Are you a manager or travelresourcesonline owner constantly finding yourself sending employees and sales people to conventions, networking events, and seminars all around the country? You are probably finding the process a bit stressful and have already tried different techniques to make things easier. If you have not made much progress in streamlining your corporate travel, it’s understandable. After all, organizing corporate travel can be a challenging task regardless of the size of your corporation. That’s why you should contract a corporate travel management firm. An established firm has the experience and expertise that will make your business travel organization a walk in the park. You would be surprised at how much time and money you can save on your corporate travel operations by allowing a professional to tweak, track, and trim a few things here and there.
If you have been organizing your corporate travel in house, it’s time to allocate your time more effectively and outsource your travel management to a firm. Did you know that you could be saving money on corporate travel expenses in more ways than one? Whether your employees are attending seminars in the US or traveling abroad to expand international markets, you will be able to benefit from the services of a corporate travel manager. From discounts on airline travel and hotels to important expense accounting tricks, a travel management firm has that special sauce that helps your company save.
One of the most attractive advantages to working with a corporate travel management firm is the savings on airfare. If you decide to partner with a large firm who purchases airline tickets in bulk you will easily pay for the management fees using the savings you realize on airfares alone. By working with a travel management service you increase your buying power by orders of magnitude and keep more cash in your expense account. Another way business travel firms can save money for your firm is by connecting your employees ahead of time with several discounted hotels so you don’t just save money on hotel costs, but your employees save time researching hotels. And, as we all know, time is money.
Another excellent benefit of travel management that should not be understated is the tax and corporate accounting advice that is included. A good travel management company will have a unique way of recording and combining travel expenses that allows you to deduct more taxable expenses from your corporate income taxes. If you have not considered, recorded and tracked every single transaction that is accounted for during a corporate voyage (which includes food, drinks, an entertainment expenses) then your company is paying too much in taxes. The key is to write off everything related to every business travel. This is a smart and perfectly legal method that can save your company even more money. You might be thinking about the absolute nightmare of tracking every employee travel expense, but don’t worry, your travel manager will have that figured out too.
Corporate travel management firms these days are incredibly savvy when it comes to technology. Many firms offer a free app that allows each employee to track every single expense as they go about their day on any given trip. The data is uploaded to the app server in real time allowing you to track expenses, compare to other employees and generally keep an eye on which expenses are being billed to the corporate account and why. If you prefer not to see or deal with this information, you can simply request a status report at the end of each month or after each trip and the firm will deliver a summary of all expenses to your smartphone or laptop.
Corporate travel management is crucial for any corporation whether big or small. Keeping track of expenses, obtaining cheap airfares and hotel stays as well as keeping the expense accounting up to par is not a luxury, it is critical for staying competitive and running an efficient business. Most travel management firms will charge a reasonable fee that will pay for itself with a portion of the savings realized. Besides, what is the dollar value that you place on your own time and that of your employees? Any wise business owner or corporate manager knows that time is money.
