5 Secrets To A More Efficient Travel Agency

A travel agent workshop designed to maximize productivity, retain young talent, integrate technology and address market trends. Given at Sabre's annual global Travel Technology Exchange conference.

1. 5 secrets you may be missing…

2. Agenda...
-Why should you listen to me
-Market Landscape
-Trends
-5 Secrets
-Digital Publication App
-Panel Discussion

3. Why should you listen to me…

5. Our mission
Improve your agency’s bottom line through
workflow mapping and technology analysis

6. Our people…
–Innovative –Engineers –6 Sigma –Developers
People

7. Our industry knowledge spans…
-Travel agents
-Airline employees
-Hotel employees
-Car employees
-Developers
-Scripters
-Management consultants
-Engineers

8. Our experience…
Over 350 total on-site engagements
-155 corporate
-85 leisure
-40 consolidators
-24 online Helping Agencies
Since 2005

9. Our experience…

10. Where we have been…

11. Market Landscape

12. Market landscape…
1.Travel is complex…
2.Agency business is challenging…
3.Money to be made and value to be added…

13. Travel is complex…
-The markets are fragmented
-Change is constant

14. Travel value chain…
Travel Demand
Travel Supply

15. Fragmentation…

16. Fragmentation…
Total Cost Per Transaction = $13.44

17. Market landscape…
1.Travel is complex…
2.Agency Business is challenging…
3.Money to be made and value to be added…

18. Agency business is challenging….
-Clients are demanding
-Competition fierce
-Increasingly thin margins

19. Agency trends…

20. Fierce competition…

21. Fierce competition…

22. Market landscape…
1.Travel is complex…
2.Agency Business is challenging…
3.Money to be made and value to be added…

23. Money to be made and value to be added…
-Enter new markets
-Sell new products
-Cost savings
-Traveler security
-Service and convenience

24. Travel on the rise…

25. Travel on the rise…

26. Value add areas….
Source: CWT 2013

27. Travel value chain…
Travel Demand
Travel Supply

28. Trends:
Cost Management
Revenue Optimization
Demographic Shift

29. Trends: cost management…
-Online booking tool
-Scripting
-Automation

30. Cost management …
Travel Demand
Travel Supply

31. Online booking tool…

32. Trends: revenue optimization…
-Standard contracting
-Supplier relations

33. Revenue optimization…
Travel Demand
Travel Supply

34. Contract Optimization Services…

35. Trends: demographic shift…
-Shopping Methods
-Agency Population

36. Demographic shift…
Travel Demand
Travel Supply

37. Demographics…
~75% use 1-4 websites

38. Demographics…
Are you targeting the right group?

39. Agent learning…

40. 5 Secrets…

41. … how your KPIs compare to your
peers/competitors
… If tools you invested in are helping
or hindering agents’ productivity
… what does your profitability look like
across customer tiers
… where are your hidden costs
… if servicing certain customers may
be undermining your profitability
… how to view true transaction-level
data to tell you what’s really going on
Do you know…

42. So where do I start?
-Timed workflow analysis
-Technology assessment
-Reporting breakdown
-Employee culture test
-Customer snapshot
-Data security scan
-Malware protection update
-Financial integrity evaluation

43. Bit.ly/5SecretsToSuccess

44. 5 Secrets…
1.Where do you spend you time?
2.Automation creation
3.KPI based infrastructure and reporting
4.Customer Management
5.Employee Culture

45. Secret 1: Where do you spend your time?…

46. change
42%
AHT:
500s
28%
AHT:
177s
AHT: 395s
30%
AHT:
388s
0 200 400 600
Email
Phone
Walk-In
Website
0 200 400 600
Email
Phone
Walk-In
Website
0 200 400 600
Email
Phone
Walk-In
Website
Front Office Disposition Summary
Sabre
Average Handle Time
Where is your time spent…
ABC
Agency

47. 5 Secrets…
1.Where do you spend you time?
2.Automation creation
3.KPI based infrastructure and reporting
4.Customer Management
5.Employee Culture

48. Secret 2: Automation creation…

49. Secret 2: Automation Creation…
PNR CreationShopping
DocumentDelivery
UpdateNotifications
Quality Control
Pricing

50. 5 Secrets…
1.Where do you spend you time?
2.Automation creation
3.KPI based infrastructure and reporting
4.Customer Management
5.Employee Culture

51. Functional Area Key Indicator Suggested Methods
Sales and marketing
•Customer profitabilityanalysis
•Customer service mix
•Service fee profitability
•Builda PNL for each customer
•Analyze each customer on a per transaction basis
Account management
•Customerretention effectiveness
•Service level effectiveness
•Consultative management
•Analyzepipeline success
•Understand customer worth
•Complete quarterly reviews with key customers
Operations
management
•Resourceand staffing
•People development
•Technology deployment
•Integration and optimization
•Processoptimization and control
•Measure staff utilization
Transactionprocessing
•Front-office effectiveness
•Mid-office fulfillment effectiveness
•Back-office accounting
•Measurecall-handle time and after-call work
•Track errors and exceptions
Reporting and analysis
•Agencyperformance
•Supplier performance
•Customer reporting
•Benchmarking
•Measure
•Analyze
Secret 3: Key performance indicators…

52. AveragePremier AgencyTime Spend
Process Group Corporate Leisure
Initialize 11% 10%
Shop/Price/Sell 28% 49%
Recap/File Finish 17% 18%
QC/Ticketing 18% 6%
Other 26% 17%
Total 100% 100%
Front Office Operational Benchmarking
Premier Benchmarking…
AveragePremier Agency
Characteristics
Bookings Range 100K-1M
Revenue Range $1M-$15M
Cost savings range$50K-$750K
Hours of observations10 hrs –50 hrs
Time Periodtaken 2005-2013
Valueof our services$10K-$75K

53. 5 Secrets…
1.Where do you spend you time?
2.Automation creation
3.KPI based infrastructure and reporting
4.Customer Management
5.Employee Culture

54. Secret 4: Customer management…

55. Business model shift…

56. 5 Secrets…
1.Where do you spend you time?
2.Automation creation
3.KPI based infrastructure and reporting
4.Customer Management
5.Employee Culture

57. Secret 5: Employee culture…