Daimler has reduced its travelers’ entire trip search, booking and expense reconciliation process to three clicks: enter the request, confirm the trip details and submit the expense summary. BCD Travel and other partners worked with the automaker to simplify the booking process for travelers, as detailed in a recent article in industry news outlet Tnooz.
Daimler travel manager Bernd Burkhardt said a company the size of Daimler loses an equivalent of €25 million (about US$27 million) in productive working time annually when travelers spend too much time on administrative tasks like booking trips, paying expenses and completing expense reports.
Kathy Jackson, BCD’s executive vice president of Global Client Management, told Tnooz that a coordinated effort created Daimler’s new “FiveStar Model” for travel. The innovative strategy is centered on search functionality that serves up only the most relevant trip options based on a traveler’s historical behavior, corporate policy, corporate supplier strategy and preferences.
Jackson said this “best trip” model reduces hassles for Daimler travelers, many of whom take the same trips over and over again to meet with customers or colleagues.