How to save money on business travel
(5 things your organization needs to know).
‘Cheapest’ rarely equals ‘best’. This is true in life, and business travel is no exception. After all, you wouldn’t want to ask your Head of Sales to stay in the cheapest hotel in New York City, would you?
Business travel is an investment, and one that can deliver incredible returns. The key is to do it well and do it without any wastage. It’s a balancing act, but it doesn’t need to be over-complicated. All you need to do is leave it to experts to show you the way.
We help over 10,000 customers around the world with their business travel needs and have compiled our top 5 ways to save money on business travel. Keep reading!
The 5 steps to travel cost reduction
1. Show me the money!
Want to know the fastest way to reduce your travel costs? Start with data. When you can see what you’re spending, you make more informed decisions. Find a travel management company that can provide the data (and analysis) your business needs to make great cost-reduction decisions. Our platform, Melon provides this with just a couple of clicks. Watch a demo!
With great data, you’ll know what you’re spending on flights and hotels, and you’ll also have access to other metrics which can really make an impact on your bottom line. Find out how far in advance your travelers are booking, whether there are opportunities to consolidate trips, and who might be booking outside of policy.
2. Create a tight travel policy (and by tight, we don’t mean 'inflexible’)
We beat this drum regularly because we firmly believe in the value of a strong business travel policy. A well-thought-out travel policy helps set your company’s travel budget and it also sets clear expectations for travelers and travel bookers.
Your travel policy is not something that is written in stone either – it can adapt and evolve with the times (plenty has changed in recent years!), but good policies start with a foundation of clear objectives and some supporting data. For example, what should your travelers do if they fall ill overseas? With a crystal-clear travel policy in place, the traveler would know exactly what to do and your company has the best chance to manage costs and reduce any wastage.
3. Plan ahead (as best as you can)
Business travel has to be more fluid than leisure trips – you're at the behest of clients, project milestones, varying priorities, and you simply need more flexibility. However, saying that, planning can be one of the best ways to save on business travel. That means setting your policy up so your team has direction on when to book trips, and the appropriate flights for what they need.
Last-minute bookings can cost you financially, but it also costs a lot for your travelers who might feel more stress or more discomfort.
If your business is more project-oriented, we can help! We work closely with several customers who do plenty of project-based work, to help them build a pre-project budget and set some parameters to stick to.
4. Review your travel spend regularly
“How can we find a way to save this customer more money on their business travel?” This is a question our Customer Success (CS) teams ask themselves every single day.
Every customer of ours will have access to a CS or Account Management team member. They are travel experts who have also worked as travel consultants. They’ll work with you to strategize and analyze your travel program, and proactively look for ways to maximize cost-saving initiatives.
Our team will focus on all of the efficiencies (big or small) that can add up to squeeze the most value out of every single dollar you invest in your travel program.
5. Knowledge is potential power. Expertise + Action = results.
You know your business better than anyone. And it’s the same for us. There aren’t many travel companies out there that can match it with our people. Most of our teams have decades of travel experience and have seen it all. From natural disasters to global pandemics, you name it, we’ve worked through it.
We're probably biased, but we like to think we know almost everything there is to know about travel. Saying that, the best TMCs are those who listen to your needs, understand your objectives and then laser in on how to hit those objectives.
What’s the Corporate Traveler difference? We do all of that whilst also providing cost-savings and loads of added value.
Get in touch!
Have questions about your travel program? We’ve got answers! Reach out and one of our experts will be in touch shortly!
