Building Confidence In NDC Requires Active Client Education By Travel Management Companies

Corporate travel agents and TMCs need to play an active role in educating clients about NDC to build trust and maintain relationships.

This was addressed during a recent African Business Travel Association (ABTA) NDC Online Summit. An ABTA survey of travel buyers highlighted that while corporate clients did not fully understand NDC, they were aware of it and were eager to adopt the new technology due to its perceived benefits.

Around 44% of respondents noted that most of their education about NDC came from their TMC, however 18% said the biggest disadvantage of NDC was the mistrust it bred between them and their TMCs or travel agent, particularly around the offered rates. 

Mistrust and education

Founder of ABTA, Monique Swart, said while mistrust remained an issue, it had actually declined slightly from last year. “I think it's always a challenge when you have your buyers saying it's (airfares) cheaper somewhere else and then they get into disputes about mark-ups and commissions.”

Speaking at the event, Otto de Vries, CEO of Asata, said many of these disputes arose due to a lack of understanding about how airlines distributed their products and content.

Linda Edwards, MD of XL Turners Travel, told Travel News that she advised their clients about the conditions of NDC bookings, and limitations in terms of assisting with changes and Management Information System reporting.

“Currently, TMCs cannot give the same service and Management Information System reporting with NDC without manual intervention. Hopefully, going forward there will be work-arounds that have no further cost to the TMC, and the airlines themselves will provide solutions to these issues.

“But in the meantime, the TMC has to manage a client’s travel and they are an integral part of process, unless the airlines are prepared to manage a corporate client directly.”

The role of the TMC

While Swart empathises with the challenges TMCs are experiencing in their adoption of NDC, she warned that taking the “wait and see” approach with the new technology would severely impact their relationships with corporate clients.

“It is certainly up to the technology providers as well as the TMC services to declutter and simplify this process, to make sure that buyers are able to access this content swiftly and easily,” said Wayne Muirhead, Chief Sales Officer of Tourvest Travel Services.

Claude Vankeirsbilck, COO of Tourvest Travel Services, echoed these sentiments, saying that if TMCs waited for the ideal NDC system or for more airlines or agents to adopt the technology before embarking on this journey for their operations and their clients, they would miss the boat.

“There is no time to sit and wait and see. TMCs have to strategically think how they're going to either participate, engage or ‘get on the boat’, so to speak, in terms of accessing NDC content.”

He said Tourvest had invested heavily in NDC pre-COVID, which was now paying “massive dividends”.

Muirhead added: “The buyer needs to have faith and trust in the fact that the TMC as well as the technology providers are providing the right investment, providing the right learnings in terms of what NDC provides. But it is of absolute importance that this is driven correctly from the TMC and the technology provider side.”