In 1989 JGT introduced to the marketplace the new concept of “Travel Management”. This was the provision of a service beyond the normal order taking, ticket printing and delivering. It entailed monitoring booking trends of clients and suggesting possible ways of maximising expenditure and purchasing power (when combined with those of other clients), to effect savings in man hours and actual expenditure for our client companies.   On an on-going basis clients booking patterns are discussed and recommendations made where appropriate. Each time an airline, hotel or car hire company produces a new product or fare type we review our client list to see if there is anything appropriate to individual clients.

Our “key deliverable” is quality. This reflects itself in the fact that our clients generally get to talk with their assigned travel consultant immediately. When that consultant is on a call, another consultant sitting within earshot can make or amend bookings and pass them to the assigned consultant at the conclusion of the call. This reduces errors, saves clients time in not having to wait around and ensures that the overall account consultant knows every booking that their clients make. Moreover, as all of this is happening within earshot of everyone in the office, each consultant gets a feel for the clients requirements and the manager is aware of any possible trends emerging.

Those high standards, which attracted so much business in our early years, are applicable today and continue to attract new clients without our solicitation. We have two important barometers of that. One is that we will answer our telephones within two “rings”. The other is, if the person you seek is unavailable at the time of the call, he or she will call you back within the hour. Alternatively, the person who answers the call will make the new booking or amend an existing one on the spot and pass the information on.

JGT is one of the fastest growing companies in the business travel field. We have been awarded an Aer Lingus Top Agent Award, in each year of the schemes existence (it has been discontinued since 2001). We have not lost an account during our history because of poor service levels. While this growth is expected to continue, it is company policy that when we have six people employed on business travel, we will “cap” our client list. The management of the company is committed to this aim to ensure continued high quality, which takes precedence over inflated profits.

How John Galligan Travel Can Help

Our approach to any travel account is to initially immerse ourselves in the client company. We need to know the requirements of the company. Get to know the types of staff that travel and review the manner in which they have been travelling. We examine how the client sets about purchasing that travel. We look for patterns as mentioned earlier and suggest possible products, which might help the budget. We would immediately try to “educate” those who are responsible for making bookings in how we operate. We advise on how fare types are structured, how airlines and hotel companies work and give a basic insight into the rules and indicate how one can best exploit those conditions to one’s advantage.

We may make suggestions on alterations to the manner in which the client company is purchasing travel. We look at the technology being employed and make recommendations there.

When providing tickets we examine the routing and suggest possible procurement options. On a complex long haul routing this might entail costing the journey a number of different ways. It may involve purchasing tickets from wholesalers. We will explore all the available options without bias to any one carrier. We will examine any deals that are in place with clients and suggest possible other tri-partite arrangements based on knowledge of what is available in the marketplace. Our staff will make recommendations at the point of bookings regarding “split ticketing”, “back-to-back” ticketing, Internet and any other mechanisms, which can be used to the advantage of the client. 

Travel Policy

The simple act of focusing on the travel overhead in isolation tends to show up areas of wastage, duplicity and general looseness where that exists. The Economist Intelligence Unit has written many hundreds of pages on this area. Their position on “Better Travel Procurement” comes down to a clear set of recommendations: -

1. Create a clear travel policy at Board level and ensure that everyone in the company is aware of that and how it affects them.

2. Monitor how bookings are being made and how that dovetails with the policy.

3. Instruct your supplier accordingly and have them monitor your bookings.

4. Look for patterns, which show frequent usage of particular suppliers.

5. Have your Travel Manager (Agent) negotiate arrangements on an on-going basis with suppliers with a view to effecting savings.

6. Monitor how the above has affected your travel spend.

There are clear areas where a good travel manager will examine and make recommendations i.e. it may be that you should be advised to purchase part of your travel through a particular airline, hotel chain etc.

Airline Tickets

For advice on travel options, schedules and fares, reservation on airlines and other operators, amending bookings before ticket issuance and presenting itineraries and tickets for travel, we will charge the following transaction fees in addition to the amount quoted by the operator:-

Destination                                    Professional Fee

Ireland & UK                                                                          € 40.00 per ticket

Europe-Low Economy Class/Internet                                € 70.00 per ticket

Premier Service *                                                                   € 100.00 per 30 minutes (or part thereof)

*Where more consultant’s time is required than a normal reservation or where consultancy is provided without resulting in a booking being made.

Other Services

Ticket delivery                                                                                             At cost

Swift Post                                                                                                      € 10.00

Refund Transactions                                                                                   € 50.00 pp

Limousine Reservations with flight bookings                                         € 40.00 pp

Hotel & Car Hire Transaction Fee (Automated)                                      € 40.00 pp

Hotel & Car Hire Transaction Fee (Manual)                                            € 40.00 pp (min) 

Hotels billed to a client through JGT                                                         5% Service Fee

Car Hire billed to a client through JGT                                                      5% Service Fee

Frequent Flyer Bookings (TAB etc.)                                                         € 100.00 pp

Reissue of ticket (additional to airline charges)                                       € 50.00 pp

Holiday Packages where operator does cover cost of distribution      € 50.00 pp

Payment Handling Fee -                                                                                 2% - 4%*

* No Payment Handling Fee applies where the airline accepts the charge. This applies to nearly all airline ticket issuances. Only where JGT purchases a ticket or package from an operator for cash, will we be acting as merchant and charging a fee.

All charges effective from 1 August 2006 until further notice.