CONTACT: Daphne Bryant | 703-739-3410
The Institute of Business Travel Management (IBTM), the education and research foundation of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today unveiled a new tool for travel managers to measure the effectiveness and ROI of their companies’ travel programs.
IBTM's Managed Travel Index and Benchmarking Tool, launched today at the NBTA Convention and Trade Show, is a two-part tool that provides (i) a broad measurement of the effectiveness of a corporate travel program and (ii) a benchmarking tool that drills down to specific air and hotel cost data. The Managed Travel IndexSM (MTI) component of the tool collects data from the user and provides a rating of the effectiveness of a managed travel program. The MTI score can be targeted to measure against programs in similar industries, with similar travel volume and/or in the same geographic area. The second component of the product, the Benchmarking Tool, allows travel managers to measure their air and hotel spend against onboard fare and performance information for airlines and city-pairs specified by the user and against hotel room and occupancy rates in selected city and regional markets.
“As the education and research foundation of the leading association for corporate travel professionals, IBTM is proud to offer the first benchmarking tool that allows travel mangers to input their own data and get instant measurements of the effectiveness of their program,” said IBTM Chair Joe Monaghan, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales Support, WorldTravel BTI. “This robust benchmarking tool will help travel managers demonstrate their value to senior executives and will provide clear information about areas for improvement.”
IBTM Vice Chair, and Vice President Siemens Shared Service, LLC, Hanna Murphy, CCTE, was one of the travel managers who tested the new tool. “I was impressed by the capabilities of the IBTM Managed Travel Index and Benchmarking Tool to provide data that can be used to demonstrate ROI. Illustrating value is paramount in today’s business environment, and this is the only tool providing instant benchmarking information to travel managers today.”
IBTM contracted with Partnership Travel Consulting, Inc. (PTC), and Simat, Helliesen & Eichner, Inc. (SH&E) in the development of the Managed Travel Index and Benchmarking Tool. Nearly 100 corporate travel professionals from both the buyer and supplier communities contributed to the development of this tool through focus groups and alpha and beta testing phases. The tool offers benchmarking of air and hotel spend in the United States and may be expanded in future versions to other aspects of travel management.
The tool will be accessible beginning August 22, 2005 and can be accessed via IBTM’s website at http://www.ibtm.org/benchmarking. The tool will be available to all NBTA members on a trial basis through December 2005. Beginning January 1, 2006, the tool will be available to NBTA members through an annual subscription at a rate of $595. The first 150 NBTA members who subscribe before October 31, 2005, will receive 50 percent off the annual subscription cost.
The Institute of Business Travel Management (IBTM) is the education and research foundation of the National Business Travel Association (NBTA). IBTM was established in 1997 to support NBTA’s 2,400 members and the industry as a whole. As the only education and research foundation in the business travel industry, IBTM seeks to fund initiatives to advance the business travel profession. IBTM has created the only master’s level accredited course for the corporate travel professional, the Global Leadership Program, in partnership with The Wharton School. IBTM is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
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