Managing a corporate travel budget is as much about changing business traveller behaviour as it is about calculating travel costs. While last-minute business trips can and do happen, most of the time staff who need to travel for work will know well in advance. 

“Given the state of flux that we’re in right now, planning can be even more important,” says Head of Customer Experience Andy Jack. "It’s about making sure that people are thinking ahead – not just how they’re going to get to their destination, but also any expenses they’ll incur while they’re there. These things don’t need to be planned or booked as separate activities. Booking flights first and hotels or car later will all add to costs.”

Planning helps you think through scenarios more thoroughly. It’s always best to factor in the travel experience when travelling for work and the budget, is it better to spend a few dollars more on a hotel that is a short work to where the traveller needs to be over a cheaper location which will involve taxis or rental car that be overall more expense and stressful for the traveller?

​​​​​​Accommodation takes up a big slice of travel expenses. It’s often not the room rate but all the ‘added extras’ that can quickly mount up – and they don’t always guarantee traveller comfort either.

Consider the location

For example, staying in Auckland CBD can set you back almost $200 per night, compared to accommodation options in neighbouring suburbs that can be half the price. However, you might then have to pay for parking for a rental car (which can be over $30 a day in many major hotel chains), or Ubers back and forth for meetings.

Stick to trusted providers and get rewarded for loyalty

If you have preferred hotel chains that fit your budget and you regularly book rooms there for business travellers, stick with them! They’re more likely to cut better deals and offer discounts if you’re a loyal customer. To manage this, include guidelines in your travel policy so team members know what charges are acceptable. No worries if you don’t have preferred suppliers as we have you covered through our local and global preferred supplier network.

Gather quotes from multiple hotels

It’s always a good idea to compare hotels and room prices – you’ll be surprised by the deals some hotels offer, especially for bulk travel bookings.

SAVI has added more advanced accommodation filters to quickly identify “Free Cancellation” options for bookings that won’t incur a penalty if a trip is cancelled. This is supplemented with enhanced accommodation safety and cleanliness information, available in SAVI. 

Dos and don’ts during the stay

Provide employees with clear guidelines about your company’s dos and don’ts for their stay at the hotel. For instance, mini-bar services might not be covered by the business or room service might be limited to one meal per trip

As New Zealand opens to international travel again, a pre-trip approval process will help businesses hit their travel program outcomes too. It’s a great tool for reviewing buying behaviour before you pay for anything and gives business travellers more cost ownership over their bookings.

Rather than relying on post-trip reports to mitigate any overspend, you can be more proactive with your travel expense management. Clear rules will help staff make decisions about what they do while travelling. Anything outside of that, they’ll have a process to follow to get approval.

“Having policy in-built when your people book, helps support and guide the right travel decisions. Automated approval processes can streamline the management of exceptions, making life simpler for the person booking. It can also be set to support in policy behaviour and only alerting the approver when needed, removing paperwork, admin and time that can be a pain and increase cost,” Andy adds.

Consolidation has long been considered best practice for managing corporate travel. Moving from a highly fragmented program to standardised travel policies, processes and tools in a single travel management system means businesses can leverage their total travel volume to negotiate optimal supplier pricing and use data to drive better decision-making.

By pulling together your business travel through a travel management company, “you’re going to get better value because we can do a lot more with that information,” Andy says.

“We have tools that will save you time and money including solutions for duty of care, travel policies and visibility of what and how your corporate travellers are spending. We can negotiate better deals for you by tapping into our exclusive network – that will help with cost savings and, ultimately, drive your budget further.” 

Here are some more ways consolidating your business travel can help better control your budget:

Greater transparency. With centralised data, you get a clearer, more focused picture of what is happening across your travel program. It makes retrieving and analysing your travel data much easier, so you can be more efficient with your money and make strategic improvements that yield other benefits. 

Improved safety and security. In a managed program we can also help ensure you’re meeting your responsibilities as an employer, by streamlining traveller tracking and communications. In an emergency, being able to quickly locate travelling employees is critical – and that’s harder when you’re having to piece together information from multiple sources. Your travellers will also appreciate this with having one point of contact 24/7 can take the stress out of unforeseen challenges.

Better travel experience. Consolidating with a travel management company not only streamlines the booking aspect of business travel, but travellers also get a more consistent and positive experience. The business benefits from tighter cost management controls and the traveller’s needs are better satisfied.

According to research by the Global Business Travel Association, ancillary fees account for around 8% of the total expenses involved in a business trip. They’re one of the recurring headaches of corporate travel spending, mainly because they’re ‘hidden’ within other expenses, which can make them hard to predict when planning a budget or expense policy.

These include a hotel fee for using the internet, an airline charge for food or drink or a car hire supplement for returning the vehicle to a different office from the pick-up. To manage and limit these expenses, establish a travel ancillary fees policy within your overall travel expenses policy.

Some business service providers can bundle these costs into one combined package, something you could negotiate with suppliers (or consult a TMC) to help you factor them into your budget forecasts.

There are many ways you can squeeze more out of your corporate travel budget, increase efficiency, decrease spending and help both your employees and your business thrive – without compromising business traveller safety or quality services. The global pandemic has demonstrated how valuable a trusted connection with a travel management company can be for small businesses and how partnering with a TMC will remove the complexity of business travel post-COVID.