As an industry, we’ve known for many years now that while corporate travel booking adds layers of complexity on top of the way unmanaged and leisure travel is booked, business travelers demand a consumer experience when using OBTs.

Those layers – bespoke configurations for corporate policies, reporting, preferred suppliers, special negotiated rates, integration with expense management systems – create real challenges for providers striving to emulate and even surpass the user experience of consumer tools.

While the challenge is real, it’s not an excuse: we need to invest, innovate and collaborate – and we are. Travel managers and their partners understand the need to put the modern business traveler center stage and in the spotlight. For a travel program to be successful, travelers need to understand what it’s for, how it works and why it’s good for them and their business.

Our goal should be more than to simply mitigate the challenges of online corporate booking, but to use the value of an integrated corporate travel program to surpass the experience offered in consumer travel. The very real challenges of complexity can be overcome with all the data and channels available in business travel. When you view travel booking as part of an integrated experience across channels and not an isolated online transaction, we break free from the typical constraints and innovate with the traveler at the core.

GBT has worked with ACTE on this research to gain valuable insights from travel managers whose responsibilities vary in size and scope, about their issues, concerns and objectives around online booking.

Those managers are the people closest to traveler feedback and engagement, so it pays to explore their perspectives on key areas including user experience, content, online adoption, compliance and leakage.

I hope you find the results and analysis in this report useful, available for download below, as we continue to work with partners across the travel management ecosystem to empower travelers to drive success in their organizations.

BONUS: Download this infographic for a glance at the top issues, concerns and objectives around online booking.

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