01 | Open booking is a new problem related to millennials. False.

a. Regardless of generation, open booking (or booking direct with the supplier) has been

happening for years. Modern technology has just made it easier.

a. 40% of managed travelers don’t always comply with their company’s bookings channel policy.

(Source: PhocusWright’s US Business Traveler ~ Managed, Unmanaged, and Rogue 2012 report).

02 | Blind spend only happens with hotel and car rentals. False.

a. Blind spend is the travel spend that is booked outside of traditional corporate channels and is

not visible to the corporation until after the trip is completed.

a. According to IDC, 40-50 % of hotel bookings and 28% of air bookings that are considered blind

spend, or “leak,” out of TMCs and are booked directly with a given supplier.  (Source: Concur

Fusion 2014 ~ Transparency and Mobility Now Drive the Perfect Trip).

03 | Business travelers booking outside the traditional channels will violate travel policy more often. False.

a. In May 2014, The BEAT featured an article by Jay Boehmer; FINRA is Ready for Open Booking.

Is the Industry? The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) embarked on an open

booking trial. After one year of piloting the concept with 20 travelers at FINRA—a private

company that serves as an independent regulator of financial securities firms—Carol McDowell

has concluded a few things. Travelers, when allowed to roam outside of gated corporate

booking tools, haven’t abused the system, she said. Also, they didn’t spend more than the rest

of the organization’s travelers, on average and when controlled for access to supplier discounts.

04 | Booking out-of-channel without insight means companies risk facing corporate legalities, financial and compliance issues. True.

a. “When travelers book out-of-channel, the rising concern is that the lack of visibility and control

over the travel spend could disrupt financial operations, accounting, corporate law and

budgeting.” (Source: International Data Corporation [IDC] Blog Post ~ Impact of Open Booking

Challenges on Corporate Compliance).

Debunk the 7 Myths of Open Booking: Get the Facts

05 | Travel managers won’t have insight into where the travelers are if they book direct. It depends.

a. This is true only if the companies do not have a solution to track out-of-channel bookings,

therefore risking their duty of care obligations.

06 | Allowing business travelers to book directly on supplier sites means a loss of corporate discounts. True.

a. If the company has a technology solution like Concur TripLink to capture direct bookings and

the suppliers are linked to the solution, the company will be able to leverage the existing

discounts. Otherwise, travelers will lose the pre-negotiated rates.

07 | Technology solutions in the market only create more open booking problems rather than working with corporate managed programs. False.

a. New innovative technologies now provide a way to complement and work with corporate

managed programs. These new industry solutions provide the ability to:

a. Track duty of care

b. Keep supplier discounts

c. Gain more detailed data insight into spend, therefore more control over bookings done outside

of the system

d. Connect with more suppliers and niche solution vendors through a partner ecosystem 

b. Solutions like Concur TripLink addresses such challenges:

a. “TripLink enables the capture of unmanaged travel, generally done by a traveler going directly

to an airline or hotel website to book, to reflect the organization’s travel policy and negotiated

rates, as well as enabling organizations to fulfill their duty of care obligations.” (Source: IDC

Concur Fusion 2014: Transparency and Mobility Now Drive the Perfect Trip)

About ConcurConcur is a leading provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions. Concur’s adaptable

web-based and mobile solutions help companies and their employees control costs and save time.

©2014 Concur, all rights reserved. Concur is a registered trademark of Concur Technologies, Inc. All other company and product names are the property of their respective manufacturers. WP DEBUNK OPEN BOOKING NA 2014/07