These is what I have seen used: The theory on the ROI - Concur calculator: and here is the excel version; Whichever way you look at it, you will find savings and compliance benefits. People get short-sighted by thinking there is a cost to fill out an expense report or book travel with a TMC, when the reality is that there is so much more value to doing Concur Travel & Expense that you can't compare transaction costs. The analogy is simple: We all used to have a flip phone that makes the same call that your Iphone makes today. However, Iphones have contact list, camera, apps, calculators, Siri, reminders, calendar etc which makes impossible for you to compare the cost of a flip phone with an Iphone. Not the same value, not the same product. Same with Concur Travel and Expense. I have seen an easy example of a company that for the first 5 months allowed employees to book any hotels around the HQ offices. They wanted to organically see where people were staying before defining a mandated policy. Five months later they identified 4 popular hotels, with a total spend of US$82k in room nights. One hotel was set as preferred, with a negotiated rate that would have cost $21k is all 5-month production had been booked at the negotiated rate. So just there, it is $60k savings just by looking into numbers. You can't see the value more clearly than this...

We always ensure companies are signed up for the three big ones: AA Business Extra, Delta Sky Bonus and United Perk Plus. The TMC has to ensure their Quality Control software is loaded with them, and after a month or so int he program, run an audit of the miles/points being truly reflected on those corporate rewards program. Then forget about it for a year If you are working with a smaller agency, they will usually be more flexible and help you redeem those points/miles for a fee. Just note that those airfare redemptions can't be serviced by TMC in a sense that if you decide to book all travelers on points for your holiday party, and there is a hurricane and now all tickets must be canceled, you are in trouble. Normally, TMCs have access to the airline backend systems, and routing people is relatively easy. With Points/Miles, they are just like you calling the rewards program support line, which at that time will have long hold times. I have seen TMCs putting a rule that no more than 3 tickets can be redeemed for the same period. This prevents overpromising on service as realistically they can't help you during an emergency...

所以…很多谈论酒店。最好的广告vice is to have a great relationship with your TMC Account Manager. There are so many little features that travel managers don't know, and i believe a good Account Manager will share those tips Here are some tips: 1. Ensure any hotels your agency have a corporate rate is loaded on your site (they might have negotiated it for another client, or just a generic discount). Mark it MOST PREFERRED or PREFERRED. I see some companies label MOST PREFERRED hotels that have a corporate discount set for them versus just PREFERRED hotels for those other hotels that the TMC has a deal with (and are relevant to the company based on location or budget). 2. Add notes and remarks to help traveler during the booking process: add a generic note to say that your company has a list of Go-To Hotels, and traveler should sort search by 'preference'. You can have the TMC add remarks on the Corporate Discount tab, such as 'direct billing set', or 'voted best hotel by other travelers' or whatever message that encourages travelers to book this hotel. Note that the rate description should display your company's name instead of the TMC name. 3. Rules; if your company has a static rate (all year round, even if varying per season), you should have your TMC enter the rate in configuration, Also, you should ask them to set a rule that flags (i would 'log for report') if: city of destination has a preferred hotel that was not selected = log for reports. Not always the location for a preferred hotel is what a traveler needs, however, if you have a hotel next to the HQ, and the traveler is visiting the HQ, they should not stay elsewhere. 4. Last thing is reporting: not sure which reporting tool your TMC has, but there are reports like: (a) when 'overnight air is booked without a hotel': this report will should when a booking does not have hotels. It maybe because traveler is staying at a conference hotel which is not loaded into Concur, or it could be because they are staying with a friend. At times, traveler is trying to stay out of policy.... (b) Violation reports: you can pull that in Concur, but your TMC can generate more detailed reports. (c) top vendors: your TMC should be running reports quarterly to see where your travelers are staying and suggesting RFP to negotiate corporate rates in popular locations. (d) Rate audit: Your TMC should be running a report that matches booked daily rate x negotiated rates. Hotels may mistakenly delete a negotiated rate feed, and travelers don't realize and book higher rate just because hotel is set as most preferred. Rate Audits are important. Hope this helps

Though Concur does not capture Southwest Unused tickets, your TMC should be loading those into Concur. In fact, even for major airlines, the upload of unused tickets is a manual process for the TMC. So no reason not to load Southwest...

