In the last few weeks we’ve featured a few posts about the 2012 Travel Management Priorities the CWT Travel Management Institute identified in its recent research study—improving traveler compliance, driving air and ground transportation savings, and optimizing online adoption. This is part four in that series, and I’d like dive into another of the top four priorities—optimizing hotel spend.

As a frequent traveler, I find myself spending on average 75 nights in hotels each year. So even the little decisions I make during each trip can add up to significant savings or significant additional cost for my company. Here are a few tips you can keep in mind during the process of identifying, booking, and staying at your hotel to get the best value possible.

• Book your company’s preferred hotels. Many companies select preferred hotels only after thoroughly researching those hotels and their safety practices. By booking these hotels, you can be assured that the property meets your company’s standards for safety as well as value.
• Book via approved channels. It may be easy enough to call a hotel property directly and book a room, but if this is not your company’s approved method of booking, you may want to think twice before making that call. By booking via the approved channels, which may be the travel management company or an online booking tool, you can be sure that any discounts your company has negotiated are applied to your rate. Additionally, this will ensure your company has a record of where you are staying in the event of an emergency.
• Take advantage of negotiated amenities. Some hotels offer complimentary amenities as part of the negotiated rate. These may include free parking, internet access, or breakfast. If the amenities are ones you can use, take advantage of them rather than potentially spending more outside the hotel.
• Look at the whole picture. If multiple hotel options are all within your travel policy, try to consider the total cost of staying at one property vs. another. Selecting a hotel near your meeting location may help to reduce ground transportation costs. Additionally, some hotels may offer free shuttles to locations within a certain distance of the hotel. Considerations like these, along with total room rate and included amenities, can add up to a big difference in the total cost of your trip.

 

These are just a few of the basics to consider before your next trip. And if hotels are your home away from home, we’d love to hear your tips as well. Please share them in the comments below.

You may have noticed in the past few weeks that we’ve featured traveler tips related to a few of the 2012 Travel Management Priorities as identified by the CWT Travel Management Institute. This is part three in a four-part series on the top four priorities. Today’s post focuses on optimizing online adoption. If your company has an online booking tool in place, it’s important for travelers to know when, where, why, and how to best use the tool:

When

• Trip type: Some travel policies recommend that travelers use the online booking tool for domestic trips, and only very simple international trips. More complex international trips might need to be booked by a travel counselor. Make sure you know which trips should be booked online and which will require a phone call.
• Travel date: When booking a flight that will be departing in 24 hours or less, many travel policies recommend calling a travel counselor rather than booking online. This helps ensure the ticket will be issued in time.

Where

• Locating the tool: Many organizations have a link to their online booking tool available on the company intranet or travel portal. Make sure you’re using your company’s approved booking tool.

Why

• Cost: For many organizations, the service fees associated with an online booking are more cost-effective that the fees associated with calling a travel counselor. So for trips that fit the criteria, online booking is often the preferred booking method.
• Convenience: Even outside normal business hours, most online booking tools are accessible for travelers to make new bookings.

How

• Training: If your company offers online booking tool training or instructional documents, take a moment to review them to ensure you’re comfortable using the tool.
• Search criteria: Remember that your search criteria will impact the flight results you receive. Some travelers may find they can secure better airfares if they broaden their search results, for example by expanding their selected timeframe or checking alternate airports.

 

The common theme here is: check your travel policy. It will likely provide plenty of useful information about when and how to use your company’s online booking tool. And if you have any booking tips and tricks to share, we’d love to hear them.

Safe Travels!

Happy Friday, travelers! Nick’s blog post earlier this week talked a little bit about one of the areas identified as a 2012 Travel Management Priority—Policy compliance—and offered some insight into why some organizations put preferred supplier policies in place. Today I’d like to touch on another of the top four 2012 Travel Management Priorities: Driving air and ground transportation savings.

