Jetsetters’ Blueprint: Small Business Edition For Dominating Corporate Travel

Business travel is one of the most significant expenses for a new venture. As a company in its nascent stages, charting a path of growth involves a lot of traveling, be it for sales, meetings, investor pitches, networking events, and the like. For small businesses, these frequent trips might eat into their tight budgets, hurting their bottom line and ultimately proving counterproductive to growth.

This predicament, however, can be averted through judicious cost management, optimization of the business travel program, and implementation of industry-leading practices. In this article, WegoPro aspires to furnish you with a comprehensive guide to achieving precisely that.

An Overview of Corporate Travel

Corporate travel, in a nutshell, is when an employee goes on a trip on behalf of the company. The traveling employee is assigned a specific purpose on this trip, which they must fulfill. The company bears the cost of their travel, accommodation, meals, and other miscellaneous expenses, in the interest of the employee’s comfort and safety. 

Examples of business travel include attending conferences or corporate events, meeting with potential or existing customers and suppliers, visiting other company offices or branches, and participating in offsites or team-building events.

Corporate Travel Expenses & Budgeting

For businesses involved in corporate travel or planning to do so, it's crucial to understand the costs involved. This understanding helps you budget effectively and find ways to save money without compromising your employees' comfort and safety.

While expenses differ across companies based on the nature of their travel, here are some of the ordinary expenses associated with business travel.

• Transportation Costs: Covers flights, trains, visas, local transport, and parking fees.
• Accommodation Costs: Varies based on the level of accommodation chosen.
• Subsistence Costs: Includes meal allowances, daily necessities, and client meeting expenses. These are subject to company policies.
• Communication Expenses: Includes phone bills, internet charges, and postage/courier fees.
• Conference or Event Registration Fees: Covers event participation costs, if applicable.
• Travel Insurance: Provides protection and cover against unforeseen events.
• Incidental/Miscellaneous Costs: Small expenses like tips and personal purchases, as per company policy.

When it comes to budgeting, small businesses need to be precise as there should be more focus on increasing financial strength. At the same time, they must allocate enough funds to ensure employees have what they need during their trips. This balance means controlling costs while ensuring employees have a good travel experience. 

A well-crafted travel budget considers all potential costs, from transportation and accommodation to meals and incidentals. By setting clear guidelines and limits, businesses can maintain financial control and allocate resources strategically, ensuring that travel supports business objectives without straining the bottom line.

In addition, small businesses can look at practices like optimizing travel booking procedures, taking advantage of loyalty programs, or streamlining reimbursement processes to enhance cost-saving further and build financial strength.

Effective Corporate Travel Policy

In order to build a sustainable business travel model over time, there needs to be certain guidelines and protocols that need to be followed. In the absence of a guided program, businesses can quickly lose control of their travel spending, which is why a corporate travel policy is of the utmost importance. 

A Corporate Travel Policy serves as a framework of regulations and directives set by a company to oversee and regulate its employees' business travel activities. Its primary goal is to oversee and contain travel expenses while concurrently upholding employees' safety and welfare. Typically, this policy encompasses a range of topics, including but not restricted to booking protocols, lodging choices, transportation preferences, meal allocations, and the reporting of expenses.

A corporate travel policy can include an outline of the travel booking and approval process, set standards for accommodations and transportation, and establish expense reporting and reimbursement procedures, among other requirements specific to the organization. 

An effective corporate travel policy covers most contingencies, especially ones unique to the company, leaving room for as little ambiguity as possible. Effective corporate travel policies can be created through collaboration between travel managers and employees, along with conducting periodic reviews of current policies. 

How a Corporate Travel Management Tool Helps

An effective and efficient corporate travel management tool, such as WegoPro, can be the cornerstone of your entire corporate travel program. With an integrated tool that can manage every aspect of corporate travel, from bookings to approvals to expense reporting to reimbursements, your employees can channel their energies toward their core responsibilities, driving the company's progress. 

With WegoPro, you have a comprehensive solution that efficiently manages both pre and post-travel processes, benefiting both travel managers and employees. The platform makes bookings simpler by providing access to a vast inventory of airlines and hotels within the platform itself. It also adds customizable features, like live integration of your travel policies, approval workflows, and the ability to display negotiated prices with preferred vendors, ensuring operational efficiency while also giving a boost to policy adherence.

WegoPro also simplifies post-travel support with an automated expense reimbursement system. It allows companies to set reimbursement policies and offers transparency to employees. 

Business travel management is an ongoing process, and policies need to be reviewed periodically to gauge efficiency and identify areas that can be improved. WegoPro is an asset on those fronts as well, by providing you with insights on the aspects of your business travel. You also get access to a dedicated team of experts whose assistance you can securely rely on for all of your travel needs.

Stay tuned to WegoPro for the latest updates and news on travel and expense management!