When the time comes to book upcoming business travel, many companies ask their employees to take on the responsibility. They are often told to use public online booking sites or book directly through the website of a specific airline or hotel. Though this may initially seem like the easiest way to book travel, it often isn’t the best solution for a company. Here are our top five reasons why booking through online sites are not always the best option for corporate travel management:
What every company should know about online booking sites:
- Time. It takes time to shop every airline website for the best deal. Your employees should be focusing on their ‘real’ job, not bogged down by price checking travel on different sites.
- Hidden Charges. Most online booking websites and airline websites charge a service fee. In many cases, it is hidden in the small print with the taxes and then further buried in a hyperlink. Additionally, they are often missing out on vendor discounts or bundled deals by booking for themselves.
- No Travel Policy Enforcement. What stops your employee from booking a more expensive hotel or choosing a first class seat? Without an enforcement on travel policy, what may seem like a tiny splurge to them, could be taking a toll on your bottom line.
- Duty of Care. When a traveler books from an outside source or multiple sources, the only way the company can provide their duty of care obligation is to have the traveler email a copy of each segment of their trip to one person in the organization. It is that person’s responsibility to keep track of each traveler. That can easily get confusing and stressful should something go wrong.
- No Data. Companies typically have no data to negotiate better rates when available. We often see that internal reporting and analysis of their travel management is also lacking.
Working with a TMC provides additional benefits
Travel management companies, including Christopherson Business Travel, specialize in understanding these downfalls and provide solutions for your business travel needs. Whether it’s keeping employees within your travel policy, or just the convenience of booking, there are many benefits to using a travel management company. Though our clients can customize their plans, below are a few of the benefits that are always included for our clients.
- Discounted and negotiated airfares, hotel and car rental discounts.
- Company travel policy, so your travelers can’t book Business Class and stay at the Four Seasons without your knowledge.
- Christopherson’s partner discounts – we have discounts with airlines and at more than 40,000 hotels in over 170 countries.
- Travel approval notification for managers, if desired.
- Safety and security alerts for Duty of Care responsibility, using geo-location technology in case of an emergency.
Christopherson Business Travel has more than 60 years of experience with business travel management. Combine that with our mobile travel technology and superior customer service, and it’s no surprise we have a 97 percent client retention rate. Please contact us to learn more about our corporate travel packages or read or recommended blogs below.
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