6 Ways Your Company Can Save Money on Business Travel
Corporate and business travel represents a high cost to any company that sends employees flying to different locations. Business travel is often necessary if you want to boost growth in your organization. Face-to-face meetings with clients and business partners are 34 times more effective than video calls. Furthermore, it can improve your close rate by 40%, which makes business travel a crucial investment.
However, companies must find avenues to reduce travel expenses and remain profitable, which can be challenging. If you’re interested in reducing travel costs, here are six ways to generate more corporate travel savings.
How To Save Your Company Money from Corporate Travel
Sometimes travel managers have to perform an intricate balancing act when figuring out how to save your company money from travel costs while keeping co-workers happy. The good news is that there are several strategies you can implement to reduce company travel expenses.
Business travel savings strategies such as crafting a corporate travel policy, tracking expenses, and using rewards programs can effectively reduce costs. Consider the following next time you plan business trips for your team:
Negotiate Discounted Rates With Hotels and Airlines
Travel service providers such as airlines and hotels can offer corporate rates and discounts. These perks can be provided to their business clientele, so it is best to contact them and make arrangements in advance. When negotiating with airline companies, you should demonstrate your air travel volume. You can get a volume travel discount from airlines if your annual volume is at least $500,000. Some smaller airlines require less air travel volume, while larger carriers require more.
It would be best if you also had enough volume to convince hotel chains to give you a discount. Booking around 50 nights per year can be enough when negotiating with owners of boutique hotels or smaller independent chains. You may need more volume to get discounts from larger regional hotel chains.
Getting discounted rates represents a significant amount of savings for your business. Do this step for locations your employees frequently fly to.
Use Rewards Programs
Give out a reward every time your team members choose a travel option that’s more cost-effective. Providing incentives can encourage employees, which drives more savings in the future. As a reward, you can give them time off, a share of the savings, or vouchers to their favorite stores.
Book Trips in Advance
Another way to get more corporate travel savings is by booking in advance. It’s pretty straightforward since flights and hotel rates tend to be more affordable the earlier you make your bookings. Make sure to emphasize advance booking to your employees so they can plan their trips and make their travel requests as far ahead as possible. In addition, you can also offer incentives to your team members who can make travel arrangements in advance.
Craft a Corporate Travel Policy
Having well-formulated policies goes a long way if your company wants to make a lot of corporate travel savings. Without clear policies and guidelines, your employees won’t have proper guidance to determine if their travel plan falls within the company’s budget. In addition, corporate travel policies also set the appropriate expectations for travel managers and other staff.
You can use various travel policy templates to craft one of your own. Each company has unique needs, which is why you should be clear on your position on multiple elements, including:
A clearly defined reimbursement and reporting process.
Guidelines for when business credit cards will be provided or used.
The detailed approval process for booking airline tickets, hotels, and on-land travel arrangements.
Rules covering the use of business and economy class flights.
Details surrounding all types of business travel expenses.
Ensure that business travel policies remain clear, concise, and accessible to anyone in your team using any device. However, these policies shouldn’t be static. As the needs and size of your organization grow, your business travel policies should also be updated accordingly.
Employees should also be provided with a certain level of autonomy when choosing booking options. Consider using the latest in booking technology provided by corporate travel management companies. These tools can help you automate the travel approval process, reducing the burden on your travel managers.
Travel Expense Tracking
Your business can’t afford to ignore areas where you can lose time or money. Expense tracking is crucial to all companies and allows you to determine who is spending the most and what is costing you the most.
Your organization will benefit when you track and report staff travel behaviors. Doing so can also make corporate travel more personalized. You can determine each traveler’s preferences and include options that make business trips easier for them.
Implementing an expense tracking system for corporate travels also provides certain vital benefits:
Averting Potential Employee Fraud: It is estimated that 15% of corporate fraud comes from bogus expense reports and travel expenditures. You can prevent it by establishing expense tracking procedures. The tracking process begins by setting up travel expense policies. Educate your employees and the management team so everyone clearly understands expense tracking and reporting procedures. Further, make sure to spell out the allowable expenses. Expenditure policies need to be updated often as prices and rates fluctuate regularly.
Establish Accountability: In the event of an audit, the tracking and reporting process establishes accountabilities. It will be easier to determine lapses in your systems and procedures, allowing you to update policies efficiently.
Efficient Data Gathering: With an expense tracking and reporting system in place, you can quickly gather data. This information will be beneficial to management when updating policies and providing for the needs of employees.
Tracking Airline Prices, Food, and Hotels
One of the most efficient ways to save money on business travel is to track prevailing market prices and get a better flight inventory. It would be best if you always looked for better flight options, hotel deals, and dining options. Working with corporate travel management companies will help you find deals to reduce travel costs.
Consider Alternative Accommodation Options
Some companies have favorite hotel chains and rarely choose other accommodations. However, they could be missing out on potential savings that can be gained from offers provided by competitor hotels. It is best to be savvy on accommodation options, especially if your employees stay longer on location.
For instance, using Airbnb can be more cost-effective than booking extended stays in major hotel chains. Alternative accommodations give your team members access to amenities such as a kitchen, laundry room, and other facilities that make their stay feel like home. These options help you meet specific employee needs, remain compliant, and stay on budget.
Work with Seasoned Corporate Travel Experts
When you partner with CI Azumano, you gain access to decades of industry experience and expertise to your advantage. Combined with market-leading technology, our team provides you with the best deals and saves money on business travel. To find out more, fill out this contact form, and our specialists will be happy to answer your questions.