How to Lower Your Corporate Travel Expenses

Saving money on corporate travel expenses doesn’t have to mean always flying your people out on 3am red-eye flights, or having them hitch rides with strangers. There are plenty of practical ways to save your company money without sacrificing your employee’s comfort and morale. In this article, we’ll take a dive into several practical ways that your company can lower your corporate travel expenses for 2020.

Embrace Technology

In today’s digital age, there are more ways than ever to stay connected to clients and colleagues alike. Where many meetings used to require long drives, or jumping on a plane, technology today allows us to interact seamlessly from all around the globe. Chris Morris from CNBC explains, “Face-to-face meetings are sometimes essential, but it’s easier and cheaper than ever to have a teleconference with clients or co-workers in different cities. Whether it’s something as simple as Skype or a business-centric tool like GoTo Meeting or WebEx, there are a number to choose from. That may not be useful for, say, sales calls, but for routine check-ins it’s an acceptable alternative. British telecommunications firm BT Group says it estimates the use of web and videoconferencing results in annual savings of £180 million ($259 million) for its company alone.”

Perform a Fleet Audit

A corporate fleet is often one of the largest expenditures a company makes. For example, assuming $30,000 per vehicle, a company with 100 vehicles on the road is making a $3 Million dollar decision. Unfortunately, many companies feel that change is too hard, so they never evaluate their program to ensure that they’re operating in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. Whether you’re currently purchasing your vehicles, reimbursing your drivers, or leasing, one of the fastest ways to decrease your corporate travel expenses is to sit down with a professional and take a deep dive into your company’s fleet program. The resulting savings can be tremendous.

Check Your Company’s Travel Policy

When it comes to corporate travel, every company needs to have a detailed travel policy. This policy should be distributed to every employee, with an acknowledgement of receipt kept on file. Hughes Limousines elaborates “A company’s corporate travel policy should provide specific details about where and when an employee can travel for work, if there are any preferred hotels or airlines an employee should use, and it should offer employees a reasonable travel allowance. Travel allowances are typically payments to an employee that cover business travel expenses when they need to travel for work, and can include things like food, drinks, accommodation, transfers and incidentals. Of course, the details of these differ according to your job’s requirements, however they can usually be found within workplace policies, or within your own individual employment contract.”

Consider a Travel Agent

In today’s internet age, websites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz have made planning travel easier than ever. However, there is still something to be said for using a corporate travel agency. “The Internet has made travel arrangements a do-it-yourself prospect for most people in the 21st century.” Says Don Sadler of All Business, “However, if you or your employees travel frequently, you could benefit from the services of a corporate travel agency, which can save you and your employees valuable time and possibly negotiate volume discounts on airfares, hotel stays, and car rentals.”