Top 10 Cost-Cutting Measures for 2009:

10. Reducing direct purchases from travel vendor web sites and other
    non-preferred travel agencies ………

It is recommended that all university business travel be booked through the university’s exclusive site, Orbitz for Business.  If, when shopping other sites, lower fares are found, call the Orbitz for Business Customer Service desk at 1-800-320-2352 and ask an agent to book the fare for you. Although no single source (travel agency or online booking tool) can claim to have the lowest fares 100% of the time, the university’s preferred supplier, Orbitz for Business provides the best overall value in most instances and travelers should be encouraged to take advantage of the services and discounts provided. 

• When a purchase is made directly on an airline web site and/or other travel supplier site, the booking is not recognized by the travel supplier as belonging to the university even though university funds are paying for the ticket.  As a result, when it comes time to negotiate better discounts for the university, the spend volume is distorted, reflecting lower spend with a particular supplier than actually is being spent. 
• Internet purchases mean that travelers are on their own and any disruptions to their travel plans force them to scramble to rebook without the benefit of calling an Orbitz for Business agent, costing the traveler valuable time.  
• Unlike the case with Orbitz for Business bookings, Internet purchases do not allow a 24-hour courtesy cancellation on non-refundable airline tickets, meaning that once the ticket is purchased there is no altering of plans, without paying costly penalties. 
• Orbitz for Business will track unused non-refundable tickets and display them on the traveler’s home profile page as a reminder to reapply them to future itineraries being booked.  Internet purchases can end up costing thousand of dollars in wasted university assets when trips are cancelled and never reused due to oversight, a common occurrence with electronic tickets.
• Internet purchases, and/or the use of non-preferred travel agencies, mean higher transaction fees that are paid for by the department. Orbitz for Business transaction fees are not passed back to the traveler.
• Internet purchases inhibit the university’s effectiveness in contacting you in the case of an emergency since we may not know your whereabouts, and, in the long run, booking on random web sites may actually cost the traveler more money in the form of wasted time and hidden costs. 

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