Booking travel – A temporary new approach to target ongoing difficulties

14 Jun 2022

Updated guidance and new temporary approach for booking travel

Dear colleagues,

Following ongoing disruption that many are facing, please find below the updated guidance and new temporary approach for booking travel, particularly for complex journeys.

Context

Given the recent headlines and media attention paired with some of our own experiences, it’s hard to ignore the ongoing challenges facing the travel industry and in particular airports and airlines at the moment as they try to successfully navigate a post-pandemic recovery. 

With widespread cancellations and delays, it is no surprise that our preferred supplier, Key Travel, has not been immune from these industry-wide challenges. 

Temporary solution for arranging travel

Whilst we have continued to see an uplift in bookings and spend going through our system in May [3,158 bookings £1.1million], especially for simple travel plans, we and Key Travel recognise that they are unable to meet all our needs in the short term. 

With these issues in mind, we remind colleagues that we have also temporarily added a secondary approved supplier, Diversity Travel which you can also access for arranging travel. 

In the unlikely eventuality that neither of these suppliers is able to fulfil your needs due to these unforeseen circumstances, we are also temporarily permitting you to book yourselves with a supplier of your choice. 

We hope that these actions will alleviate some pressure and undoubted frustration albeit we know the entire travel market remains difficult. 

The processes for travel approvals and existing budgetary requirements remain completely unchanged and we will review the situation again at the end of August 2022 to assess the right approach going forward. 

Thank you all for your understanding and continued support, I hope that this temporary decision will provide you with more flexibility and choice, particularly surrounding complex trips, as we continue to navigate this global, industry-wide challenge.

Kind regards,

Carol Prokopyszyn

Chief Financial Officer