How to Simplify Corporate Travel Management: Best Practices

With the rise of email, video conferencing, and telework, you’d be forgiven for thinking business travel is a thing of the past. Never have we been able to accomplish so much without so much as needing to leave the comfort of our own homes. In actuality, business travel is bigger than ever. Business travel expenses are expected to reach $1.7 trillion in 2022 with an average daily cost of $325.

An in-person meeting that secures a big contract can be invaluable to the bottom-line of any company, however, businesses still like to do their best to rein in frivolous travel spending that could be better allocated elsewhere. As such, many businesses outsource their corporate traveling planning to an external procurement firm that understands the processes and can secure negotiated rates with well-known travel vendors.

What is Corporate Travel Management?

Working with corporate travel experts like the procurement consultants at Concertiv can significantly reduce costs, skimming commissions and override costs from travel bookings. A procurement agency sits in between a travel agency and a client to source the best group deals and rates for high-quality airlines and hotels. Concertiv offers less expensive travel costs for the same flights and hotel reservations your employees are already looking for.

What Does a Corporate Travel Expert Do?

Corporate travel experts work with you to provide the same travel experience you know and love at a lower cost. Procurement agencies use their buying power to negotiate contracts with top airlines and hotel partners. These contracts are at better rates than a travel agency can provide.

The corporate travel expert will upload these bespoke deals and partnerships to the travel agency you are working with, giving your company’s employees access to these exclusive corporate travel discounts.

Concertiv offers lucrative rates at 4-5 star hotels in our portfolio through leveraging group spend –– allowing smaller firms more buying power and consequently lower rates for how their employees already travel.

Another service that Concertiv offers is allocating status nominations among your company executives. Our team looks at your company’s travel spend and works to get decision makers savings through status nominations.

Best Practices for Managing Corporate Travel

Utilize Corporate Travel Discounts

Employees may take dozens of trips each year, and each time they will get on a flight, stay in a hotel room, and/or rent a car. That kind of consistent business is incredibly lucrative for travel vendors, and your patronage is important to them. Corporations, especially larger firms, have considerable leverage when it comes to setting travel prices, but you have to negotiate.

One of the main reasons businesses fail to take advantage of corporate travel discounts is that they are not openly advertised. Travel companies know that managers don’t have the time to research or request these discounts. Hiring a professional that knows the ins and outs of the industry streamlines the negotiation process.

Automate Your Travel Policies

Corporate travel policies can be incredibly complex and difficult for employees to understand and implement. Through no fault of their own, employees might choose travel options for themselves that aren’t in line with corporate travel policies. This not only squanders resources but also valuable time as employees are contacted and educated about their mistakes.

This can be overcome by automating the corporate travel planning process, allowing employees to only select options that have been vetted to be in line with company policy.

Benchmark T&E Policies

T&E policies are essential to keeping corporate travel costs in check. A travel and expense policy should be benchmarked against peer companies to ensure all of the standard policies are in place.

Concertiv provides clients a transparent view of what their peers are doing and which allows clients to replicate areas they believe would work well for their company. We will advise and guide you on where you can take advantage of your T&E policy to manage corporate travel costs.

Enlist a Corporate Travel Expert

A corporate travel manager’s expertise and sourcing advice will be invaluable when setting up your corporate travel management systems and settling on contract procurement. The corporate travel expert’s relationship with travel vendors will open huge corporate travel discounts that would not otherwise be available.

Concertiv is Your Corporate Travel Planning Solution

Corporate travel planning is easy with Concertiv. Concertiv provides independent sourcing advice, so you know you’re getting the best deals for your business. We leverage our group spend to help our clients gain more power to secure lower rates.

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Interested in learning more about procurement-as-a-service for your firm?  

Learn how leading firms are partnering with Concertiv to reduce spend, minimize risk, and save time across key spend categories.