WILMINGTON, Del. -- DuPont released details of a study conducted by
Integrated Technology Research Corp., which showed air fares
obtained through Rosenbluth International's corporate travel
management division were, on average, lower than fares found
through the Internet.
The study compared the Rosenbluth fares to rates found on Travelocity.com and Expedia.com.
DuPont said it will spend approximately $100 million this year
on air fares alone for its 35,000 business travelers.
The report found that fares were lower whether the business
traveler was searching for "traveler convenient" fares, i.e.
flexible, refundable, nonstop or unrestricted, or "lowest usable"
fares, those that are nonrefundable or restricted, and require
connecting flights.
For "traveler convenient" fares, fares obtained through the
Rosenbluth management system were, on average, 18% lower than those
on Travelocity and 21% lower than fares found on Expedia.
The study also indicated that, for "lowest usable" fares,
Rosenbluth fares were lower than those of its Internet competitors,
though the discrepancy wasn't as large as with "traveler
convenient" fares.
On average, Rosenbluth rates were 7% lower than those found in
Travelocity and 1% lower than those in Expedia.
Furthermore, the report showed these lower fares could be found
with some frequency. With regard to "traveler convenient" fares,
Rosenbluth beat Travelocity 75% of the time and topped Expedia 74%
of the time.
Again, Rosenbluth did not outshine its competitors as
effectively when it came to more restrictive fares; the agency beat
Travelocity on 41% of all occasions and Expedia 37%.
Flipping those numbers, the report said the Internet portals
were dishing it out to Rosenbluth on these "lowest usable" fares.
Although Rosenbluth won the war, on average, Travelocity still beat
Rosenbluth 25% of the time and Expedia was the winner at a 26%
rate.