Your Business Travel Matters
Here’s our ultimate toolkit series for improving your business travel
The drawbacks of DIY travel, how to craft the perfect policy, creating savings and so much more.
Get each chapter delivered to your inbox
Introduction
It’s time to talk business travel. Travel offers growth, team bonding, creativity, solid relationships, and plenty more.
It’s the start-ups and small to mid-sized companies (SMEs) that are powering travel’s recovery from the pandemic, jumping on planes and trains more often than the corporate giants. What does that tell us? That travel is integral to getting the job done and building successful businesses.
Over time, many SME businesses find that travel is getting a bit…out of control. You have seen it yourself. The business expands quickly and soon employees are travelling far and frequently. It becomes hard to keep track of; not just where people are in a given week, but also how much it’s costing. Some of the processes can be clunky and when your people are managing their own business travel they end up spending hours trying to book trips themselves (aka DIY business travel!)
Then throw safety, health, wellbeing, and the environment into the mix. Oh, and border closures, testing requirements and ever-changing travel rules. Silently but earnestly, travel has gotten more complex.
Your next move? Just keep reading. We built this series to provide you with a comprehensive view of how to build a great travel program. The most important thing is that you do not have to do this on your own.
Want more info right away? Let’s chat!
What even is a business travel program?
A managed business travel program is more than just someone who books your travel. It’s about turning something complex into something easy to navigate.
Here is a quick checklist to pressure-test your current situation. Does your current solution:
- Keep your people safe and support them in any situation, 24/7?
- Make booking travel easy and quick?
- Help you spend wisely and save you money?
- Avoid unnecessary wait times, like being on hold, when reaching out to providers?
- Allow you to pull any travel data and reporting with the click of a button?
- Advise on what to do about caring for your people and the planet?
Your travel solution should check all these boxes.
Chapter 1: Your travel needs some TLC
Here’s the 35,000 ft view
- Enlisting a travel specialist, aka a travel management company (TMC), takes the strain off your team.
- DIY travel booking is bad for business. We’ll show you why.
- Real-life stories to show what it means to have help and support.
- Become a pro at adding value to your company by saving time and money.
All travel is personal, even when it’s done for work.
Your travellers have their own preferences for their business trips – from how they book, to the meals they have on the plane and the accommodation they pick. Travel is also unique for every business. Some companies care about containing costs, others are all about freedom of choice for their travellers, while some just want to make sure they have someone to call when things get hairy (think pandemic-sized travel disruptions!)
But every company cares about the safety of their colleagues, especially these days. There’s no room for error when it comes to traveller wellness and safety - whether they’re in the office or out on the road.
Feeling the pressure to create all that customisation in a process that works for everyone? It doesn’t need to be difficult. Enlist a travel partner that can do all the above (and more) for you.
Want more info right away?
Let’s chat
Real-life stories of when having a business travel team can save the day
Check out these real-life sticky situations, and how travel management support has helped:
- How to avoid a 3-hour hold with the airline.
- EAs stressed with all the travel admin.
- Borders closing and getting travellers home.
Read blog
Unmanaged or managed travel?
What's in the best interest of your travellers and your company's bottom line? Let's dive into:
- Travel policy and bookings.
- Trip approval processes.
- Preferred suppliers and tech.
Read blog
Guide: Myths and magic of managed travel
Is your business too small for managed travel? Isn’t it just quicker to book your travel online?
We’ll answer these questions and more in this guide!
Get your copy of the guide
Checklist: What to look out for in a TMC
Gotta love a checklist. Use this simple sheet to prioritise what you want from a TMC and check off those requirements while you’re comparing the options.
Key criteria includes
- What your business travel team and support looks like
- How your colleagues book travel
- Where the TMC has a presence
Eight reasons why DIY business travel is bad for your business
Booking travel ad hoc on the web? It's wasting time, money and productivity. You'll see...
- How it's putting travellers at risk.
- Why travel shouldn't stress anyone out.
- How productivity drops without the right tools.
Read blog
Don't waste a second or another dollar.
Your business has goals and objectives beyond your travel program. In fact, it’s probably one of the least important pieces of the puzzle that is business strategy. But it’s still a big piece...and you need to make sure that you’re not overpaying.
Booking business travel isn’t just about getting the cheapest rates, especially if your flight gets cancelled or needs to be rearranged. It ends up costing you more in the long run, in both time AND money. Now you need to consider costs from a higher vantage point; looking across the entire travel program.
Are your people spending too much time scrolling through the websites of airlines when they should be closing deals or running sales training? That’s the train of thought to jump on. And that’s why it pays to outsource your business travel needs to a business that knows exactly what you crave.
5 quick wins to save money
It’s no secret that booking business travel in advance usually means better rates, but there are other ways to find savings. When you’re ready to think seriously about saving money on business travel, here are five quick wins to get you started.
Read blog
Money (and stress)-saving reasons to offload your business travel admin
Despite what its label suggests, a managed business travel program can still give your colleagues a lot of choice and freedom. Here’s some of the more obscure ways to save on business travel; it’s not just the financial advantage…
Read blog
Guide: Don’t pinch pennies. Make smart savings.
Business travel putting a dent in your company budget? As line items go – business travel can pack a punch but there’s insider ways to get impressive savings. Download the guide for advice on:
- Slashing the biggest costs first.
- How to spend wisely.
- Next level savings.
Plus we share how one of our awesome customers has saved money on their own business travel.
Download your guide now
Coming soon: here's what you'll find in future chapters
- Building the perfect travel policy
- What a perfect business travel team looks like
- Everything you need when it comes to travel tech
- Sustainability and your business travel
- Travel risk management and protecting your people
- How reporting and analysis optimises your program
- Scoring exclusive deals and other benefits