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www.niit-tech.com
Mobile Itinerariesthe Key to Merchandising for the TMC
Norm Rose
NIIT Technologies White Paper

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CONTENTS
Introduction
3
The Purpose of this Whitepaper
3
Merchandising – Enabling 1-to-1 Marketing
3
Mobility Has Ushered in the Age of Passenger-Centric Travel Solutions
4
The Importance of the Mobile Itinerary
4
The Changing Role of the TMC
5
The TMC Merchandising Opportunity
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Summary
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TRANSPORTATION
TRAVEL
CARGO
PACKAGING
TRANSPORTATION
TOUR
GUIDE TRAVEL TRAVEL
TRANSPORTATION
CARGO CARGO
LOGISTICS
TRAVEL
JOURNEY
GUIDE
TRANSPORTATION CARGO
JOURNEY
CARGO
GUIDE
LOGISTICS
TRAVEL
Introduction
The Purpose of this Whitepaper
We are in the midst of a mobile revolution. For most travelers
This whitepaper will discuss how TMCs can use an integrated
checking their mobile device is the first thing they do when the
mobile itinerary as a platform to offer goods and services to their
plane lands. With many airlines now providing in-flight Wi-Fi, we
customers while on their trip. The information contained in this
have truly reached a unique level of ubiquitous connectivity
paper was derived from a number of sources which highlight the
ushering in the era of thealways-connected traveler. Travel
growth of mobile technology and merchandising.
companies can no longer limit their focus on the planning,
discusses current mobile corporate travel initiatives and the role of
booking and ticketing of travel, but providing services
the mobile itinerary as enabler to expand TMC services.
The paper
throughout the trip needs to become an essential part of a
travel company’s offerings.
smartphone, these powerful computing devices represent a new
Merchandising – Enabling 1-to-1
Marketing
platform to connect with the traveler on the road. Travelers not
Many TMCs and corporate travel buyers are somewhat naïve
With over 75% of frequent business travelers owning a
only access their email on their mobile device, but through
about how suppliers will use mobile technology to promote
location-sensitive applications are exploring local merchant
services directly to frequent travelers. With the current battle
services and are in constant contact with their social network
between the airlines and distributors over ancillary airline services,
though mobile versions of applications such as Facebook or
carriers across the global are recognizing the value of providing
Twitter. This mobile social connection is essential to understand
opt-in offers to travelers to expand the use of both ancillary airline
as it can influence purchasing and provide a forum for unhappy
services and related travel components. This mobile effort mirrors
travelers to voice their concerns to a wide global audience.
the overall transformation of airlines into merchandisers and travel
retailers as many carriers have incorporated third party services
We are also at the dawn of a new era of merchandising.
such hotels, car rental and activities into their Web offering.
Consumers will become accustomed to interacting with their
mobile device in shopping malls managing a variety of opt-in
Hoteliers are seeing the value of merchandising on-property
marketing messages. This same merchandising phenomenon will
services and promoting local merchants providing a mobile
surface in airports and will be used by suppliers to sell ancillary
concierge application to their best guests. The recently published
services to frequent travelers. Considering the correlation between
joint Amadeus-Forrester white paper, titled Cross-Sell Your Way to
frequent business travelers and mobile deviceadoption , how can a
Profit, states thatsupplier-based third-party ancillary service sales
TMC use mobile technology to gain additional revenue while
are expected to increase by 30% over the next five years; but the
insuring the traveler complies with corporate travel policy? Can
opportunity for merchandising is not limited to suppliers as the
TMCs truly become merchandisers?
entire value chain will be looking to expand the sale of ancillary
services at every point of the travel experience.
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Many TMCs view customer service as their key differentiator, but
is also expanding their local offerings connected with their
this advantage can no longer be confined to interaction with the
already dominant mobile search position. The phenomenal
call center, but must evolve to services provided to frequent
growth of Groupon and Living Social has proven that
business travelers while they are on their trip. TMCs are uniquely
merchandising local business through group buying is a major
positioned to provide policy compliant services to frequent
revenue opportunity.
travelers enhancing their trip and providing opportunities for
additional revenue. Those TMCs that do not implement a mobile
merchandising strategy will find themselves in an uncompetitive
position against other TMCs and supplier efforts. In addition,
providing services in route, re-positions TMCs to extend the
service theme to encompass all aspects of the trip.
