Procurement leaders are likely to place more restrictions on direct hotel bookings & procure specialist one-stop-shop booking agencies.

Travel policies and compliance measures to change as business travel resume, about 60% of travel and procurement managers expect their companies will less likely than before the lockdown to allow travellers to book directly with suppliers like Booking.com or Expedia over the next 2 to 3 years.

image source: https://www.traveldailymedia.com/health-and-safety-top-concerns-for-asia-pacific-business-travellers-in-post-covid-era/

Global Business Travel Association recently conducted a survey and found 66% of travel and procurement managers expect their companies will be less likely than ever before the lockdown to allow travellers to book directly with suppliers like Booking.com and Expedia. The survey was conducted in August 2020 with around 440 travel managers and procurement managers globally.

Companies will likely place more and more restrictions on direct bookings with on-line suppliers as duty-of-care is the main driver, The structure shift from work from home back to the office and right-sizing to fit around employee safety will be on the agenda for procurement managers and bookings in general.

 What does this mean?

Procurement managers and travel bookers will be looking to travel agencies that offer concierge services,  concierge services arrange any aspect of company travel, the adjustment will be to maximise duty-of-care. This ranges from planning events and booking restaurants, to helping run companies travel polices (finding good vetted hotels, the best airlines, and using an on the fly platform that is not totally automated, etc).

Jigsaw Conferences Ltd offer a one-stop-shop for travel policies with a 24/7 contact centre and 365 days a year support, one of the only Uber dove agencies in the field. Procurement managers and travel bookers will be in great hands. Continued savings on the bottom line using our buying power, some of the savviest procurement teams and travel booking departments already depend on with full trust, confidence and benefit from our services.

We monitor industry rates daily - We won’t be beaten on price!

Many of our clients have added new rules about pre-trip approval (implemented by Jigsaw and approved by clients) and now have detailed pre-trip communications or briefings for employees travelling via Jigsaw Conferences agents.

Jigsaw can collect information about the health of travellers for example potential virus exposure or preexisting conditions.