Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)
Quick answer
The full cost of a travel decision over its useful life — including hidden, indirect and downstream costs — not just the sticker price at the point of booking.
Our full guide to Total Cost of Ownership is on its way. In the meantime, explore the related terms below or browse the full corporate travel glossary.
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A specialist agency that books and manages corporate travel on a company's behalf — handles bookings, after-hours support, supplier deals, reporting and duty of care.
The self-service booking website travellers use to book flights, hotels, cars and rail inside policy — usually integrated with the TMC, the expense tool and the approval workflow.
The combined spend category covering pre-trip bookings (air, hotel, car, rail) and post-trip expenses (meals, taxis, incidentals reclaimed via expense report).
The booking record an airline or GDS holds for a trip — traveller name, flight segments, ticket numbers, contact details and special requests — and the source of truth the airline operates against.
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