Policy change – advance purchase

by Myra Ouwendyk, HRG Business Manager

A long-standing client of HRG in Canada had a history of purchasing airline tickets at the last minute for predominantly domestic flights, and was keen to address traveller behaviour to take advantage of the best possible fares.

HRG reviewed the client’s advance purchase patterns and found that 73% of tickets were purchased 0-14 days in advance. We then proposed a weekly reporting process to measure and monitor the trends and provide insight to the senior management team.

The client’s chief executive informed employees of a new policy of all airline tickets to be purchased at least 14 days in advance with any exceptions having to accept the lowest fare offered by HRG to include reasonable stopovers. If the traveller refused the lowest fare, HRG would advise the traveller that authorisation from their senior manager would be required.

Within 30 days of the initiative beginning advance purchase trends reduced from 73% 0-14 days to 47% in 30 days. The client also created a graphic to remind employees to book their travel 14 days in advance.

Senior buy-in and the internal memo sent by the CEO were instrumental in the success of this initiative. And, although some travellers pushed back, the HRG team continued to point them to their senior manager for authorisation. The project has demonstrated the strength of working in partnership.

The client said: "By accessing some insightful analytics from HRG we were able to launch an internal initiative to change traveller behaviour. HRG’s ability to provide timely reporting and peer comparisons led us to amend our travel policy and since we have approximately halved the instance of bookings occurring within 14 days of travel. This is a good example of pro-active HRG account management."