There is a wide range of travel agencies that meet the
needs of business clients including;
Business Travel Agents
– These specialise in serving only business clients, gearing all their
operations to this one sector of
the travel market. Many are members of the Guild of Business Travel Agents and
their staff hold business travel qualifications such as the certificate in
Business Travel created by the GBTA. Business Travel agents vary from single
person operations to multinational operations such as American Express Travel
Retail Travel Agents-
Although arranging travel for leisure purposes accounts for the bulk of the work
of a retail travel agent, some may have a business travel specialist or even a
business travel department catering
exclusively for the needs of
corporate clients. These specialist services are offered across the whole range
of retail travel types- ,multiple agencies
(e.g Lunn Polly, Thomas Cook), maniples (small chains in a particular region)
and independent agents(predominantly single branch owner operated agencies)
Implants- This is where a travel agency
is invited by a business customer to set up a branch within the business
premises and organise all the company’s travel arrangements. The branch is
staffed by travel agent employees who are sub contracted to the business
customer . Those working as ‘implants’ remain the employees of the travel
agency, but they work on the premises of the company whose travel they organise.
The levels of business travel services provided by these
different suppliers will vary depending on the nature of business handled in the
agency. Business travel agents will devote 100% of their time and resources to
business clients whereas a typical
high street travel agency will handle a wider range of clients depending on the
nature of the surrounding population, e.g. if there is a sizeable business
community nearby, the proportion of the agency’s work for this sector will be
greater.
Try and find a business travel agent on the internet
Find out the main services they are providing for the
business traveller and print them out
Bring back the printouts to class
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