No matter how large or small your business is, if it is going to grow, eventually it will be in the best interests of your business for you to engage in corporate travel. Corporate travel does not always mean leaving the country; perhaps you just need to meet with the supplier a few states over and an airplane will serve you better than a 10-hour road trip. No matter what the reason is, corporate travel will continue to be an essential part of growing any future business and because of this, the corporate travel industry has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. One of the most important things you can do for your company, especially as it begins to engage in corporate travel or looks to overhaul its rules, is work on the policies and look at the benefits of corporate travel. So what are some of the best tips for corporate travel that your business can implement?

Universal policies

Universal policies can have a huge benefit to your corporate travel, and one universal policy that should be strongly considered is having corporate travel agents. Corporate travel agents can help ensure that your corporate travel policy rules are kept. This is important as people from the CEO down to the lowest level may either intentionally or unintentionally do something in a way that can cost the business money. Perhaps your travel policy does not allow for first-class reservations for your personnel but individuals still try to fly first class and have the company pay for it. These issues can simply and conveniently be dealt with by having your own corporate travel agents with whom you work to ensure that all rules and policies are kept.

This can help your business save thousands of dollars or more in travel costs every year. Not only this but outlined universal policies that your corporate travel agents have access to will also help your company employees to know exactly what is expected of them when they engage the travel industry. They will know what things are reimbursable, what things are not, whether they have to keep receipts, and so it eliminates all grey areas. This helps employees know the rules and what is expected of them which can be a huge peace of mind to the financial department and help ensure overall business cohesion.

 Read also: Best Case Corporate Travel Policies

Save money

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest benefits of using corporate travel policies for your company is that it can ultimately save you money. This is a huge tip for those who engage in corporate travel regularly as businesses which do it more often see the most savings. One great way of ensuring universal implementation while simultaneously helping save money is to use solutions like TTS Corporate to book flights, hotels or even rent-a-cars. TTS Corporate is a booking solution with no implementation or booking costs that will help enforce your company travel policies to ensure that every time your personnel engages with the travel industry, everybody is being held to the same standards.

Having travel agents and booking tools that help enforce your company travel policies helps ensure not only compliance but also that the standards are kept and met. When everybody in your industry uses the same corporate travel agents, the same corporate booking tools, and follows the same policies, not only will it save money (not to mention the time), but the money saved will be reliable and predictable which can help you identify individuals or incidences where policies were not kept. This helps crackdown on rule breakers who can cost your company money and allows you to focus with a simple policy in hand to cross-reference employee spending and travel decisions.

Read also: How to Improve Your Corporate Travel Policy Compliance

Limit employee decisions

When your employees engage in corporate travel, they are doing so with a purpose and a goal in mind for the company. With this in mind, it is important that they are able to focus on the task at hand and not be swamped with a huge variety of small decisions to make as a part of their travel. Limiting employee decisions includes things like simply following the policies, using specific booking tools or a specific corporate travel agent, but it can also be extended to things like preferred carriers or particular hotel chains – if they do not want to stay in those hotels, then they can change accommodations at their own expense.

Corporate travel agents and your business itself may have deals with specific hotels which have better pricing or offer special discounted rates to your employees and so mandating specific hotels or modes of travel can help a business reduce employee confusion while simultaneously gaining a huge financial benefit. Employees who have to book their own hotels, make their own reservations and make all the other decisions related to travel are employees whose minds are going to be divided between the task they’re supposed to be working on behalf of the business and their own personal accommodations. The more choices an employee makes, the more room there is also for policies to be violated and for the business to lose more money.

 Read also: Why business travelers still prefer travel agents

Conclusion

As the corporate travel industry grows, these tips for corporate travel can save your business and growing industry thousands of dollars every year. What’s more is that by using the services of corporate travel agents who know the travel industry, you will also be able to help ensure that company policies are enforced, that all employees are treated as equals, and that employees are able to stay on task and focus on their work without having to worry about whether or not they are within the corporate policy guidelines. This all works together to help improve efficiency, take away travel stress, and overall streamline your business and benefit it in a myriad of ways. Taking the stress out of travel while simultaneously creating a way to hold employees to a uniform standard and save a business money are all huge benefits to using corporate travel policies. Make sure that yours are updated for maximum efficiency. With all this in mind, the future for your corporate travel looks efficient, simple, affordable, and bright.

—

Check out the Slideshare presentation: