5 Things You Should Automate Right Now for Corporate Travel
As the company’s travel manager, you’re likely to spend a good chunk of your time chasing people to gather their business travel details. When adjustments need to be made to itineraries, you need to do even more chasing — adding to the chaos.
In addition, you’re also responsible for booking corporate travel while keeping the following in mind:
- Cutting costs while maintaining quality
- Keeping track of expenses
- Finding solutions for destination challenges (e.g. security concerns, weather delays, political unrest, etc.)
- Dealing with hassles at airport security
Wouldn’t it be so much easier if someone else could do all these on your behalf? What if there was a tool designed to handle the bulk of these tasks for you?
This is exactly where the automation and services of a travel management company (TMC) play a vital role.
Automating some parts or all of your corporate travel program can help ease some of the burdens of travel arrangements. However, the obvious question remains: which of the tasks should you automate? Keep reading to find out.
Travel processes you should automate now
Automation is defined as a system or method that is used to control or operate a process by automatic means. When you automate corporate travel, you will assign some of the processes that you used to handle manually to a system that will do it for you.
Here are five of these processes you should consider automating:
Unused tickets
One source of lost funds in corporate travel is unused tickets, and money lost on these is usually due to them expiring before they could be reused or rebooked. Automating this can help reduce losses and keep track of travelers’ pending trips and tickets.
An automated system saves the tickets that are unused in their profile, and the TMC keeps track of these as unused ticket values. When an employee needs to travel in the future, they can use the stored ticket funds that are still valid.
A good TMC also has a way of informing customers of non-refundable and pending tickets that need to be used before these expire. If part of an automated system, this notification will be sent by email with details on whether the ticket can be rebooked for a later date, or if the funds can be held for future use.
In both instances, the company can save money since funds allocated for the ticket will be retained. Reports for these can also be generated to help you keep track of any and all pending unused tickets.
Quality control processes
When you automate your QA process for travel, you will find that the software helps you get the best possible deals for all your company’s travel needs. This guarantees proper reservation formatting and helps you locate lower fares, available seats, possible upgrades, and get clearance on waitlists.
Having these customized tools working for you ensures that travel data can be monitored and used to the advantage of the company as well as the traveler.
Hotel attachment
Travel agencies refer to the air-to-hotel ratio as the “attachment rate”. This is the number of flight bookings relative to hotel bookings. Automating hotel attachment options provides both your company and your travelers with numerous benefits.
This includes the option to choose a hotel that allows for savings and increased traveler safety. It helps a company save with the use of pre-negotiated hotel rates.
Hotels that are booked via the TMC’s system will also have details that the company needs should a crisis arise in the area. This will allow for quick tracking and assistance.
Travel policy
One of the problems most managers face when it comes to employee travel is trying to keep their travelers compliant with the travel policy. Automation helps reduce this likelihood, since everything travelers see when booking is within the statutes of the company. If a system is perfectly automated, the traveler may not even realize they’re being compliant.
Ava, Adelman’s proprietary mobile app, encourages and enforces policy compliance. The data fed into the system is verified to meet company travel requirements, ensuring bookings are always compliant.
Travel managers can even check current expenditures and compare them with past ones via access to old invoices. This way, they can keep better track of their spending.
Reporting
Generating reports can be very tedious if done manually, especially when corporate travel is a regular occurrence. Plus, manual reporting is prone to errors.
Once automated, reports can be delivered on a schedule and emailed to the travel manager. This report can include information on items like most frequented cities and top spenders, among other critical data points.
Key benefits of automating corporate travel
Automating corporate travel helps streamline the processes involved. It also reduces loss due to unused tickets and rogue booking. Soon after implementing an automated process, travel managers will notice:
- Cost efficiency
- Clearer travel program
- Better travel experience
- Safer and more secure travels
- Simpler expense management process
Moreover, human error is kept to a minimum, if not completely eliminated.
How a travel management company helps with automation
Partnering with a reputable TMC will work in your advantage when it comes to streamlining process. Here are some ways a TMC can help:
- Helps you acquire corporate discounts on air, hotel, and car rental
- Eliminates the hassle of writing expense reports
- Gives you access to traveler itinerary information to allow you to manage employee trips wherever you are
- Lets you monitor employee bookings and alerts you when these exceed set thresholds
Are you ready to automate and improve your travel program? Adelman has a selection of options for you to choose from:
- Ava, Adelman Virtual Assistant – a proprietary mobile application that travelers can use while on the road. This can be accessed from any device and can be used for booking trips, editing itineraries, and more.
- myAdelman – Helps travelers and managers make planning, expense tracking, and keeping within compliance easier.
Contact Adelman Travel today to speak with a travel consultant about the best automation solutions for your travel program.