The short version
The Royal College moved travel for its staff and volunteer members from phone and email bookings to the Encore Platform. Volunteer members sign in with a personal email address or mobile number and a one-time password, manage their own profiles, and book within policy. Online bookings grew from zero to about 70 percent, giving the Royal College better visibility and making 24/7 support more efficient.
For years, the Royal College booked travel for its staff and volunteer members by phone and email. As Craig Ceppetelli, Chief Operating Officer of Royal College Canada International, puts it, it was “really hard to control and manage.”
The Royal College accredits postgraduate medical training across Canada, delivers certification exams, and supports lifelong learning for more than 55,000 members. Craig was involved in the travel program from 2020 to 2023, the period when the Royal College moved to the Encore Platform. About 70 percent of its bookings are now made online. Craig explains how that changed.
What was not working
Staff and volunteer members both travel for the Royal College, but most of its travelers are volunteers. The organization has about 360 staff and 2,000 volunteer members, and Craig names the problem in one line.
“We're trying to manage a travel program for volunteers that are not employees.”
Every booking meant a phone call or a chain of emails. Travelers repeated their preferences, loyalty numbers, passport details, and credit card numbers each time. Physicians in academic and clinical settings did not have 30 to 40 minutes to spend on the phone, and many were uncomfortable sharing card and passport details by phone or email.
Only 30 to 40 percent of volunteer members routinely booked through the managed program. The Royal College struggled to see who was traveling, to enforce its policy, and to support travelers when weather or cancellations hit. When COVID-19 hit, it found close to $1 million in prepaid tickets and credits it could not easily trace, and Encore worked through them with the team.
What the Royal College needed
Its volunteer members are physicians and surgeons, not employees, and some travel infrequently. Whatever the Royal College chose had to work for someone coming back to it four, five, or six months later.
No HR record, no corporate login
Because they are not employees, volunteer members are not in an HR system and have no corporate account. The Royal College also did not want them keeping track of yet another username and password on top of the ones they already use for its other applications.
Travelers who go months between trips
The platform had to be intuitive enough to pick up again without relearning it, and flexible enough for busy clinicians to delegate booking to an assistant.
And when a trip goes wrong, they need a real person on the line, at any hour, who already has their details.
“Make sure that you pick a partner that really understands your business and the people that are in your organization,” Craig says.
What Encore put in place
Each of those needs has an answer built into the Encore Platform.
How the rollout worked
Encore was already the Royal College's travel partner, and the Royal College was an early adopter of the Encore Platform. Much of what Encore offers non-profiled travelers today, from member ID login to one-time passwords, was built together with the Royal College.
Training took about 30 minutes, with Encore's team alongside the Royal College's. Profiles stay current through a bulk upload from the membership system, so active and inactive travelers are accurate without a call to Encore. A dedicated travel program coordinator at the Royal College manages onboarding and keeps everything up to date.
What changed
The Royal College went from no travel technology at all to about 70 percent of bookings made online. For volunteer members who may go months between trips, that number matters.
Bookings made online
70%
Up from zero, across staff and volunteer members.
Volunteer members
2,000
Managed in one program with staff.
Training time
30 min
One session, and travelers were booking on their own.
When a flight is cancelled, travelers can rebook in the platform or call 24/7 support with their profile already on file. “The last thing you want to do is be on hold and then having to repeat your preferences,” Craig says. “Having it in the tool has really made that 24/7 support a lot more effective and efficient.”
Group travel, abroad
Each year, Royal College Canada International sends about 120 staff and volunteer members abroad over a six to eight week window to deliver exams. Some trips include four or five country stops. Group booking keeps them traveling together and tracked as one, and partner organizations with no profile can be booked with them. It runs on the same technology as Encore's Meetings and Events offering.
Lessons for other programs
Encore uses the same approach for other travelers outside the HR system, from board members and interview candidates to contractors and brokers.
