ANALYSIS – Trust the process! New research proves companies lose money when travellers book flights outside the managed travel programme

Visitors to Business Travel Show Europe in London at the end of June can confirm that travel managers still have to battle the long-standing problem of their travellers booking trips outside the official programme. A conference session entitled “Get over it! Working with the reality that ‘I found it cheaper online’ isn’t going away” drew a capacity audience.

It is often said that Brazil is a country with 200 million coaches of its national football team. Travel managers can empathise: every traveller in their company believes they know where to find lower prices for their flight and accommodation.

However, research published in May 2026 by TravelpoolEurope (TPE) suggests travellers are wrong. TPE manages a travel programme that combines the spend of more than 35 member companies. It commissioned an independent consultant to make simultaneous fare searches on public websites for 718 reservations that its members’ travellers had just booked through TPE’s self-booking platform or telephone service.

The results were very instructive. Of the 718 reservations tested, 41 per cent were cheaper through the managed programme than via a direct airline website. However, 19 per cent were cheaper through the airline website, while 34 per cent had the same fare (a direct comparison was not possible for 6 per cent of the bookings).

Overall, if those same trips had all been booked on airline websites instead of through TPE’s managed programme, the ticket price would have been 4.6 per cent more expensive. It is also worth noting that when the managed programme fare was lower, it was much lower: 15.5 per cent on average. When the airline website fare was cheaper, it was only 9.7 per cent lower on average.

TPE goes on to make the very important point that the total saving to its members for those 718 bookings was much greater than the 4.6 per cent difference in ticket price. The final price paid through the managed travel programme was 12.6 per cent lower once additional costs for ticket cancellations and amendments were taken into account. Like all well-managed travel programmes, TPE is much more efficient at obtaining a refund on cancellation of unused tickets than when travellers book their own flights. This added another 6.5 per cent in savings.

On top of that came another 1.5 per cent saving thanks to tickets being used because they were amended instead of remaining unused and un-refunded.

What are the lessons for travel managers?

Get tough – TPE says its conclusive proof that the managed travel programme is cheaper means travel managers can be much firmer about telling travellers they must book inside the programme.

But  explain why – Show travellers how much the company saves when they stay inside the programme. Explain also the benefits for the travellers themselves. These include the ability for the company to locate and support them in an emergency, and an easier fare search and booking process.

Confront the reality that public websites are sometimes cheaper – TPE’s research confirms that even if managed programmes save money overall, the BTS Europe session title was accurate: on a booking-by-booking basis a public website fare is sometimes lower. Travel managers need to answer the inevitable noise these lower fares create by communicating better. Yet at the same time they should not worry about the noise too much because the figures confirm a managed programme is the right path to follow.  

Find ways to reduce how often the public website is cheaper

This action point is, admittedly, easier said than done. Make sure your TMC has technology which can access all fare distribution channels (such as New Distribution Capability). And continue to negotiate the best discounts you can on key routes.