Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - (Page 18)

GROUND TRANSPORTATION Enterprise Again Dominates Car Rental Satisfaction Rankings Travelers for the fifth year in a row rated Enterprise Rent-A-Car the best among rental car suppliers as overall satisfaction with the rental car industry continued to decline, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Rental Car Satisfaction Study, released last month. Enterprise received top marks from travelers in all six factors of the study: costs and fees, the pickup process, the rental car, the return process, the reservations process and shuttle bus/van services. Enterprise has been the top-rated vendor in the study for nine of the past 10 years, according to the company. Hertz and Alamo Rent A Car, which significantly improved its scores compared with last year, were ranked second and third by travelers, each receiving above-average overall scores. National Car Rental, Avis Rent A Car and Budget Rent A Car all received about average scores in overall satisfaction, while the Dollar and Thrifty brands both received below-average scores. On the survey’s 1,000-point scale, overall satisfaction for all companies dropped to a score of 734, compared with 750 for the previous year. “The current economic climate is having negative effects on all aspects of the travel industry—from airlines to hotels to rental car companies—as staffing and operations cutbacks have resulted in diminishing levels of customer satisfaction,” Jim Gaz, J.D. Power and Associates’ senior director of global hospitality, travel and entertainment, said in a statement. J.D. Power and Associates based this year’s findings on more than 13,400 evaluations from both business and leisure travelers renting a vehicle from an airport location in the past 12 months. This is the 13th year the firm has conducted the car rental satisfaction survey. ENTERPRISE TOPS J.D. POWER LIST J.D. POWER AND ASSOCIATES’ 2008 STUDY OF RENTAL CAR USER SATISFACTION 1. Enterprise 2. Hertz 3. Alamo 4. National 5. Avis 6. Budget 7.Thrifty 8. Dollar 9. Payless 10. Advantage 11. Fox Source: J.D. Power and Associates —Michael B. Baker Chauffeured Transportation Suppliers Enhance Online Booking BY ELISSA HUNTER Several of the largest chauffeured transportation companies recently have launched or are working on updates to their online booking tools, promising better control over spending. EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services recently launched a new Web site with enhanced capabilities, while Dav El Chauffeured Transportation Network is in the middle of updates to its Web site and recently announced an agreement with automated ground transportation payment firm RideCharge. EmpireCLS’ new Web site is “a real-time interface. You can book for anything around the world,” said vice president of business development Marissa Criaris. “People can update profiles, get receipts, view history and load preferred pickup spots. On the day of your trip, you can view your chauffeur’s picture and get cell phone information.” The Web site also can be accessed through phones and BlackBerrys, and interfaces with the booker’s computers, uploading meeting reminders along with confirmation numbers. When a reservation is made, a receipt is sent to the user as a PDF within 24 hours. Criaris said users DAV EL’S SOLOMBRINO New booking tools slicker, easier next year would be able to pull spending reports from the Web site as well. Criaris said approximately 50 percent of all the company’s bookings are done through the Web site and global distribution systems. Dav El’s online booking system is in the middle of a refresh, said president and CEO Scott Solombrino. “We’re trying to make it slicker, easier, have more applicable information, be able to store more data for the end user to be able to have access to longer history trails on their data and improve some of the processes,” Solombrino said. Dav El also has signed agreements with GDSs, RideCharge, GroundRez and Global Ground Automation, recently acquired by Rearden Commerce (BTNonline, Oct. 6). “We’ve enhanced as much as we can,” he said. “There’s so many ways to get in here from a booking perspective. There’s no one system I find perfect, but they’re all available in the market.” Carey International partnered with GroundRez this year, said Carey senior vice president of global sales Matthew Tolan, and plans a mobile-compatible Web site next year. The site can import credit card receipts and account invoices into an Ex- cel format.“The ease of reservation is crucial, but so is the invoicing and the pulling of receipts for travelers who have to have certain parameters in terms of how they have to file their expense reports,” Tolan said, adding that customers had asked for online capabilities. “People want to get off the phones,” he said. “As little as three or four years ago, we were doing less than 3 percent of reservations using automated channels. This year, approximately 23 percent of our total reserva- Access the 2008 Business Travel Buyer’s Handbook see btnonline.com/handbook tions are going through one of our automated channels.” Using automated channels can help corporate customers by easing the booking process and offering better capture of chauffeured transportation spending. “By going through the booking tool, not only do you have a record of it, you have a management report,” said Dave Kilduff, managing director of ground transportation for Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s CWT Solutions Group. “It’s a start of a foundation to get your arms around the limo business.” Bill Knepper, senior director of business development at BCD Travel’s Advito consulting arm, added, “As time goes on, if you can’t make the reservation online, unless you’re in a unique location, you’re going to be at a competitive disadvantage.” Meanwhile, some executives said the use of online channels would never completely replace the phone. “We think online moves a couple more points in the next couple of years as it gets more sophisticated, but we don’t think it’s the endall,” Solombrino said. “We don’t anticipate all chauffeured car going online, just like I don’t anticipate the computer driving the car and not having any drivers in the future. It still comes down to the driver experience in the chauffeured vehicle. That’s where chauffeured car creates its value.” ■ 18 Monday, December 15, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.btnonline.com/handbook http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - December 15, 2008

Business Travel News - December 15, 2008
Contents
Inside Track
Profiles In Travel Mgmt
Forum
Aviation
Lodging
Ground Transportation
Travel Management
Meetings Today
Washington Wire

Business Travel News - December 15, 2008