The Importance of the Mobile
Itinerary
Travel companies have a unique advantage over these general
market merchandising efforts by owning the travel itinerary. TripIt,
recently acquired by Concur, set the standard for an integrated
Mobility Has Ushered in the Age
of PassengerCentric Travel Solutions
Research has confirmed that frequent travelers are early adopters
of new technology, especially emerging mobile technology. It is the
frequent business traveler who has embraced the smartphone and
itinerary that not only consolidates disparate trip elements, but
provides real-time updates to frequent travelers. It is important to
note that TripIt first emerged as a consumer tool, then quickly was
embraced by frequent business travelers and now is part of the
offering of a major software provider in the managed travel space,
demonstrating how a consolidated dynamic itinerary is well suited
for business travelers.
is quickly embracing tablets and e-readers. With ubiquitous
A key element missing from TripIt or similar itinerary tools is insuring
connectivity now a reality, these travelers depend on these mobile
that ancillary offers are policy compliant and approved by the
devices to provide location-based, personalized and contextually
corporation. Maintaining policy compliance will be increasingly
relevant information instantaneously.
difficult as more suppliers embrace merchandising. TMCs need to
The always-connected traveler has not gone unnoticed by
thetravel value chain. As suppliers become retailers, their desire to
benefit from merchandising ancillary products and services is clear.
implement itinerary consolidation technology that both assists the
traveler with location sensitive information, but also provides a
platform for policy compliant merchandising.
A major driver of the American Airlines direct connection strategy is
Traditional GDS Web based itineraries are no longer a sufficient
around gaining additional customer insight so that the airline
solution as they tend to simply publish the PNR elements. With
products can be tailored to the customer needs based on overall
Sabre bringing together Virtually There with TripCase, the
value. Mobile marketing provides an excellent platform to extend
opportunity for TMC agents to use an expanded itinerary exists,
this effort directly to the traveler. Online Travel Companies (OTAs)
but these tools still lack merchandising capabilities and policy
have successfully launched mobile apps to provide itinerary
control elements.
management and extend services to their best customers.
Given that all merchandising offers will need to be opt-in, the
On a parallel path consumers are embracing location-based
frequent traveler will decide what offers to accept and how these
social networking applications such as Foursquare (with 6 million
offers help them achieve their goals. The three variables that
users) and Gowalla (with 1 million users) that pair check-in with
dictate acceptance are:
specific offers. Gowalla has specifically targeted travelers as a
1. Location- By its nature, mobile technology is location-sensitive.
way to differentiate their services. With Facebook Places, the
Providing an offer based on location is a core component of all
over 500 million active users of this social media powerhouse
merchandising efforts.
now also receive customized offers delivered to the user. Google
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2 Personalization - Understanding personal preferences is a bit
compliant ancillary services to increase traveler efficiency and
trickier.Historically in a travel context, personal preferences have
maintain control over expenses. Without this discussion, the traveler
been limited to airline seat choice and loyalty information. All
will decide what services and offers are valuable to their needs
players in the travel value chain will need to extend this definition
without the control and focus on what’s best for the corporation.
to include implicit and explicit traveler preferences. Given the
cornerstone of TMC offerings is service, knowledge of a
business traveler’s preferences must be incorporated into any
policy compliant merchandising effort.
The TMC Merchandising
Opportunity
3 Contextual Relevance - The difference between an offer being
So how can a TMC embrace merchandising? After the gaining
viewed as spam versus of one of value is all about the relevance of
support from the corporate client, the TMC should identify key
the message matching the specific context of the traveler. For
ancillary services that could be provided as mobile offers to the
example, a traveler, who is trying to navigate an unfamiliar city, may
frequent traveler. A logical place to start is in the area of ground
perceive a limo or taxi offer as an important value.
transportation. By providing their own consolidated mobile itinerary
application, the offer can be inserted into the itinerary flow based on
Mobile technology provides an unprecedented platform to
location and preferences. With the increased penetration of group
implement the coveted “1-to1-marketing” theme embraced by in
buying services such as Groupon, TMCs should explore ways to offer
industry over the last 10 years. TMCs and corporate travel
restaurant and other service discounts based on the volume of
managers have long struggled with how best to connect with their
customers traveling to that city. TMCs can provide that missing link
frequent travelers, who by definition are on the road. The 1-to-1
between locally promoted services and the frequent business traveler.
