Best travel management companies for SMEs

Handling travel internally often feels like running on a treadmill. It’s exhausting but you’re getting nowhere fast. Here are a few common challenges that might sound familiar:

• Travel costs skyrocketing: You’re noticing a drain on your budget.
• Increasing booking hassles: To cut costs you’re sifting through dozens of options to find flights, hotels, and car rentals, but still wondering if you’ve made the right choice.
• Industry-specific needs: Some sectors have unique travel requirements, and it can be tough to find a solution that fits.
• Approval gridlock: The travel approval process is a maze of emails and delays.
• Scaling pains: As your company grows, your travel management processes aren’t keeping pace.
• Data overload: Trying to figure out where the money’s going and why is a constant struggle.
• Frustrated travelers: When employees are stuck booking their own trips or dealing with problems on the go, frustration builds quickly.

If these pain points sound familiar, you’re not alone. Fortunately, many of these issues can be resolved with the right TMC partner.

Why would you settle for travel headaches if a better solution is out there? If you get the right help, your business can streamline bookings, gain control over travel costs, and have happier travelers. 

Which TMCs work with SMEs?

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) often work with TMCs to improve travel processes, input policies, and save valuable time and resources. Below are a few examples of TMCs with different approaches to tackling the common pain points of SME business travel.

1. Corporate Traveler

For more than two decades, we’ve been focused on making business travel as seamless as possible, offering tailored solutions for companies of all sizes. The key is in our balance of human expertise and intuitive technology, bringing the best of both worlds to business travel management.

Our platform, Melon, combines user-friendly design with real-time reporting, ensuring every trip is easy to book and every cost is transparent. Whether it’s the 24/7 support or our proactive approach to managing travel issues, we’ve got everything you need to take control of your business travel.

What would life look like without Corporate Traveler?

• Out-of-policy bookings causing chaos
• No reporting or visibility into travel costs
• Challenges reconciling invoices
• Inconsistent service leaving you stranded
• Sitting on hold with airlines for hours
• Late-night calls from travelers with cancelled flights
• Nobody to call when things go wrong

Key features include:

• Personalized service: A dedicated consultant offers recommendations and cost-saving ideas tailored to your business.
• User-friendly tech: Streamlined bookings, preferred rates, and a platform that takes the guesswork out of travel management.
• 24/7 support: Around-the-clock assistance for travelers and program managers alike, ensuring issues are solved quickly.

With Corporate Traveler, your business travel is no longer a hassle—it’s an asset.

2. Navan

Navan’s platform aims to simplify the travel and expense management process. It provides companies with a tool for gaining visibility over travel spend while offering employees a user-friendly experience.

Pros:

• Simplified interface for booking and managing expenses
• Features like AI-driven recommendations and corporate card management
• 24/7 support with self-serve AI support or a call center

Cons:

• Pricing information isn’t always transparent 
• Some users report issues with integration for certain airlines and customer service
• Mobile app functionality may not meet expectations in all areas

3. TravelPerk

TravelPerk offers an all-in-one platform for business travel, catering to companies seeking flexibility and control. It provides a variety of features designed to save time and resources while offering options for sustainability.

Pros:

• Flexible cancelation options with its FlexiPerk feature
• Integration capabilities with tools like Expensify and BambooHR
• Sustainability options through GreenPerk

Cons:

• Premium features can increase costs
• New users might face a learning curve due to the platform’s features

4. Egencia

Egencia serves businesses across multiple countries, leveraging data and technology to improve travel management. Their main focus is on providing detailed insights to improve the booking experience with AI-powered tools.

Pros:

• Broad global reach
• Use of AI and analytics to enhance travel program performance
• Generally considered user-friendly

Cons:

• Some users report customer service and mobile app functionality could be improved
• The lack of a free trial might be a barrier for smaller companies

5. Amex GBT

American Express Global Business Travel provides software and services aimed at managing travel and expenses for businesses. Its platform is designed to offer a range of travel options and premium support. They also own Egencia – but have different offerings. 

