5 Benefits of Partnering with a Travel Management Company

In today’s dynamic business environment, managing corporate travel effectively is crucial for saving time and money, enabling your team and budget to go further.

The best of the modern Travel Management Companies (TMCs) go well beyond the scope of traditional travel agencies by integrating booking, reporting, and compliance into one platform. These tools allow businesses to streamline processes, apply policies, and achieve visibility all while delivering superior service. Here’s how partnering with a TMC can significantly enhance your corporate travel program:

1. Consolidation: Streamlining the Booking Process

Managing flights, hotels, and car rentals separately can be a cumbersome and time-consuming task for employees tasked with travel management. TMCs consolidate these components into a single platform, allowing your entire team to book all travel elements in one place. This unified system provides:

• Centralized Booking: Employees can book all travel needs—from flights to hotels and car rentals—in a single, integrated platform, simplifying the booking process and saving time
• Policy Compliance: Corporate travel policies embedded into the booking system automatically guide employees to make policy-compliant choices that work for them and for the company
• Data Aggregation: Consolidating booking, spend and safety data in one place provides a comprehensive overview of travel activities, facilitating better tracking of travel budgets, unused tickets and traveler safety so you can optimize your corporate travel program

This consolidation not only reduces administrative burdens but also leads to more efficient and cost-effective travel management.

2. Savings: Maximizing Cost Efficiency

One of the most compelling reasons to work with a TMC is the significant cost savings they can offer:

• Negotiated Rates: TMCs often can help you negotiate and book exclusive rates and discounts on flights, hotels, and car rentals through their established relationships with travel suppliers
• Expense Management: TMCs provide tools and reports that help manage travel expenses, identify cost-saving opportunities, and ensure adherence to travel budgets
• Unused Ticket Efficiency: By tracking and managing unused tickets efficiently, TMCs help companies recoup costs that would otherwise be lost, saving up to 10% annually on airfare
• Corporate Programs: Leveraging corporate loyalty programs and incentives can result in additional savings, with TMCs ensuring these benefits are fully utilized
• Travel Policy: A critical path to overall savings - see sections on consolidation and control 

By harnessing these savings mechanisms with a TMC’s guidance, companies can reduce overall travel costs and improve accounting efficiencies.

3. Control: Ensuring Compliance and Managing Approvals

Maintaining control over corporate travel is essential to avoid policy breaches and ensure cost-effective bookings. TMCs facilitate this through integrated travel policies and approval workflows:

• Automated Policy Enforcement: Travel policies are clearly integrated into the booking tool, ensuring that all travel arrangements adhere to company guidelines without requiring arduous manual oversight
• Approval Processes: Automated approval workflows streamline the management of travel requests, enabling quick and efficient authorization or denial of colleagues’ bookings based on policy compliance
• Customizable Controls: Companies can tailor travel policies and approval settings to match your specific business requirements and objectives, down to the job level, department and trip purpose

This level of control ensures compliance with corporate travel policies, reducing unauthorized spending and optimizing travel-related decision-making, without time-consuming manual reviews and audits.

4. Visibility: Achieving Real-Time Insights

Enhanced visibility into corporate travel activities is a key advantage of using a TMC. These platforms provide real-time insights and comprehensive data on travel expenditures and employee location and safety:

• Real-Time Tracking: the best TMCs offer real-time data on travel bookings and spending, allowing your business to monitor travel budgets and expenditures effectively
• Detailed Reporting: Comprehensive reports provide insights into travel patterns, compliance rates, and spending trends, supporting better financial planning and forecasting
• Traveler Monitoring: The ability to track employee location ensures your business can keep track of where your team is and quickly respond to emergencies, enhancing duty of care for travelers

This level of visibility empowers your company to make informed decisions, optimize travel strategies, and ensure the safety and security of your employees.

5. Service: Access to Expert Assistance

Travel can be unpredictable and reliable support is critical for your business travelers. While most bookers and travelers want to book travel online, TMCs provide critical service offerings designed to assist travelers in the field:

• 24/7 Support: The best TMCs have experienced travel advisors available around the clock to help with booking changes, cancellations, and emergencies, offering immediate support when it’s needed most (without needing to wake you up!)
• Personalized Assistance: Advisors provide tailored recommendations and guidance for more complex scenarios, ensuring travelers receive the best possible options for their specific needs
• Crisis Response: In the event of emergencies such as natural disasters or geopolitical crises, TMCs have protocols in place to assist and safeguard travelers

This level of service reduces the stress and uncertainty associated with business travel, ensuring that your employees have the support they need at all times.

6. BONUS: The Importance of Choosing the Right TMC for Your Team

Choosing the right TMC for your team is critical for maximizing benefits. Not all TMCs are the same. Some are fast and modern, with all the information your travel bookers need to book and change trips online, making quick, confident decisions. When selecting a TMC, it’s essential to focus on:

• User Experience: A user-friendly platform that is well-received by your employees will encourage higher adoption and compliance
• Advanced Technology: The latest tools and integrations, such as mobile apps and data analytics, enhance the overall functionality and usability of the TMC platform
• Comprehensive Offerings: Ensure that the TMC provides all the travel options your business requires, from flights and hotels to ground transportation and ancillary services so your team can easily access the best, cheapest options in one place

By choosing a TMC that aligns with your business needs and leverages cutting-edge technology, you can enhance your corporate travel program and achieve greater efficiencies.

Time savings adds value

Read about how one travel booker at busy communications infrastructure company, Network Connex, saw efficiency and time savings make her life easier. 

Partnering with a Travel Management Company offers your organization a multitude of benefits, from consolidating bookings and achieving cost savings to enhancing control, visibility, and service. The right TMC can transform your corporate travel management, making it more efficient, cost-effective, and responsive to your business needs. Embrace the future of corporate travel management with a TMC that meets your needs and drives your travel program forward.