Corporate travel management is not easy, especially for businesses that require constant corporate travel. According to Statista, around 47.6 million nights were spent on business visits abroad from the United Kingdom in 2019.
With the pandemic’s travel restrictions getting lifted, the number of corporate travellers increased.
As companies deal with financial constraints, increased travel expenses, and limited availability in major business destinations, managing employees' corporate travel arrangements has become an increasingly critical factor.
Many businesses struggle with travel management, wasting numerous hours each week trying to figure out how to get their travellers to the right location at the right time.
Although technology has made it easier for corporations to handle their travel, there is still much to be desired. Here's how travel managers can go from suffering from their current travel management system to having a smooth, efficient experience.
1. Create Your Corporate Travel Schedule
Creating your corporate travel schedule is an important part of corporate travel management. It can help you save a lot of time and effort.
Here are some important reasons why designing a corporate travel schedule is important:
Get More Time
To make the most of your time, designing a corporate travel schedule is a crucial stage in corporate travel management that will help you plan and cover every minor travel detail.
As a result, there will be no time wasted in travelling between sites, activities, or hotels. Designing your corporate travel schedule will give you a realistic idea of how much a traveller can get done in a day and help you control their expectations
Additionally, creating a corporate travel schedule will save time for travel managers by making it easier for them to choose a destination and itinerary based on the travel schedule.
Helps Manage Your Spending
When you plan your corporate travel schedule, you can estimate the expense of the trip ahead of time. It's easier to arrange your budget when you know how much you're going to spend.
Travel managers, finance managers, and travellers will be able to determine the overall cost of the business trip. This will prevent travellers from spending money out of their pocket and avoid finance managers from running out of budget on just one business trip.
Furthermore, travel managers will be able to discover cheaper flights and hotels for their employees if they are aware of their company's travel schedules. It will allow you to book ahead of time and save money from early booking specials and discounts.
Better Travel Experience
Employee satisfaction can also be improved by creating a corporate travel schedule. A well-planned corporate trip necessitates a well-planned travel itinerary. Travellers will find it easier and faster to get from one location to another.
Travellers will know exactly what to do and where to go to a specific location at the right time. Because corporate travel is well-planned, it also helps ensure that essentials and important travel items are not overlooked.
The creation of a corporate travel schedule results in well-planned corporate travel that is more:
- Pleasant
- Comfortable
- Easier
- Faster
- Safer
2. Implement a Flexible Itinerary
A standard corporate travel itinerary can work fine. This will assist corporate travellers in adhering to a given guideline and achieving their goals in the most effective manner possible. However, having a flexible schedule has its advantages.
Travel and flexibility go hand in hand, and corporate travellers must maintain an open mind at all times during their trip. Even with a flawless itinerary and meticulously planned corporate travel, there are still some things we can't control or prevent.
This includes:
- Natural Disasters
- Delays
- Cancellations
- Lost luggage
- Loss of communication
- Crimes
- & More
There are so many last-minute changes, so corporate travellers must be comfortable with change and willing to make last-minute changes in their corporate travel itinerary. It's crucial to be flexible with your travellers at times and mandates should be turned into suggestions when necessary.
3. Create a Budgeting System
Corporate travel is costly. According to Finder, the average spending on business trips abroad was £4.7 billion in 2018. Given the rising number of trips and rising travel prices, you can only imagine how expensive business travel is today and in the coming years. That’s why one of the most important aspects of corporate travel management is developing a budgeting system.
Corporate travel management will be easier if you understand your budget and have a solid budgeting system in place to track spending and benefits as they become available. Corporate travel budgets are a wonderful way to help control your company's expenses, increase company stability, and maximize your bottom line.
Here are some effective practices in creating a budgeting system:
- Consider the Past Travels: Examining previous travel expenses is the first step in creating a travel budget. Once you know how much travel has cost your company in the past, you can better anticipate how much it will cost in the coming year.
- Calculate Indirect Costs of Corporate Travel: These include the time researching travel options, negotiating and booking rates and fares, making changes to reservations, cancelling bookings, and reimbursements. You can save time by avoiding unproductive activities and focusing on more vital tasks.
- Collect Costs Data From Approved Corporate Travels: This includes looking at the data over time to see how much value each corporate travel adds to the company. Corporate travellers must fill out an itemized spending report. Details matter, and paying attention to them will aid you in developing an effective budgeting system.
- Monitor Potential changes: Travel expenditures can be unpredictable, especially in areas recognized for business or pleasure tourism. This means that the price of a hotel room or a plane ticket might change dramatically depending on demand. You can create a budgeting system effectively if you know prices are going to change.
Checklist:
Corporate travel management is a process that necessitates a thorough understanding of your budget, corporate travel schedule, your travellers, and careful planning.
Here's a quick rundown of the above details, as well as a checklist to help you improve your corporate travel management.
- Create Your Corporate Travel Schedule: Creating a corporate travel schedule benefits everyone involved in the travel program by saving time, controlling costs, and improving the travel experience for travellers. With a travel schedule, everyone can plan ahead and will know exactly what to do to achieve their objectives.
- Implement a Flexible Itinerary: Travel and flexibility go hand in hand. When there are things we can't control or prevent while travelling, a flexible itinerary allows travellers to comfortably adapt to the situation and improvise the itinerary to meet their corporate travel goals.
Create a Budgeting System: Understanding your budget and having a solid budgeting system in place will make corporate travel management easier. You can stay on top of your business travel management and budgeting by considering past travels, calculating indirect costs of corporate travel, collecting cost data for every corporate travel, and monitoring prospective changes that affect your budgeting.
