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 Frequently Asked Questions 4
Why do you charge fees?
We charge fees to reflect our professional service in managing your travel budget to maximise its cost effectiveness. Historically, Travel Management Companies earned money from airline commission and as such didn’t have to charge a fee – now with scheduled airlines cost cutting and the rise of low cost carriers fees are seen as a more tangible cost. We are different to the norm, we act as a professional buyer on your behalf and not a sales tool for the airline industry.
What type of fees do Travel Management Companies (TMCs) charge?
TMC's will either charge you per transaction at a set agreed rate or a management fee at a set amount per year, or a % of total spend – the latter doesn’t really ensure an agency will offer you the cheapest fares. An industry average management fee is 5% of your total travel spend – this of course varies due to the nature of your travel patterns and class of service booked.
How paying a transaction fee can actually SAVE you money
The skill in providing a top class Travel Management service is fully understanding the specific needs of the client. Transaction fees charged are a budgeted cost normally worked out over a year for the cost of skilled travel staff and the technology they require to service your requests. As such moving to a TMC for the sake of £5 per transaction fee will in the long run increase your total travel spend. What you really need is a TMC you can trust with reasonable transaction fees that pro-actively help you manage your travel spend down.
For example…
You can clearly see that a hard working efficient and proactive TMC will more than cover your costs in using their service.
Ahhh but all you will offer us is low cost carriers from inaccessible airports – the savings you suggest would not be applicable to us
Meon Valley Travel can provide detailed benchmarking management information for our clients showing clearly that a pro-active approach can save you money on the same airlines and airports that you are using at the moment. We will meet with you normally on a quarterly basis and rather than just produce pages and pages of meaningless management information on flown trips, we will sit down with you and discuss and analyse your past, present and future travel spend
How does Meon Valley Business Travel provide this high level of service?
We employ a unique blend of talent and technology in the independent business travel community. Our award winning agents have access at their fingertips to cutting edge technology that ensures you always get access to the best fares for your criteria. Our E-commerce strengths are driven from a technical travel background with over £1.1bn of buying power through our Advantage Independent Business Travel Agent affiliation and unrivalled practical experience through travel technology expertise.
Your fees are very similar to our current TMC
Due to competition in the TMC market transaction fees are very similar. What you should be looking for when choosing a TMC is a pro-active approach and an element of trust in the fact that they can provide you with the most cost efficient use of your limited travel budget. Travel Technology is moving at an ever increasing pace and TMC’s need personnel to be able to analyse this technology and put it to their client's best application. Meon Valley Travel do NOT introduce technology for technologies sake. Benchmarking works.
We book ourselves on the internet/Expedia – what do you offer?
Many corporate travel bookers took this step when the corporate travel industry introduced transaction fees for the service they provide. From a high level this does seem to remove the cost of paying a Travel Management Company transaction fees BUT in reality it means that your staff are spending their valuable time booking and managing your travel spend. Booking travel is a specialist skill and as you can see from the table example above paying a transaction fee will save you money and allow your staff to concentrate fully on what you pay them to do.
What makes Meon Business Travel Unique?
Meon Valley Business Travel has a dedicated team to service your requests over the phone, by email or online. This allows us to dedicate time to our corporate client’s specific wants and requirements for maximising the cost effectiveness of your travel budget. We are Internationally ‘borderless’ with clients around the globe supported from our worldwide centre of excellence in the UK. Our broad church of clients gives us a unique insight into the best working practice technology and supplier relationships from each domestic territory so we can gift you the best value solutions to your travel needs irrespective of national boundaries.
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