Leakage is the bane of a travel manager's existence. When travelers don't book through designated channels, work is needed to corral the associated data for tracking, reporting, rate assurance and other functions. Data on ground transportation and meal purchases generally is only delivered weeks after the fact.
A recent analysis by data firm PredictX showed the extent of the challenge. Looking at $8.5 billion in travel-related spend by 15 companies — covering travel management company, card and expense data — it found that on average, 41 percent was transacted outside TMC channels. That included all spending on meals . . .
David, I am surprised the impact of mobile, especially in-app purchases was not mentioned in the article. Obviously the ground transportation is driven by the Uber or Lyft app, but other research (by Phocuswright and Egencia) seems to pinpoint a significant out of channel gap caused by mobile bookings within a supplier or OTA app. Capturing mobile bookings outside of the channel is one of the key challenges for corporate buyers.