Companies have identified this as an important area of savings, and business travelers play a critical role in helping their companies achieve those savings. Here are a few tips you can keep in mind to support your company’s efforts:

• Know the policy. This tip is pretty universal, but if you don’t know your company’s policies regarding air and ground transportation, then you likely aren’t following them. Make sure you reference the most current version of the travel policy before booking your trips, and watch for details like how far in advance you need to book your ticket, which trips may need a manager’s approval, and whether you should be booking refundable or non-refundable airfares.
• Use preferred suppliers. Your company has likely selected its preferred air and ground transportation suppliers for very specific reasons—often related to value and also traveler safety. But these preferred supplier relationships are only valuable if travelers actually use those suppliers. Negotiated discounts often depend on certain levels of travel volume—so be sure you’re helping support your company’s preferred supplier relationships whenever possible.
• Watch out for extra fees. Anyone who has traveled recently knows that there are plenty of additional services travelers have the option to purchase during their travel. For example, airlines often charge fees for: checked baggage, early boarding, extra legroom, standing by for earlier flights, and more. And when renting a car, for an additional fee you may have the option to: upgrade to a larger vehicle, use a GPS device, add premium insurance coverage, and so on. Know which of these extra fees your company has approved, and which are not allowed.

 

These are just a few basic reminders to consider when booking your next trip. But tell us, how do you make sure you’re making the most of your company’s travel dollars?

Safe Travels,

As a business traveler (frequent or not) do you often wonder about the value of following the rules?  There aren’t many companies who take a laissez-faire approach to booking travel, so you and I know the rules exist.  Things like ‘book these specific airlines or hotels because they are preferred,’ or ‘book two weeks in advance because it is less expensive’ or ‘book using the agency so we can track where you are in case of emergency,’ etc.  I’m convinced following the rules isn’t so much a function of what they are but rather why they are there.  So, as a self-diagnosed brainiac I’d like to shed a little light into the WHY.

1. Macro versus micro-economics.  Not every travel supplier can meet all of your company’s travel needs.  That’s why you get better rates on some airlines and hotels rather than others.  Chances are you get the best deals on those suppliers who can serve the largest amount of your company’s overall volume.  Travel management is a game of macro-economics.
2. Size matters.  Even though not every supplier can meet the entire need, it doesn’t mean you are better off using anyone and everyone.  The best companies build travel programs that effectively consolidate “preferred” suppliers into as small a bundle as possible to meet as much of the need as possible.
3. The almighty dollar.  The implication for individual travelers can be pretty huge.  Why should you pay more to follow the rules when it’s your travel budget on the line?  Only when you understand the macro-economic impact of your individual decision will that ever make sense.  That doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow, it just is what it is.

Building preferred supplier programs is more of an art than it is a science.  Building a travel policy to support that program is even trickier business.  The bottom line is that each of your decisions has an impact on the bottom line!  And according to the 290 travel managers surveyed recently as a part of CWT’s 2012 Travel Management Priorities study, improving traveler compliance is the second most important priority for 2012. If you ever feel like the company’s direction doesn’t make sense, start asking more questions about the macro-economics of the deals and then perhaps re-evaluate what you can do to support the company’s overall savings objective.  Do you ever feel this kind of tension?  If so, let’s hear about it!

Travel has become increasingly restricted as we are all painfully aware.  Many of us in the United States travel frequently to visit our friendly neighbor, Canada, and may not think much about entry requirements (other than the now-required passport).  A little-known barrier to entry to Canada is a prior criminal conviction, even if a minor offense.  For example, Canadian law may deny entry if you have been convicted of a minor offense such as theft, shoplifting, assault, or illegal substance possession.  Other more serious offenses are also reason to deny entry and these would include DWI convictions.  Additional details are available from the Canada Border Services Agency website.

Travel into the United States from Canada is slightly less restrictive but does not allow entry if you have a communicable disease or have been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude (among other restrictions).  U.S. Customs and Border Protection offers further detail of such crimes and the process for applying for temporary waivers of inadmissibility on its website. It also states, “At this time, driving under the influence, breaking and entering, disorderly conduct and simple assault are not considered crimes that make a person inadmissible.”

When traveling to or from our neighboring country, keep this in mind, and if you have any questions or doubts, check the U.S. or Canadian government websites.  Better to be prepared, than to have a trip aborted at the airport.