marketing theme can be realized even in a managed travel context
Depending on the corporate policies of the client, offers could also be
as long as the three variables are met. Research indicates that
extended to event tickets and other local activities. This is particularly
frequent business travelers would consider offers provided that the
important as the leisure/travel blur expands where more travelers
services meet their specific needs.
combine a business trip with some vacation days often having their
spouse accompany them. This transformation into a merchandiser
The Changing Role of the TMC
will require the TMC to re-evaluate their local presence. Allowing a
TMC representative to approach a local merchant with an offer to
With decreased margins and economic pressure on financial
deliver business travelers in exchange for a discount and referral fee,
incentives, TMCs must evolve their services to encompass the
may require additional staffing or retraining of existing staff.
concept of dynamic travel management. Simply put, this extends
the role of the TMC to assist the corporation in managing
compliance and extending services while the traveler is on the trip.
TMCs need to work closely with their corporate clients facilitating a
frank discussion around the emergence of general and supplier
To be truly effective any TMC based merchandising solution must be
fully integrated into all of the TMCs technology. Itinerary elements
need to be captured from the GDS, but integration with mid-office
QA and back office accounting is of equal importance.
specific merchandising and the role the TMCs can play in providing
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With critical information contained in these systems on policy
The data can be shared with the merchants and across application
compliance parameters and actual usage, an integrated solution
to power the additional services to the travelers. For example, the
offers the best opportunity to merchandise policy compliant offers
data can be shared with the local cab companies and based on the
and expand the services for the client and the revenue opportunities
departure date the traveler can receive notifications. Based on the
for the TMC.
data the travelers can be also notified with advance notifications
Steps Required to Implement a TMC Merchandising Strategy, in
affecting their travel plans.
order to ensure that the TMC’s can leverage the merchandising
An example of a corporate travel solution already in use is ConTgo.
modelcurrent systems must be ready to extend this functionality.
Their Mobile Travel Assistance enablesTravel agents or corporations
With TMC systems highly dependent on GD Stechnology to truly
to use the Mobile Travel Assistant to promote local preferred
leverage the itinerary and the data, the TMC needs to evaluate the
suppliers such as taxis and restaurants, or even to arrange group
strategy in a couple of steps:
transport to and from the airport. The Mobile Travel Assistant
• Evaluate the changes which need to be made to the Point of Sales
tool. The majority of traditional TMC tools are geared to work with
increases significantly the safety of corporate travelersby providing a
warning to selected travelers
a GDS. This includes the capturing ofnon GDS bookings
aspassive segments. To ensure the merchandising option can be
enabled, the connectivity to direct connectionsand suppliers need
Summary
to be leveraged. This should also enable the Travel Counselors to
The time is now for TMCs to embrace mobile itineraries and
up sell merchandising options and add commissions. Many of the
merchandising. Those TMCs who continue to provide static
leisure travel companies have enabled the counselors with these
itineraries for their corporate travelers will quickly discover that in this
tools today.
era of the always connected traveler, control is in the hands of the
• In order to leverage the Itinerary and TMC’s needs to build central
data repository outside of GDS, which integrates front office/mid
office and back office. This will enable the TMC’s to
 Consolidate travel booking data
individual. Without an integrated solution, travelers themselves will
download apps and respond to mobile offers outside of the
managed travel programs TMCs support. By being proactive with
deploying a consolidated itinerary and merchandising effort, TMCs
 Integrate and deliver information and services to travelers via
can position themselves as an active partner in the trip itself, further
mobile phone, such as itinerary details, security advice and
reinforcing the value of superior service, but extending that theme
travel policy reminders
throughout the trip.
 Undertake advanced analytical reporting of consolidated
travel data
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About the Author
Norm Rose is President and Travel Tech Consulting, INC and is world renown for his travel
technology expertise, particularly his analysis of the impact of emerging trends such mobile
and social media. From 1982-1988 he held sales and marketing management positions at
United Airlines and from 1989 -1995, Norm was corporate travel manager for Sun
Microsystems. At Sun, he worked with a number of third-party developers creating
client/server software for the business travel market. This included early prototypes of
self-booking tools and expense management systems. He is also the author of numerous
publications and articles including Mobile: the Next Platform for Travel (March 2009)
Corporate Travel Technology Today and Tomorrow (Fall 2007); Selling Complex Leisure
Travel Online: Focus on Dynamic Packaging Technology (December 2004), Emerging Trends
in Wireless Technology and The Global Travel Industry (October 2003) and Corporate Travel:
Technology Trends and Market Analysis (Spring 2002).
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