For many companies, business travel
is a regular requirement and essential to success. But do you understand the
true cost of travel to your business? Are you paying the price of a poor travel
strategy? If you are struggling with your travel programme, you’re not alone.
Many of our clients come to us feeling daunted because they don’t have a
strategy in place or they want to build a better travel programme that can help
save them money. This is where the support of an account management team can
help SME clients demand more from their travel spend by identifying more
savings and providing greater insights into their overall travel programme.
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savings
Are you saving as much money as you
could on hotel rates, for example? Where is the biggest part of your budget
going and in which locations? By consolidating hotel spend via bespoke
negotiated hotel rates, our account managers can save our clients 15% on
average in the first year of their hotel programme. They also analyse where
employees are staying, group bookings and length of stay. If a client has 100
room/night bookings or more a year, then there is huge potential for us to
negotiate major savings. By establishing strategic partnerships with hotels, an
account manager can resolve ad-hoc issues and will also have the inside scoop
on waivers and favours, such as room upgrades.
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insight
When you consider all the different
variables of booking travel - different hotel room rates, flexibility of air
fares, online booking vs over the phone, how far ahead you can book - achieving
a smooth process - while catering for every individual – is no mean feat, and
you’ll need to be on top of everything to make it work. Your account manager is
an expert in interpreting data. With their reports to hand, you’ll be able to
evaluate your booking patterns to see where bookings can be made further ahead,
in a different class of travel or on a more flexible rate. Invaluable insights like
these will ensure you continue making the right decisions for both your employees
and your travel budget.
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duty of care
Insight isn’t just about saving
money. It’s also about the importance of
staying connected with your employees when they are on the move, to ensure
their safety and wellbeing is being considered. Again this is where an account managers
can provide support, for example by evaluating your travel programme and
helping you judge if your travellers’ wellbeing would benefit from cabin
upgrades; or implementing Traveller Location Mapping so that you know exactly
where your people are; or recommending implementation of the new chatbot
interfaced mobile app for business travellers that we are unveiling at the
Business Travel Show.
Strategic advice is invaluable, but
one plan doesn’t fit all, so it makes sense to demand more when it comes to
insights, savings and service around your business travel programme.
This blogpost was written by Andy Hegley, UK General Manager, Corporate Traveller (www.corptraveller.co.uk). Visit stand B30 for demonstrations of 'Sam' – the company’s new chatbot and AI integrated mobile app supporting SME travellers on the move.
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