A business travel management company provides numerous benefits to large and small businesses. From travel cost savings to arranging multiple itineraries, no company or corporate traveler can afford to bypass the services of a business travel agency, especially if they travel often. But given the huge number of business travel management companies, how does one select the right company? Read on to find out.

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What is Business Travel Management?

Business travel management functions to manage a company’s employee travel needs and related costs and adhere to corporate travel policies.

A dedicated business travel management company is responsible for managing all aspects of business travel for the company’s staff, from signing contracts with airlines, hotel chains, and car rental companies to arranging other related services. Larger organizations usually employ in-house travel agents, while smaller companies outsource their business travel needs to external business travel management companies.

Why Use A Business Travel Management Company?

After salaries and bonuses, travel and its associated expenses are a company’s highest control cost. Therefore, the function of business travel management for companies is of strategic importance.

A business travel management company establishes contracts with airlines and hotels to ensure the employees of a company can always find suitable flights, transportation, and hotel rooms whenever they need them. It is through these agents that companies can get significant travel discounts. If the corporate traveler booked the flight or hotel room, this wouldn’t be the case.

How To Select A Good Business Travel Management Company?

Since many business travel management companies exist, you’ll need to determine which agency will meet your company’s specific needs. Below, you will find six essential questions that will help make your selection easier.

1. What Are the Costs and Savings?

Every business travel agency has to charge a fee for its services, but you need to determine how their fees can be offset by the savings you’ll make through better rates. For most companies, the fees offset the potential savings, and such services are highly worthwhile in the long term, especially if their staff need to travel on business regularly.

Since established business travel management companies have excellent contacts in the travel and tourism industry, they can pass on the discounts on flights, transport, and hotel rooms to your employees. Furthermore, when an outsourced agency manages all your travel needs, your employees can focus on their daily tasks rather than search for flights and hotel rooms.

2. Do They Offer Personalization?

No two companies have the exact same travel needs. Therefore, some business travel agencies provide personalization services for those companies in specific sectors.

If you operate in a specialized sector, for example, in IT, law, non-profit, sales, etc., you need to consider choosing a specialized agency for your corporate travel support. There are also larger agencies with dedicated departments to cater to your sector.

3. How Experienced Are the Business Travel Management Companies?

Aside from personalization, you must also consider how often and where your employees travel. Some corporate travel agencies only specialize in foreign or domestic travel. To select the right one, you must determine whether your employees only travel to local destinations or abroad. Suppose you use a travel management company that doesn’t have adequate experience in managing international travel. In that case, you will likely face problems when dealing with last-minute itinerary changes, delays, or emergencies. You need a highly experienced travel agent to provide your employees with 24/7 support around the globe.

While some small corporate travel agencies only focus on domestic travel, they may be part of a larger network that can offer you international travel management. This is fine as long as they can still provide you with the same level of support across the network.

4. What Technologies Are Used?

When a company uses cutting-edge technology to offer a service to its clients, it generally reflects well on them. Innovative agencies that keep up with the latest tech trends are more likely to succeed in competitive industries. You’ll want to team up with those agencies that have teams of technology experts who implement smooth user interfaces and intuitive travel booking design.

Every modern business should be automated and streamlined. Finding an agency that takes advantage of the latest tech trends and systems is best. Ask them about their global distribution system and any apps or software they can provide for your business.

5. What Kind of Reporting Do They Offer?

There is more to corporate travel management than simply arranging business travel. The tasks of a business travel management company involve setting goals, making important decisions, and monitoring results on an ongoing basis. To establish long-term connections with a travel agency, they must provide you with a strategy that works for both of you.

When searching for the right business travel management company, find out what kind of reporting they have available for their clients and whether you can access it whenever you need. The right agency should help you assess the reports and make any necessary modifications.

6. Can They Meet Or Exceed Your Expectations?

Finally, you must ensure the chosen agency offers outstanding service and communication. Before signing the contract, make your expectations perfectly clear to them. Create a plan for regular meetings and reviews with the business travel management company. You should also outline your business objectives in the service agreement. This can be done by creating specific metrics and details of your company’s travel policy.

By regularly communicating with your corporate travel agent, you will have a good chance of tracking and monitoring their performance. However, to save yourself the time and hassle of making adjustments aimed at performance improvement, you should opt for a highly reputable and well-established agency with lots of positive customer feedback.

Advantages of Using Business Travel Management Companies

As previously mentioned, companies can benefit from long-term savings when they opt for the services of a corporate travel agency to manage their business travel. But there are many more advantages that you may not be aware of.

The following article, “Travel Management Company: Benefits of Using a TMC Company,” provides full details of all the main reasons and benefits of using a business travel company.

How Travel Companies Can Benefit From Business Travel Management Agencies

Travel companies like hotels, airlines, and car rentals can increase their bookings significantly if they take advantage of the unique opportunity business travel management companies offer. They can do this by connecting with the same system as the travel management companies: a global distribution system. GDS will help hotels form beneficial relationships with Business travel management companies and, thus, attract more corporate travelers.

“Corporate Travel Agents for Hotels to Gain More Business Travelers” is an in-depth article explaining ways business travel management companies can help hotels gain more corporate travelers. The article also reveals a list of the best business travel agencies.

Your business travel agent must not only share your company’s goals and support your staff’s travel needs, but they should also reflect your travel policy. Choosing the best agency will save on travel costs and make your business more attractive to suppliers.

More Tips Regarding Business Travel

The corporate travel market is receiving an increased focus from many in the travel industry, partly business travelers often spend more money on their travels, especially when their employer covers their costs. However, more importantly, business travel is growing, thanks to factors like globalization and the availability of flights. In the following articles, you will find more information about the corporate travel market:

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This article is written by:

Martijn Barten

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, I specialize in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have successfully developed, implemented, and managed revenue management and marketing strategies for individual properties and multi-property portfolios.