What are the risks and opportunities of new travel intermediation models?

ALICIA ESTRADA, Directora de Marketing e Innovación de GEBTA ESPAÑA

In the new scenario facing travel agencies specializing in business travel, there are several risks. A very important one is thedisaggregation of purchasing with the entry into the market of new players. In general, there is a trend towards disaggregation in the decision-making process. This implies greater difficulty in reconciling information and preparing reports. As a result, the travel manager could lose some of his or her power.

In the face of these risks, there are also a number of opportunities opening up for agencies in their relationship with client companies that involve new approaches to their business model. In the end, it is a win-win situation for both parties.

One of these opportunities is to enhance the role of the agency as a specialist in travel management tools. I am not only referring to self-booking tools, but also to the technology to manage expense notes, loyalty mileage management, travel incident control, reporting, etc. In this it is important to have not only the ability to implement, but also to internally incentivize its use.


I believe that the future lies in profile management tools. It is already in operation in the United States and is a very powerful means of improving the effectiveness of travel policy. The idea is to unify them in such a way that suppliers can capture them directly from the company's profile manager. Large and medium-sized companies will have their own professional social networks that will require a new figure: the community travel manager.