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Business travel booking is one of the most crucial steps in the corporate travel management process. Employers keep work travelers happy and motivated by allowing them to book their preferred flights, accommodations, car rentals, and other business travel products.
At the same time, they control costs by helping and encouraging employees to save money on business travel bookings. That is why; decision-makers focus extensively on simplifying and streamlining booking while preparing requests for proposal (RFP) for travel management services.
Also, they prefer corporate travel consultants who help employees book the desired travel products at negotiated and discounted rates. Streamlining the business travel booking process is one of the key roles or responsibilities of a corporate travel consultant. The consultant extends travel choices and booking options by networking and negotiating with many travel suppliers.
Likewise, he reduces travel booking costs by negotiating with suppliers for corporate rates and discounts. However, a business travel consultant helps companies increase the ROI of business travel in multiple ways. You can streamline the corporate travel management process by unveiling and leveraging the consultant’s expertise in several ways.
9 Ways You Can Leverage the Expertise of a Corporate Travel Consultant
- Provide Pre-Trip Assistance
While traveling to new business travel destinations, employees need up-to-date information to create travel itineraries and make travel packing checklists. Likewise, they put in time and effort to obtain or update important travel documents like passports, visas, national IDs, and international driving licenses.
The corporate travel consultant will help employees engage in business travel without neglecting professional responsibilities. In addition to sharing destination information and travel guidelines, he will assist employees in procuring essential travel documents. In addition, he will help employees create travel itineraries and update packing checklists.
- Refine Travel and Expense Policies
In addition to controlling costs, well-crafted policies help your employees manage business travel risks and follow business travel etiquette. A corporate travel consultant has expertise in formulating travel and expense (T&E) policies for companies across sectors.
He can help you formulate and refine T&E policies by sharing ideas and best practices. At the same time, he will increase policy compliance by helping employees understand various guidelines and clearing their doubts.
- Mitigate Business Travel Risks
You cannot make business trips successful without helping employees mitigate common and emerging business travel risks. Employees need both information and assistance to manage various business travel challenges.
You can provide both information and assistance by making the consultant a point of contact. Each employee can gather the required information by contacting the consultant before and during the business trip. Also, the consultant will mitigate business travel risks by sharing real-time information with the work traveler.
- Meet Duty of Care Obligation
While streamlining corporate travel management, your organization must focus on meeting a crucial responsibility like duty of care. The legal obligation requires your company to ensure the safety and security of each work traveler regardless of his location.
Your company must invest in the duty of care resources to ensure the safety and security of employees traveling to various business travel destinations. You can meet the duty of care obligations by leveraging the expertise of the corporate travel consultant.
The consultant will ensure that each employee gets emergency assistance regardless of his destination. Also, he will help your company partner with a leading health and security risk management firm, while negotiating for better rates.
- Negotiate for Better Rates
In the age of high inflation, your company cannot control costs when employees book travel products at market rates. You can use the corporate travel consultant to negotiate with customers for corporate rates and discounts.
The consultant will use existing networks and leverage real-time to negotiate with suppliers for better rates. Also, he will enable employees to cancel and reschedule bookings without paying hefty cancellation charges.
- Streamline Travel Expense Management
You cannot keep work travelers stress-free after business trips without reimbursing travel expenses quickly. Hence, it becomes essential for your business to streamline travel expense management.
The consultant will help you streamline the complex process through automation. He will help your finance team track, reimburse, pay, and audit travel expenses effectively by choosing and implementing the right expense management software.
- Gain Data-Driven Insights
In the age of big data, you cannot streamline the travel management process without making data-driven insights. The corporate travel consultant will help you manage and analyze employees’ travel and expense data.
In addition to unifying and storing the data securely, he will analyze the data using advanced data analytics. The analytics solution will enable him to share actionable insights that help your company control business travel costs without sacrificing business travel experience and safety.
- Implement Travel Management Tools
New-age tech tools create opportunities for your company to increase the ROI of business travel through automation. You can automate the entire process by investing in integrated travel and expense management software.
Likewise, you can automate crucial business travel activities using corporate travel booking tools and expense management solutions. The consultant chooses the best travel management tools for your company using his industry knowledge and expertise.
Also, he will customize and configure the software according to your precise organizational needs. In addition, he will ensure data sharing by integrating the software with existing business tools like HRM, ERP, and accounting systems.
- Adopt Emerging Business Travel Trends
Trends in business travel these days change frequently. You cannot motivate employees to travel for business without adopting certain trends early. For instance, your company must allow employees to indulge in leisure activities by supporting bleisure travel.
Likewise, you must meet their expectations by making personalized booking recommendations. The corporate travel consultant will help you track and adopt emerging trends proactively. Also, he will recommend best practices to adopt important trends without escalating business travel costs.
Conclusion
Booking is one business travel activity that impacts business travel experience and costs simultaneously. While reviewing RFP for travel management services, you must enable employees to book their preferred travel products.
In addition, you must assist, encourage, and incentivize employees to save money on business travel booking. However, you must leverage the experience and expertise of a corporate travel consultant to boost the entire corporate travel management process.
In addition to improving employees’ travel booking experiences, the consultant must help your teams manage travel expenses effectively and make data-driven decisions. In addition, he must boost the entire travel and expense management process through automation.
