Note: This was a guest post I originally wrote for the website of corporate online booking tool Deem in 2019. After the acquisition of Travel and Transport by Corporate Travel Management, the post was taken down.

Today's corporate online booking tools offer business travelers power, personalization, and convenience that most couldn't imagine just a few years ago. Corporate self-booking tools like Deem offer the tools and resources that travelers have become accustomed to in the leisure travel space, balanced with added features that travel management programs require. Your corporate travel management company (TMC) should play a significant role in taking your online booking program to the next level.

As Deem recently stated in a post on Travel and Transport's website, "It's important to build a robust support system for the lifetime of your travel program. Consider working with a travel management company who can provide consultation on your technology needs."

Travel buyers should realize this consultation and support system in three critical areas:

• Integration

• Support

• Expertise

Online Booking and TMC Integration

Online bookings should fully integrate with your TMC's technology stack, including unused ticket management, mid-office and back-office quality control, and reporting systems. 

If your TMC offers travelers a mobile app and a portal, it should integrate closely with the online booking tool. This integration means direct links and single sign-on between applications, but it doesn't stop there. Your TMC's mobile app should offer features that enhance the traveler experience and support them while they're traveling. For instance, Travel and Transport's Dash Mobile app puts features like trip sharing, online check-in, trip alerts, reminders, language and culture information, and personal travel integration in the hands of travelers. It also lets users cancel trips, look at alternate flight options and instantly connect with a travel advisor when plans change. 

When added to a great online booking system like Deem, those features provide travelers with virtually everything they need to make business travel successful.

Corporate Online Booking Tool Support

Your TMC should have experts on hand that know your online booking tool inside and out, with first and second-level online booking assistance in-house as well as always-available fulfillment support. They should know exactly what to do when issues arise and offer consistent communication and updates when needed. 

Your travel management company should have a strong partnership and direct communication in place with your online booking provider to achieve prompt and effective solutions. The ability and capacity to automate solutions for common issues is also key to increasing your touchless transactions and lowering transaction costs.

Expertise in Managed Online Booking Integration

An online booking solution like Deem offers features and benefits for travelers and travel managers that make it must-have technology. A good corporate TMC has experience implementing online booking solutions for many travel buyers and has built the expertise and infrastructure necessary to take your online booking performance to the next level. 

Ultimate performance requires an online booking expert in your corner who can supercharge your system by ensuring that policies and preferences are tuned and configured precisely. They can make program recommendations, provide benchmarking and insights from analytics, help to guide supplier negotiations, and much more. They will have the expertise and support system in place to maximize your company's online booking adoption, but they'll also have travel advisors ready to assist. 

When it's time to implement an online booking tool or to change online booking tools, be sure to ask your travel management company how they can help deliver the integration, support, and expertise you need to ensure success.