所以…很多谈论酒店。最好的广告vice is to have a great relationship with your TMC Account Manager. There are so many little features that travel managers don't know, and i believe a good Account Manager will share those tips Here are some tips: 1. Ensure any hotels your agency have a corporate rate is loaded on your site (they might have negotiated it for another client, or just a generic discount). Mark it MOST PREFERRED or PREFERRED. I see some companies label MOST PREFERRED hotels that have a corporate discount set for them versus just PREFERRED hotels for those other hotels that the TMC has a deal with (and are relevant to the company based on location or budget). 2. Add notes and remarks to help traveler during the booking process: add a generic note to say that your company has a list of Go-To Hotels, and traveler should sort search by 'preference'. You can have the TMC add remarks on the Corporate Discount tab, such as 'direct billing set', or 'voted best hotel by other travelers' or whatever message that encourages travelers to book this hotel. Note that the rate description should display your company's name instead of the TMC name. 3. Rules; if your company has a static rate (all year round, even if varying per season), you should have your TMC enter the rate in configuration, Also, you should ask them to set a rule that flags (i would 'log for report') if: city of destination has a preferred hotel that was not selected = log for reports. Not always the location for a preferred hotel is what a traveler needs, however, if you have a hotel next to the HQ, and the traveler is visiting the HQ, they should not stay elsewhere. 4. Last thing is reporting: not sure which reporting tool your TMC has, but there are reports like: (a) when 'overnight air is booked without a hotel': this report will should when a booking does not have hotels. It maybe because traveler is staying at a conference hotel which is not loaded into Concur, or it could be because they are staying with a friend. At times, traveler is trying to stay out of policy.... (b) Violation reports: you can pull that in Concur, but your TMC can generate more detailed reports. (c) top vendors: your TMC should be running reports quarterly to see where your travelers are staying and suggesting RFP to negotiate corporate rates in popular locations. (d) Rate audit: Your TMC should be running a report that matches booked daily rate x negotiated rates. Hotels may mistakenly delete a negotiated rate feed, and travelers don't realize and book higher rate just because hotel is set as most preferred. Rate Audits are important. Hope this helps

All responses are great intel. One more aspect to consider: Indirect means that the TMC has to pay a fee to Concur everytime a booking is completed. Even though the fee is nominal (maybe $4-5), it adds up. Traditionally, fulfillment may cost between $8-10 per booking, so when you add $5, it is a 50% increase The TMCs don't really have an incentive to set up Indirect. Indirect is 'necessary' on occasions when Companies do not want Concur Expense, and prefer to just have Concur Travel. Then Indirect it is...

Hi Kyle, We have seen a reason 'I am a Diva' being used. But seriously, the most important thing is working with the TMC to configure the rule we call 'apples to apples'. This rule is what the airfare violation will trigger when the 'lowest logical fare' is not selected. The important piece is to define what is a comparable fare (apples to apples :)). I have seen people add a value to lay over/connection times. For example: Direct Flights ok if next 1-stop flight option price difference is not more than $xxx, and connection is adding no more than XX hrs to the total journey. Direct Flight: 3 hours in the morning $300 One-Stop Flight: 5 hours, arriving early afternoon $200. If you consider average hourly cost of $50, the direct flight is the same price as one-stop (2 hr @ $50 = $100). It is important to set the parameters of times ie: no more than 3 hours added to journey etc. Companies get side tracked with ticket cost, and forget cost of productivity of traveler Conclusion: I would add a reason called 'lower overall productivity cost between chosen flight and Lowest logical fare'.

Hi there, I am happy to send you the RFPs I have seen. Send me your contact info. Most importantly, you should cover 3 aspects: Travel support, Finance/Reporting Features and Account Management. Assessing a good match between your company and the account management portion is the key, in my opinion. Like marriage, try to find a good match Price is not usually apples to apples, so i suggest collecting prices, but having a call to truly understand pricing methodology. Usually smaller agencies (if you have up to 600 travelers to $2mi/yr in travel spend) will be more flexible. The big ones will make you fit into their already established program.

Different styles of TMC work better with different companies. The big TMCs are great for large volumes. Other smaller agencies may give better services if you have travel spend up to $2mi/year (up 600 travelers). They are often more flexible and a great resource for training and learning about the overall subject. Usually, TMCs cover 3 aspects: * Traveler Services: Concur Travel for online booking, Dedicated group of Agents to your travelers, Emergency services and Duty of Care. * Procurement: Quality Control systems and Reporting, Credit Card efficiencies and Unused ticket management * Consulting: this is the main differentiator amongst TMCs. Smaller companies do not often get account management, yet they are the ones which need the most as they are learning about managed travel. So having an account manager is one of the services most liked Account Managers will do RFP for vendors, run reports and analytics, and overall keep the travel program healthy while not being in your payroll. So when you look for a TMC, first identify the place your travel spend is at, and the need for Account Management.