery of corporate travel services. Supporting travel managers, buyers and agencies, Topaz helps improve performance and facilitate cost savings.Kintetsu Delivers
Control Costs across multiple spend categories, create efficiencies in the workplace, and experience the ultimate booking tool.
Gain insight into spending trends while significantly reducing the cost and effort of auditing and processing expense reports.
Total Quality Assurance Program – A customized 3-level control system that focuses on all the details of your corporate travel policy.
Internet Fare Searching – A fully integrated service that streamlines the process by eliminating the task of having to shop for multiple internet sites.
Management Reporting – Closed online access to your travel data—including expenses—that enables you to be proactive in savings & travel policy compliance.
Risk Management – Verify the exact location of your staff on a moment’s notice when a major catastrophe occurs.
Credit Card Reconciliation – We automate the process to determine which transactions are clean, freeing up your staff for other functions.
