Acknowledging the Challenges
RetailMeNot’s executive assistants were consistently on call to support the travel schedules of the company’s on-the-go executives. Faced with the competing priorities of day-to-day project support and ever-changing travel needs, RetailMeNot searched for a managed travel solution to bring ease and flexibility to its bookings. Mary Elise Maurice, Manager of Executive Assistants at RetailMeNot explained: “The online tool of our previous travel management company (TMC) was inflexible and difficult to use. We’re an online company so forward-thinking, user-first technology is important to us.”
With EAs sitting on hold with their TMC for close to an hour to make simple itinerary changes and waiting several days for basic reports, RetailMeNot knew it was time for a change. “The EAs really needed access to support and the executives needed ease of booking,” Maurice said. “We listened to the issues people had to see if we could come up with a better, easier system that was also more cost-efficient.”
Working Around the Previous TMC
RetailMeNot’s previous TMC failed to create itineraries that both satisfied the employees’ travel needs and delivered travel cost savings to the company, so employees often skirted the system in favor of the familiar. They booked travel on web sites and apps to which they were accustomed instead of working within the company-wide system. “A lot of people were completely outside the system because they didn’t like using it,” Maurice said. “People were booking all over the place.”
Upon making the switch to TripActions, RetailMeNot employees stopped using other travel websites and apps. “The road warriors were all open to something different because they were tired of the old system,” Maurice said. “Having everything in one place is a huge deal for them. It was a game changer.”
Cost Savings & Duty of Care
Because RetailMeNot’s employees were working outside the previous TMC, the company didn’t have consistent visibility into the who, where, and why of employee travel. “We saw that people were traveling even though they weren’t supposed to,” Maurice said. Since duty of care is more important than ever, the TripActions Live Traveler Map played a key role in timely personnel tracking. “Our CEO needed to know where someone was, and was really impressed that I could just pull up that information,” Maurice said.
The RetailMeNot finance team has used TripActions to obtain data without lag time. “Previously we had to request reports. It would take up to five days to receive them. Sometimes our account manager wouldn’t respond to me for three or four days. Being able to go online and view the TripActions Admin Dashboard has been great for our finance folks. They love it,” Maurice said.
