Start ups and small businesses can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. Getting off the ground, maintaining stable growth, and establishing a competitive advantage, it’s easy for smaller details to fall through the cracks. That’s exactly what a new study by Holiday Inn discovered regarding small businesses and booking travel. They found that small business travelers find it harder and more time consuming to book business travel than larger companies. In fact, travel in general is more stressful for this demographic.
Travelers from small businesses surveyed
The study was an online survey of 1,005 small business travelers. Most of the survey group found the process of traveling time-consuming and costly, though the majority (98 percent) found its benefits ultimately rewarding. The larger take-away is roughly a third of small businesses believe they have a harder time booking travel than larger companies. And in all honesty, they are probably right. Smaller companies tend to not have the backing of a corporate travel booking tool. They end up doing the booking themselves., spending excess time and possibly money with travel management.
Additionally, the small business travelers surveyed found their biggest issue is the stress involved in travel itself. And they are probably correct here as well. Without the support of a travel manager, auto-updated itineraries or reassurance should issues arise, travel itself can be nerve-wrecking.
What can small business owners do to feel more prepared?
Create travel management plan
- Develop a travel policy, or guidelines for travel. Creating a game plan from which you book travel may help you feel more organized and save time in the long run.
- Create vendor relationships. Establishing partnerships can save you money and ease in stress.
- Research if a corporate travel management company or program is right for your business.
Relieve the stress related to travel
- Familiarize yourself with the destination. Research restaurants, coffee shops, and drug stores near your hotel. Feeling more prepared while you are there may take the edge off of the unknown.
- Get down a packing routine. Get packing list tips from our own frequent road warriors. Read this one too.
- Stay productive while traveling. The job never ends for small businesses, which is why taking advantage of the few minutes of downtime is important. Read our 7 productivity tips.
- Take time for yourself and explore the city. Whether it be an afternoon or a weekend, take advantage of being in a new city. The downtime may put the fun back in travel too!
Christopherson Business Travel is a corporate travel management company for busy businesses, big and small. With more than 60 years of experience, we specialize in top-of-the-line travel technology and consultative customer service. We’re here to take the stress off of travel, so your company can focus on what’s more important.
