According to recent research by the Global Business Travel Association Foundation (the educational branch of the GBTA), the most problematic expenses for Travel Managers are those with additional charges, or ancillary fees as they are known.
They are hard (or impossible) to forecast, they can’t be paid in advance and they are difficult to track individually. Using these criteria as a measurement, they have drawn up a list with the ten most common and problematic ancillary fees. They are:- Airline charges for soft drinks.
- Airline charges for using headphones
- Airline charges for watching films.
- Airline charges for food.
- Charges for crossing borders in rental vehicles.
- Hotel charges for using the internet.
- Hotel parking charges.
- Charges for late return of rental vehicles.
- Charges for dropping off rental vehicles at a different branch from the pick-up.
- Refuelling charges for rental vehicles.
As you can see, the list contains lots of ancillary fees related to the world of transport. Such fees have become a key source of revenue for many airlines and car rental companies. In the case of airlines, the increase in revenue from these fees has risen by 66% over the last two years.
Ancillary fees are a constant headache for Travel Managers, who often have to “do some digging” to get to the information that they need. The fees are not often presented with a specific breakdown.
If you would like to see the full research data of the Global Business Travel Association Foundation’s report, you can do so here. According to other research by the same foundation, only 21% of Travel Managers process ancillary fees correctly and they do so through internal reimbursements, corporate cards or business travel management agencies.
In your case, what ancillary fees do you find most annoying?
