INSIGHTS
Find your perfect OBT with this expertly curated shopping list
Your online booking tool (OBT) is the nexus point for your travel programme, so it’s understandable why so much goes into choosing your booking setup. But when managing a multinational travel programme, how do you make the best choice?
We sat down with Peter Psaltakis, Vice President, Global Solutions Engineering, and Bernard Wehbe, Americas OBT Product Manager, to compile a “shopping list” that corporate travel professionals can reference next time they search for a new OBT solution.
1. Global vs. best-in-market
Travel managers often want to implement a single OBT around the globe to ensure a consistent experience for all travellers and minimise any operational headaches. But Bernard warns against “chasing the sun” towards a single OBT solution. “Even though your programme is global, you need to pause before thinking globally. Instead, focus on whether an OBT will be able to accommodate your policy.” He continued: “It won’t matter if you have a global solution if it doesn’t work with your policy or support niche regional needs.
The way I see it, you choose the OBT(s) that meet your policy needs and then build around them.”
Different OBTs are stronger in different categories and are only available in specific regions. Is your programme heavily focused on rail? Do you require virtual payments? What about NDC and non-GDS content? These criteria can affect your choice.
Choosing between a global online booking tool and a best-in-market solution isn’t just about scale, it’s about alignment with your programme’s goals,” said Peter.
“Factors like content, user experience, regional requirements, approvals, payments, mobile access, expense integration, and much more all play a role. Your TMC should be a strategic partner in helping you evaluate and select the tool(s) that best support your objectives.”
2. Key features to consider
Unfortunately, you can’t simply choose your OBT based on limited criteria. There are so many layers you need to consider, and most of these items can be managed by your TMC.
- Multilingual and currency support
- Access to regional and global content, preferred suppliers, and integrations with content aggregators that give travellers varied and relevant options
- A seamless user experience that fosters high adoption on both mobile and desktop
- It’s also important to consider the balance between high-touch service and tech-first self-service. Our experts caution that not all that glitters is gold: An OBT that boasts little need for agent interaction may cause headaches for your travellers. Things happen,” said Bernard. “You have glitches, you have confused travellers, nervous travellers. You want an OBT setup that allows them to start the process independently, but if need be, a human is standing by to help.
3. Get the most out of AI
You can probably guess the number one disruptor in the OBT space right now: AI. It’s poised to reimagine the entire booking experience, from selecting flights to itinerary management.
Bernard said the magic will be found in how OBT AI will learn to understand individual travellers. “Right now, when you search for flights, hotels, rail, etc., you can get hundreds or even thousands of results. But agentic AI is poised to learn a traveller’s preferences inside and out, juxtapose them with company policy requirements, and ultimately ultra-refine their search results. In the future, travellers will instead get only a few hyper-personalised results rather than a wide net based on looser criteria.
When searching for a new OBT, corporate travel managers need to think about and prepare for a future where their travellers are going to see less and less search results, so is the OBT prepared to support your programme’s content requirements?
Agentic AI is quietly reshaping the travel experience: automating low-complexity bookings end-to-end, delivering hyper-personalised servicing at scale, and doing so without human intervention,” said Peter.
“The real question isn’t whether bots can replace humans, but whether the experience they deliver will feel more human than the humans themselves. As chat fatigue sets in, UX will become the battleground: those OBTs that seamlessly fuse AI with intuitive design will win, not just on cost, but on trust.”
It’s time to go shopping!
Bernard sums it up perfectly:
There's no bad OBT. There are just OBTs that aren't fit for purpose for your programme. You must work with your TMC to build your OBT experience well.
So, let’s put this all together so you can easily reference it later (and we’ve also created a handy chart that you can take with you). Next time you’re window shopping, you’ll know exactly what to look for in an OBT. And if you need extra support, FCM is packed with OBT experts and elite certifications with the best OBTs on the market.