Pros:

• Varying levels of support/technology offerings
• Easy-to-use booking interface
• Perks and rewards for frequent travelers

Cons:

• Often more expensive than other TMCs
• Some reports of longer wait times for customer service
• May have limitations when booking more complex itineraries

Let’s take a closer look at how your travel management can be transformed.

Business travel services

Let’s be real—without the right tools, managing business travel can get messy fast. Imagine out-of-policy bookings popping up like annoying notifications, incomplete data making reports unreliable, and inconsistent service leaving your travelers stranded. Suddenly, you’re left questioning if your travel expenses are even remotely under control.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Our platform, Melon, takes the chaos out of bookings and provides 24/7 support—because travel emergencies don’t clock out at 5 PM. Take Sarah, for example. She’s a busy sales manager, always on the move. With Melon, she books her flights, hotels, and cars in one go, knowing everything aligns with company policy. Her preferences are saved, loyalty points are maximized, and support is always there. Her travel is smooth, efficient, and stress-free—exactly how it should be.

Bookings

Think of the hassle—managing inconsistent profiles, dealing with random suppliers, missing out on rewards. It’s frustrating, time-consuming, and definitely not efficient.

That’s where Melon steps in. It simplifies the entire booking process, offering preferred options and exclusive deals, ensuring every booking is policy-compliant. No more scrambling with profiles or losing out on loyalty points. Everything—from flights to hotels to cars—is sorted in just a few clicks.

Take John, who handles travel for his whole team. Before, he was stuck juggling multiple websites and waiting on hold with customer service more than he’d like to admit. Now? John books everything in minutes, keeps loyalty memberships up to date, and ensures his team never misses out on perks. Their travel is now organized, efficient, and headache-free.

No more booking nightmares—Melon handles it all. Ready to see it for yourself? 

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Management and approvals

Rogue bookings, runaway spending, incomplete data—it can feel like a runaway train with no way to stop it. Without oversight, managing travel can quickly spiral out of control.

Melon gives you total visibility over your travel program. From policy management to real-time reporting, you get improved compliance and total control over your budget. For Emily, who manages travel for a growing startup, rogue bookings used to be the norm, making it impossible to track spending. Now, with streamlined approvals and full budget control, Emily’s travel program runs like a well-oiled machine—no surprises, no headaches.

Savings and reporting

Without proper tools in place, you could be losing money through budget leaks, overspending, and lost time.

Melon changes the game, ensuring your travel managers are always on the lookout for better fares and deals. Plus, end-of-year reports give you a clear picture of how much has been saved, helping you stay on top of travel spend. Whether it’s tracking savings or keeping data reliable, our reports offer full visibility into your travel program.

Lisa, a finance manager, used to dread the end-of-month expense reports. It was always a nightmare of missing invoices and overspent budgets. Now, with detailed reports and a dedicated team, she’s able to track savings and optimize costs, making her work more streamlined and less stressful.

Want to see how much you could save? Schedule a meeting, and we’ll show you how to start trimming your travel costs today.

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Manage your business travel with ease

Managing business travel doesn’t need to be a constant battle. Here’s how we help solve your travel management challenges:

1. Control travel costs: Our tools and negotiated rates help keep budgets in check.
2. Streamline bookings: Say goodbye to juggling multiple tabs—everything’s in one place.
3. Tailored expertise: We understand the specific needs of your sector and provide customized service.
4. Simplified approvals: Automated approval workflows cut out unnecessary delays.
5. Scale smoothly: Our flexible solutions grow with your business.
6. Clear data: Comprehensive reporting gives you real-time insight into your travel spend.

You deserve a travel management solution that works for you, not against you. Ready to see how we can help? Book a meeting and discover how we can transform your business travel from a pain point to a point of pride.

Still curious? No worries!

Check out the video below to see how Corporate Traveler can transform your business travel experience into something extraordinary.