But how do you lower your travel costs? At Telios Travel, our team has some ideas to help you maximize your travel savings and reduce costs. Learn more about our travel cost reduction strategies here.
1. Flight Flexibility
When you allow as much flexibility as possible for travel dates before and after the dates of an event, there’s a higher chance that employees (or your booking team) can find cheaper flights. Restricting travel to certain dates limits you to accepting whatever price point the airline determines. You can save between 18-30% on flights by searching within a fifteen day window of the event. Encourage your employees to participate in travel savings by requesting they submit up to three different travel date requests to ensure they get the best price for airline travel.
2. Work with Partners
Finding a corporate travel agency that has a list of preferred partners can ensure you get the best deals on everything from flights to luxury hotels and rental car programs. While some companies rely on old-school tricks to secure travel savings, you don’t have to book last minute, book far in advance, or use budget airlines to get the best deals. Work with an agency and take advantage of their connections and expert travel cost reduction strategies instead.
3. Practical Travel Policies
If your employees are responsible for booking their own travel, then you probably already have a travel policy in place. Are your employees ignoring your regulations when they travel? You want to enforce your travel policy by ensuring that it’s simple, readable, and practical. Integrate your travel policy into any automated booking system to guarantee that employees frequently review and understand it.
4. Tighten Reimbursement Policies
When employees submit their expense reports, how detailed are they? Do you get to review every receipt before paying them back? Without enough visibility and oversight, your employees could indulge in out of control spending. By using the Concur application, employees can scan receipts for every transaction and they’ll go straight to their reconciliation of finances. Streamlining reimbursements is key in following along the path to travel savings.
5. Offer Budgeting Incentives
When your employees follow your travel saving guidelines, your company sees a big difference. Reward those that save you the most money with bonuses, upgrades, and special activities. You may also want to consider more transparency into why your travel restrictions are so demanding. Once employees understand the reasoning behind your policies, they’re more likely to participate in the effort.
SAVING WITH TELIOS TRAVEL
At Telios Travel, our trips are highly customizable and we offer intensive tracking software to assist you with price comparisons, spend monitoring, and much more. Reach out today for all the details.
