5 reasons why your travel management solution should be TMC-agnostic

In today’s dynamic business landscape, optimizing travel spend is crucial. Many companies turn to Travel Management Companies (TMCs) for booking and itinerary management. While TMCs offer valuable services, TMC-agnostic travel management solutions provide additional benefits for companies booking corporate travel. Here are five key reasons why your business travel program should embrace a solution that isn’t limited to any one TMC.

1. More Choice

Selecting your own TMC is just the first choice. Each TMC has established relationships with specific airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. Those relationships can create bias towards those vendors, potentially limiting your access to inventory, the most competitive rates, or other business requirements. 

For example, employees in certain areas prefer “offline booking” with a travel agent. Booking offline will direct all travel costs for flights, trains, hotels etc. directly to the company, relieving the employee of the burden of floating the cost until they are reimbursed. In another area they might prefer to use an online booking system. But not every TMC supports every form of booking. By using more than one TMC, you can support all your employees’ travel needs.

2. Flexibility and Control

A traditional TMC-based program locks you into their processes and technology. A TMC-agnostic solution empowers you to take control of your travel program. You can integrate your preferred vendors and payment methods, streamlining the booking process for travelers while ensuring compliance with your company’s travel policy. This flexibility allows you to adapt your program to your specific company needs, providing a more efficient and employee-centric travel experience.

3. Complete Data = Better Corporate Rates

A TMC-agnostic spend and travel management platform provides a consolidated view of all your travel spend across all channels, TMCs or otherwise. 

This comprehensive data empowers you to identify spending patterns, negotiate better rates with vendors, and implement cost-saving strategies. With real-time insights, you can make informed decisions to optimize your travel program and maximize your return on investment.

4. Integration with Existing Systems

Some newer online booking tools not only require you to use a single TMC (their TMC!), they also hold your data hostage. This limits potential insights and makes it harder to manage things like expense reports – a critical travel-related challenge. 

5. Corporate Traveler Focused

The travel industry is constantly evolving. Travel management systems without TMCs (like Mesh Travel, for example) are incentivized to focus on delivering value to corporate travelers and the people that support (accounting, travel managers, etc.) Their goal is to make the best product for your company and your employees.  

Sure, they have to service the TMCs as well. But the more value they can deliver to the company, the more likely they keep a customer. They will drive innovation, deliver better experiences, make travel easier for employees and ensure their system works seamlessly with your existing travel and accounting stack.    

TMC-agnostic solutions’ only goal is to help you to optimize your travel program, reduce costs, and enhance the traveler experience for your employees. 

Consider exploring a TMC-agnostic solution — like Mesh Travel — to unlock the full potential of your travel program.

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Sarah Murphy

Sarah is a Content Manager for Mesh Payments. Before working in marketing, she completed her Master of Journalism degree at Toronto Metropolitan University (f.k.a. Ryerson University) and worked as an arts journalist in Toronto. She was a content writer for tech companies in the retail and workforce management sectors before joining Mesh in 2022.