Travel technology vendor evaluation almost always starts with a product demo, which is the least useful input for predicting whether the partnership will work. Demos are engineered to showcase capabilities at their best. The questions that follow reveal what the implementation experience, support quality, and long-term relationship will actually look like.
Question 1: What Does Your Implementation Process Look Like for a Company Our Size?
The answer reveals whether the vendor has genuine implementation methodology or delivers software and expects you to figure out the configuration. Vendors with strong implementation records can describe a specific process, not generalities.
Question 2: Can We Speak With Three Clients Who Implemented in the Last 18 Months?
Recent references are more informative than historical ones because they reflect the current version of the product and the current quality of the support team. Vendor resistance to recent references is a signal worth noting.
Question 3: What Supplier Integrations Are Pre-Built vs. Requiring Custom Work?
Vendors often describe supplier integration capability without distinguishing between integrations that exist today and integrations that can be built. Your specific supplier relationships determine whether the pre-built library covers what you need or whether you are funding new development.
Question 4: How Do You Handle Supplier API Changes?
Supplier APIs change without notice. The answer reveals whether the vendor has a proactive monitoring and update process or whether API changes become your problem to report and wait for a fix.
Question 5: What Is Your SLA for Critical Issues and How Is "Critical" Defined?
Support SLAs that sound strong often have definitional loopholes. Understanding exactly what constitutes a critical issue — and what response time means (acknowledgment vs. resolution) — prevents surprises after go-live.
Question 6: What Happens to Our Data If We Exit the Contract?
Data portability is rarely negotiated carefully enough at contract time. The answer to this question reveals both the vendor's data architecture and their negotiating posture on something that matters significantly if the relationship ends.
Question 7: What Are the Most Common Reasons Customers Leave You?
This question rarely gets a direct answer, but the reaction to it is informative. Vendors with strong retention know why customers occasionally churn and are not threatened by the question. Vendors with weak retention become defensive.
Question 8: Who Will Be Our Day-to-Day Contact After Implementation?
Many vendor relationships deteriorate after the sales team hands off to a support team with less context and less incentive to ensure success. Understanding the post-implementation account structure before signing reveals whether the vendor has invested in customer success or views implementation as the end of active engagement.
