The Global Business Travel Association Foundation (GBTA) outlined the results of its study on ancillary fees in a new handbook on June 5. The "2012 Ancillary Fee Handbook, Who Charges What, When & Where," provides an overview of the types of ancillary fees associated with car rental, air travel and hotel stays.

All the ancillary fees that business travelers can incur are categorized and ranked based on how common, transparent and easy it is for travel managers to track. Fees that cause the most problems for companies and travel managers are those that are least predictable, can’t be paid in advance and are difficult to track individually, GBTA researchers said.

According to the study, the top ten troublesome ancillary fees are:

1. Airline fees for soft drinks
2. Airline fees for headset use
3. Airline fees for movies and videos
4. Airline fees for food
5. Car rental fees for toll passage
6. Hotel-related fees for internet use
7. Hotel-related fees for parking
8. Car rental fees for late returns
9. Car rental fees for drop-off of a one-way rental
10. Car rental fees for fuel charge

"Our research found that only 21% of travel managers are tracking ancillary fees while those fees account for over 8% of total travel spend,” Senior Director of Research Joseph Bates said. “Our research shows that ancillary fees have a significant impact on travel budgets and policies. With better insight into how these fees work, travel managers can make more informed choices.”

GBTA members can view the full report by clicking here:
http://hub.gbta.org/resources2/list?order=DESC&sortby=resource_date_desc&category=&keyword=&type=file

The report is available for non-members to purchase from the GBTA Foundation by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org.