5 Questions Every Travel Manager Should be Asking About Service
Every TMC will tell you their service is excellent. So the trick is knowing which questions to ask .When travel managers evaluate a TMC, the conversation tends to gravitate towards pricing or technology…
While both these things matter, they’re rarely the key to what makes a brilliant TMC. Ask any Travel Manager what makes them stick with their travel provider (or what pushes them to leave), and the answer is often the same… Service.
Service is what ties together the reality of day-to-day travel. It’s also the hardest thing to assess. Every TMC will tell you their service is excellent. So the trick is knowing which questions to ask to get a better gauge on how they stack up.
In this article, we suggest 5 questions to add to your list when looking for a new TMC, reviewing an existing partnership, or simply wondering whether you’re getting the very best service.
What are your SLAs (and how do you prove you’re meeting them?)
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are the starting point of any TMC relationship, so it’s worth understanding them properly. Which metrics are covered? Call answer times, quote turnaround, and ticketing deadlines? And what happens when they’re missed?
Remember, an SLA on paper is only as good as the reporting behind it. Ask to see how results are measured, how often they’re shared, and whether the data is transparent or just a summary that says everything is going great. A strong TMC will proactively show you where they’ve met targets, where they haven’t, and what they’re doing about it.
Then go a step further: What does the TMC do beyond the SLA? After all, meeting a target is the minimum. A TMC whose consultants are rewarded only for speed will deliver a very different experience from one that recognises quality as well as quantity.
How is the service I can expect structured?
“Great service” can mean very different things depending on what lies behind it. It’s not a bad idea to ask directly: will my programme be supported by a dedicated agent, a small dedicated team, or a group inbox?
Each has its place, but you should know which you’re getting and why it suits your travel profile. Then ask the practical questions:
- How will my travellers and arrangers contact the team? Is there a dedicated email address and phone number for your account, or do requests go into a general queue?
- Who do they speak to? Will they build familiarity with your policy and your preferences, or start from scratch every time you call?
The structure can determine how quickly issues are resolved or the overall experience of your travellers when on the move. It’s much better to understand this up front than discover it after go-live.
How involved will your Operations Team be in implementation? How closely do they work with Account Management?
A good service model on paper only works if it’s built properly. So find out how much the Operations team is involved from the very beginning.
- Do Ops attend implementation meetings, or is the plan handed over to them afterwards?
- Do they have genuine input into how your service is built?
- Will they understand your people and culture before the first booking is made?
Once you’re live, the relationship between the Operations Team you deal with and your Account Manager becomes critical. Do they align regularly? Does your Account Manager have real insight into what’s happening on the ground, such as common issues and pain points, or are they relying on second-hand updates?
When those two roles are working in tandem, you get an Account Manager who can speak with authority about your service and an Ops team who understand your business priorities.
Experience a truly personal service built around you
For more than five decades, we’ve been perfecting our High Touch service. The result? A travel experience that delights travellers and delivers for travel managers.
We do this by gaining a deep understanding of the pillars that hold your business together, immersing ourselves into your culture, and supporting your wider objectives.
How do you ensure policy, preferred suppliers and traveller preferences are all delivered to make travel frictionless?
Every travel manager knows the balancing act. You need your travel policy to be adhered to, but you also need travellers to feel looked after. Because a traveller who feels ignored will inevitably book outside the programme.
So ask what technology and quality control systems the TMC has in place to make this work. How do they check that bookings meet policy? How do they make sure preferred suppliers are offered? And how do they capture and deliver individual traveller preferences, such as seat choice and hotel requirements, consistently?
Then look at the bigger picture. What is the TMC doing to make the journey itself as smooth as possible, from booking to boarding to arrival? The goal is a traveller who lands at their destination rested and ready to work, not one who has spent the trip fixing problems.
Are you truly invested in my relationship, and what happens when things go wrong?
Service isn’t just transactional. It’s about building trust and managing expectations. Does the TMC build genuine relationships within your business, or do they only show up when there’s a renewal on the horizon?
A TMC that invests in relationships will understand your business more deeply, and will be far more likely to raise concerns early rather than let them brew long enough they become complaints.
Remember, every TMC will make mistakes at some point. What matters is whether they are hoenst about it. Ask how errors are communicated, how quickly, and whether you’ll hear about them from the TMC or from an unhappy traveller. A TMC that owns its mistakes and explains how they’ll prevent a repeat is one you can rely on.
It’s also worth remembering that incidents don’t keep office hours. When a flight is cancelled at 2am, a natural disaster strikes or a traveller needs urgent help abroad, how does the TMC respond? Ask what’s in place to deliver consistent service no matter what time it is. Is support the same standard at night as it is in the day, and does the team on the other end of the phone know your programme, your policy and your travellers’ needs? This is where a truly “Always On” approach makes the difference between a stressful situation and a well-managed one.
In Conclusion
Service is the part of a TMC that you feel every day, and it’s the part most likely to determine whether you stick around. The right questions will show you whether a TMC sees you simply as a client to be serviced or a partner to be invested in.
At the heart of it, great service comes down to people. If a TMC can answer the above five questions with confidence, you’re probably in good hands.
Want to talk about what great service should look like for your programme? Get in touch with our team.