The University of Kent have awarded a 4 year contract for Business Travel to Key Travel which is due to fully launch in the coming months.
Key Travel offer an intuitive and easy to use travel platform with one basket functionality to allow users to book flights, hotels, rail, Eurostar (etc.) in a single transaction online, and also offer an offline booking facility. It will provide a better, more flexible, and more cost effective service.
Their platform offers a large range of travel options from specialist air fares including Academic Fares to low cost carriers. Academic Fares offer more flexibility and additional scope including extra baggage, reduced cancellation costs, and lower costs for booking flights.
Key also offer over 900,000 hotel options worldwide. Users will also have full access to UK rail bookings and Eurostar bookings, as well as capabilities to book conference venues, car hire, ferries, and other options.
The Key Travel booking platform will be rolled out in two stages – please note the exact dates are to be set:
- Pilot stage – commencement expected in April which will be rolled out to a small number of departments who have already been selected. This will allow us to embed the system and work out any teething troubles in a controlled manner.
- Full Launch – commencement expected in the summer which will be rolled out to the wider University.
The incumbent travel provider, Click Travel, has a contractual agreement with the University until August 2018. All travel bookings should continue to be made via Click Travel until Key Travel has been rolled out in your department
Any bookings which have been made with Click Travel to take place after August 2018 will still be honoured.
A new and updated Travel Policy will be launched to coincide with the launch of Key. Any queries please contact the Procurement team at procurement@kent.ac.uk