Zakenreis.nl
23 June 2009
Today Schiphol Travel International introduced a complete compensation program for the credit card costs on KLM-tickets. The credit card costs of EUR 7.50 which companies have to pay for tickets bought via travel agents in the lower charged booking classes since August 4, will no longer have to be paid by customers who book at Schiphol Travel International.
Schiphol Travel International, the first travel agent to embrace this practice, has developed the compensation program, because it was clear that large companies were not happy with the credit card surcharges. During the last meeting of the NATM (Dutch Association for Travel management), of which roughly half of the travelling Dutch businesses are a member, it was made clear that these businesses felt that travel agents were taking a much too passive attitude towards these additional credit card costs. NATM-chairman Herman Huijer is very happy with the initiative of Schiphol Travel International. "I find this a very good initiative and I am happy that it came from a travel agent. The common business practice of credit card companies to always charge all sorts of additional costs to businesses has been broken here."
According to KLM, the cheapest booking classes already are so cheaply priced, that when additional credit card charges are added, KLM has to add money when the customers pay for these tickets with a credit card. This is why KLM introduced the credit card surcharges of EUR 7.50 as of August 4. The credit card companies, on the other hand, persist in advertising that the use of credit cards when paying for tickets is highly advantageous. The corporate customer often does not know what to do. Discontinuing payments with corporate credit cards is not always desired as payment methods are often part of an ingenious, internal administrative process that is linked to an expense management system. All of this inspired Schiphol Travel to develop an original compensation program. "The solution is that a ‘merchant differentiation’ within Schiphol Travel International takes place, " director Daan Lenderink says. "This means that we have developed a tool that recognises the tickets with additional credit card charges and then changes merchant. This means that customers can now book tickets with Schiphol Travel International without the additional credit card charges." The only condition is, however, that the customer uses AirPlus and American Express, because these are the only two credit card companies that have high-quality data transmission. This concerns more than 95 per cent of the Dutch corporate market according to Lenderink.
According to Welmer Blom, Vice-President Sales & Services at KLM the Netherlands, this program that Schiphol Travel International offers its corporate customers already exists in the leisure travel industry. "When a customer books a ticket, the touroperator acts as a merchant and pays for the additional costs that credit card companies charge," Blom says. "We now see that the business travel market makes more and more use of tariffs intended for the leisure travel industry. This is not a problem, but can only happen with the same conditions that apply to the leisure travel industry." Blom is not afraid of the negative impact on the turnover. "Over the last three years, we have charged credit card charges via our internet site without any negative consequences. Companies must realise that this method of payment is under pressure and that they will have to get used to the fact that using a credit card costs money,” according to Blom. “There is no free lunch. What Schiphol Travel International is doing, is brilliant entrepreneurship. I do not think, however, that it will catch on with other travel agents. Tickets are offered very cheaply. Especially in these times, the margins are razor thin."
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