In an increasingly global and interconnected world, it’s no surprise that corporate travel has increased significantly in the last decades. But there are still many companies that ask their employees to book their own travel on an ad hoc basis without having a set procedure in place.
In this brief guide, we’ll give you our suggestions to create a simple and efficient corporate travel policy so that the next time you have to book a trip for your company, you’ll save more time and even more money.
The cost of booking a trip without a policy in place
According to a study by the Global Business Travel Association, when an employee books his own travel without a corporate travel policy in place this can cost a company upwards of €2000 a year.
Without a corporate travel policy and a centralised procedure for these bookings, companies lose unique opportunities to negotiate special partnerships with hotel chains and airlines.
Additionally, a corporate travel policy helps to streamline procedures, thus saving you time when it comes to booking a trip and making your employees more productive.
How to create an efficient corporate travel policy
1. Focus on your employees
How your corporate travel policy is set up says a lot to your employees about your company’s priorities. For this reason, an efficient corporate travel policy should take into account not just the company’s needs but also the impact this policy will have on its employees.
An efficient corporate travel policy should simplify procedures for all those involved in booking business trips, making it easier to meet the company’s goals and ensure your employees’ well-being.
2. Define a clear protocol
One of the things that makes companies lose precious time is the lack of a clear protocol so that employees know exactly how to proceed when they need to request a booking for their business trips.
A good protocol can be a simple yet effective tool: it will have to define how bookings should be requested (email, phone, in person), with how much time in advance they need to be made and any other necessary information that employees will need to provide for the company to assess the request. For this last part, consider important information like:
- Preferred hotel chains and airlines (for the company and for the employee, if applicable);
- If local transportation will need to be covered;
- Booking dates and how flexible they are.
3. Choose one platform
There are many travel agencies and services specializing in helping companies arrange their corporate travel. These services not only save you time and money, but they also help you keep track of bookings, expenses, and reimbursements.
It’s therefore essential that you choose a platform that caters to your company’s needs and goals and use it to handle your entire corporate travel booking process. This way, in case you need to change your travel dates or edit one of your employee’s information, you’ll know exactly where and how to do it.
