David Frangeul, Senior Director, Global Air and Ground Practices
With the ever-evolving corporate contracting landscape, adopting behavior-driven strategies to keep travelers in your preferred booking channels is essential.
Leakage, or off-channel bookings, has always been a challenge for travel managers, especially in the hotel category. But lately, air leakage has been on the rise, creating new challenges for travel programs. So, how can you bring travelers back into your preferred booking channels? In order to drive behavior change, you must first understand why your travelers are booking outside of your program.
What motivates travelers to book out of program?
There are typically two main reasons travelers book off-channel. First, familiarity and convenience. Booking directly through a supplier site or an interface they’re used to feels quicker and easier, especially compared to navigating corporate booking systems they don’t use often.
Then, there’s the perception of saving money. Some travelers feel they’re doing the company a favor by finding a cheaper rate directly from the supplier. However, while these bookings are well-intended, they can negatively impact traveler safety, visibility into travel spend and policy compliance.
The growing impact of NDC
So, what’s driving the sudden spike in air leakage across programs? With the rise of New Distribution Capability (NDC), airlines have started holding some of their best fares back, making them available only through direct channels rather than traditional Global Distribution Systems (GDS). This shift means that travelers might not see the lowest prices in your preferred channels, encouraging them to go “off-script” to get a better deal.
What travelers often don’t realize is that while external channels may seem cheaper at first glance, fares available within their online booking tool (OBT) often include valuable benefits like negotiated perks or hidden cost efficiencies that make them a smarter choice overall. So, while booking directly might feel like a quick win, the OBT fares are often designed to support a smoother, more cost-effective journey for both the traveler and the company.
So how can you bring travelers back into your preferred channels when booking flights?
Take an omnichannel approach to traveler communication
A well-crafted internal communication campaign can be a game changer in influencing traveler behavior, ensuring that they stay aligned with your company’s travel policies and use the OBT as intended.
By effectively communicating the benefits of booking through the OBT—whether it’s cost savings, safety benefits, or added perks—you can create a sense of value that encourages travelers to stay within the system. However, it’s not just about sending out a single message. For an internal campaign to be truly effective, it must deliver the right message at the right time. To drive travelers toward your preferred booking channels, you need to engage them across multiple communication platforms—whether it’s email, a company intranet, or even mobile notifications. But the work doesn’t stop there. Once they’re in the OBT, it’s essential to activate targeted, timely messaging that reinforces the benefits of staying in the tool to book.
These reminders ensure travelers not only book in-channel but continue to do so consistently. And remember, while cost savings is often the driver for messaging, consider topics like sustainability, traveler safety, supplier market share, or any other program priorities to have the greatest impact.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that travelers want to do the right thing. They often book off-channel thinking they are doing the company a favor and saving money. By educating your travelers on the “total value” of booking in program, you can empower them to make smart booking decisions which in turn will help you manage your program more effectively.