Making corporate travel savings might seem like a challenging task– especially if you have lots of employees flying to various locations at different times. But there is a process to keep your expenses down without compromising on traveler safety or services.
With a smart process in place, you can save a lot of money on every trip– and make both your travelers and your stakeholders satisfied. Check out 10 of the most reliable ways to reduce your overall corporate travel expenditure.
1. TIGHTEN UP YOUR CORPORATE TRAVEL POLICY
From booking airline tickets to meal allowances and managing expenses, there’s a lot to think about when setting out a corporate travel policy. That means there’s plenty that can slip through the net. Have a close look at your present corporate travel policy and think about whether it’s strong enough to deal with every area of travel expenditures within your company.
Focus first on getting the basics right– a proper approvals procedure, in addition to guidelines on reservations & bookings, on-site expenditures. Creating clear procedures will assist your business travelers to make decisions that stay within your policy and don’t incur extra costs that impact your bottom line.
2. HAVE A PRE-TRIP APPROVAL PROCESS
Some of the simplest ways to lower your corporate travel expenses are by having an approval process in place for every booking. By making it clear who really needs to give approval for travel, you won’t have the problem of trips having to be canceled after they’ve been booked, causing wasted expenditure.
If you associate with a travel management company, make full use of their Online Booking Tool. This must give you better oversight when it comes to controlling travel arrangements.
3. MAKE SAVINGS ON AIRLINE FLIGHTS
Airline tickets can be costly, so be wise about which ones you book. You could save just by being flexible on the dates of traveling and airline company you use, and by booking Economy flights only. Though, once you book it’s usually cheaper to have a fixed itinerary. Only buy flexible tickets that offer you an option of return dates if they’re absolutely necessary for your trip.
4. CUT THE COST OF HOTELS
Hotel rates can vary enormously, even within the same area, so being smart can deliver huge savings. You may decide you want to let your business travelers choose where they wish to stay. That’s absolutely fine– just make sure you set a budget limit or star rating.
5. SET A REASONABLE FOOD AND TRANSPORT ALLOWANCE
You might experience that giving employees control over their food and transport expenses can actually lower overspending. Meal expenses can be set as a total allowance per day, giving the employee the choice of how much to spend separately on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There’ll always be exceptions– so keep that five-star restaurant aside for your high-profile business meetings. When it involves transport, you should clearly advise employees to choose the most economical method, considering journey time. This could include using their own vehicles to travel from A to B and then reimbursing them.
6. PLAN AHEAD
This is the golden principle when it involves saving money in any sense. In the world of corporate travel, it’s always a good idea to book flights and hotels in advance as they can significantly increase in price nearer the time.
7. UNDERSTAND TRAVEL AUXILIARY CHARGES
Added charges like Wi-Fi and parking easily add up to give you a nasty surprise at the end of a business trip– especially when you thought everything had been taken into account. Many business service providers can bundle these charges into one combined package, helping you add them into your budget forecasts and keeping you in control of your expenses.
8. HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
If your business travelers are devoting less time arranging their trip, they’re devoting more time working– which is good for your company. Making their trip run as smoothly as possible at every stage will enable them to stay productive during their trip.
9. CONSIDER A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT SERVICE
Hiring a corporate travel expert can really control your overall business travel spend. As experts in the field, at Corporate Compass, we deal with global organizations to execute customized travel management programs and services– and our industry-leading travel support can save you time, money & stress.
10. REWARD YOUR EMPLOYEES– AND YOUR BUSINESS
Whenever your travelers pick a more affordable option, they’re saving the company money. Throughout a year, that can really add up. So how about offering them an incentive to deliver further savings? It could be a voucher for their favorite shopping center, a part of the savings, or break– just some way of thanking employees for cutting down your travel costs and motivating them to keep doing it.