Online Travel with a human touch

Have you ever booked a trip online and then found it incredibly difficult to get service when things go wrong or you need to change your itinerary?

The travel industry has gone through a technological revolution over the last 20 years with more and more people deciding to book their holidays and business trips online.  In 2015 the combined marketing spend of the 2 largest online travel companies was a staggering US6.7 billion.  It’s not surprising therefore that they take the lion’s share of online bookings.  It does raise a question however do these companies truly offer the best prices to the consumer when they have to pay towards such an enormous marketing spend.  In some case maybe but if price is the key decision making factor when you are planning your travels it would be wise to shop around and in particular with smaller niche companies who are not burdened with such high overheads.

However back to the question at hand and whether you have suffered poor customer service when booking online.  So much focus has been placed on technology by the major travel companies that they seem to have forgot that customers at some point still require human interaction.  Normally when they do it is during stressful times such as having just arrived after a long flight and encounter issues when checking into their hotel.  The last thing you want in this scenario is to be placed in a call centre queue and while waiting left wondering who you will be talking to and whether they really will assist you promptly (if at all).

Enter www.budgetbusinesstravel.com (BBT).  This new online travel company offers you the freedom to book online hotels and flights at competitive prices just like any other online travel company.  The difference though is an uncluttered, unbiased search page that ranks products by best price and the price you see is the price you pay.  Unlike other online travel companies BBT is a membership based platform which anyone can register for free.  When registered you are introduced by your very own personal assistant who will be there to assist you at your time of need.  It’s easy to register online buy going to their homepage and clicking on Register or alternatively email them at inquiry@budgetbusinesstravel.com and they will set up an account for you.  What’s even better is if you quote reference S3MBBT617 on the remarks section on the registration page or in your email you will be automatically enrolled as an “Emerald” member of their Reward’s Club, saving you even more money on your travels.

You can follow them on www.facebook.com/budgetbusinesstravel/

About The Author – Steve Harrop 

For the British entrepreneur, Steve Harrop, founding and running an online booking engine is the answer to several personal experiences he made during his corporate career in finance and accounting. After being confronted with a surprising lack of customer recognition at major airlines he had been loyally traveling with for many years, the idea of creating his own company started forming.

With ten years of experience working for leading destination management companies in senior roles such as Chief Finance Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer, and more than 20 years in the finance and accounting field, Mr. Harrop gained the expertise necessary to start building his company. After two years of careful research and planning, he launched BudgetBusinessTravel.com.

Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Steve Harrop has always had a passion for numbers and a strong understanding of topics related to finance and accounting. He decided to further pursue this direction in his studies and became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the world’s largest professional body of management accountants. To further deepen his knowledge, he later obtained a postgraduate diploma in Business Administration at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom before continuing his international career and ultimately starting his own business.