Business travel starter guide: Planning, expenses, policies
Business travel starter guide: Planning, expenses, policies
Sara Iannacone · 4/28/2023
When you plan your first team offsite or company retreat, you’re also stepping foot into the complicated world of business travel. How do you plan corporate travel while staying under budget, making employees comfortable, and protecting your company from any potential risks? Today, we’re sharing everything you need to know.
In the latter half of 2022, the U.S. Travel Association reported that business travel was nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, and a full recovery is likely by the end of next year. With live events being the top reason for business travel in 2023, it’s time to ask, “Is my company prepared for employee travel?”
To answer that question, you understand what travel management solutions you have at your fingertips, what company travel policies you have in place, and what business travel solutions you need to embrace as your team hits the road for offsites, conferences, client events, and more.
When it comes to corporate travel procedures and policies, the number of things to consider can be a bit overwhelming. So today, we’re giving you a high-level guide that breaks down the basics you need to know.
Prepare your business travel itinerary
The first step is the itinerary. When your C-Suite team members are creating a strategy for your company offsites, managing employee travel and preferences is going to be a huge part of the event management process.
Without a clear itinerary for each trip developed well in advance, you’re going to end up with a more complicated—and expensive—travel process.
Create an event agenda
The first key to creating a business travel plan for your team is to create an event agenda that is accessible and serves your event goals. If your goal is to bring the entire team together for team building and they span from the East Coast to West Coast, choose a central location to make travel time a bit less cumbersome for everyone.
Need help creating your event agenda? We have an agenda planning template here with a few ideas for you to get started with!
Collect attendee information
Once you know who is going to the meeting and where the meeting will be hosted, you want to start gathering employee details that you’ll need to ensure proper event management. You’re going to want to collect some key pieces of information:
Emergency contacts
Dietary restrictions and allergies
Special accommodation requirements (accessibility, language translation, etc.)
Clothing sizes (for swag bag materials, of course)
The easiest way to do this is to create a simple Google Form if you don’t have a team travel portal. But, if you’re going to be booking travel for employees a fair amount, it’s highly recommended that you invest in travel management software or a corporate travel planner who can help manage these details!
Manage your business travel
Now, once your team is set up, RSVP’d yes, and ready to get going, you’re going to need to book their travel. Here are a few things you’ll need to book, with a few tips for how to approach it:
Book accommodations
When you’re booking hotels for employees, you have a few different options.
More than 10 team members
For team offsites and company retreats where over ten of your team members are gathering, it’s best to do a hotel contract with a room block.
A room block is a number of rooms that you’re obligated to fill contractually that the hotel takes out of inventory for general sale. From there, you have two options.
The first is providing a rooming list for the hotel, which is a list of names of the attendees, and they’ll create the reservations and return the rooming list to you with confirmation numbers. Or you can ask the hotel contact to create a booking link where employees can make their own reservations and put their company travel and entertainment credit card down for the reservation.
Fewer than 10 team members
If you’re sending fewer than 10 team members to a client event or a smaller team retreat, you’ll likely want to book individual rooms within a hotel, a single property with enough private rooms for everyone, or let attendees book their own accommodations and receive reimbursement.
Book flights
Airfare can get expensive quickly, so you want to choose a location that will be affordable for your team’s travel budget. Then, when they’re ready, it’s best to have everyone book their own travel via a third-party service or work directly with a travel agent or travel management company to book on their behalf.
It’s often far too time-consuming and logistically complex to have one internal team member manage travel booking for events with a significant number of attendees, although we do see it occasionally.
Book ground transportation
Depending on where you’re hosting your team offsite, you’ll likely have many out-of-towners who need ground transportation.
In some cities, you can have your team rely on public transportation or provide Uber or Lyft vouchers for use. But, when you have a larger group, you may want to consider booking a bus or black car service for specific activities.
Using a corporate travel agent or company
Now, if you’re thinking about creating the agenda and booking all the travel logistics, your brain may be spinning. It’s no secret that travel management adds a lot of logistics and tedious details to the event planning process.
That’s why we always recommend using a corporate travel agent or travel management company who are experts at what they do. These professionals can help with everything from actually making travel bookings to providing a list of the best airfare options, and in many cases, they can even help your event planner book on-site activities.
What to look for in a corporate travel company
When trying to find a corporate travel partner, there are a few factors that you’ll want to consider and analyze:
Industry expertise: Look for a service that specializes in business travel and has experience working with companies of your size and in your industry.
Personalized service: Choose a service that can provide customized travel solutions that meet your specific business travel needs.
Technology capabilities: Make sure the service has access to tools that can streamline the travel process and improve communication.
Strong vendor relationships: Look for a service with established relationships with airlines, hotels, and car rental companies to secure the best rates and amenities for your business.
24/7 support: Choose a service that offers around-the-clock customer service and emergency support to ensure your travelers are always taken care of.
Cost savings: Consider a service that can help you reduce costs by negotiating lower rates, offering discounted packages, and providing detailed expense reports.
Reputation: Check the service’s reputation and references to ensure they have a track record of delivering high-quality service and meeting their clients' needs.
Once you decide on a partner, try to streamline your communication and standard operating procedures so you can collaborate seamlessly. Make it clear who in your organization is responsible for certain decisions, which steps need higher levels of approval, and when you want the service you work with to operate independently on your behalf.
How to collaborate on business travel planning
The key to easy collaboration between your third-party corporate travel planner and your internal team is to have channels of communication and shared tools that allow you to see and manage the same details without permission issues or access problems.
When you first start working together, hold a kickoff meeting where you review company travel data and insights with your provider to help them better understand your company's travel patterns and preferences. This can include information on traveler preferences, booking trends, and budget constraints and allow them to create a plan for easy, on-budget bookings.
Then, check in regularly to review spending, any struggles in communication, booking errors that need to be remedied, etc. This way, you’ll always be on the same page, and they will be able to serve as an extension of your team.
Differences between in-house versus third-party travel planning
Now, above, we’re talking about specifically third-party travel planners. But some companies with big travel budgets and many employees may also want to consider having someone in-house.
Here are some differences between in-house and third-party travel planning:
Expertise and resources: A third-party travel agency or service provider has a team of experts with specialized knowledge and experience in managing business travel. They also have access to industry-specific tools and technologies to help streamline the process. In-house teams may not have the same level of expertise or resources, which can lead to inefficiencies and higher costs.
Cost savings: A third-party travel management company can leverage its relationships with airlines, hotels, and rental car companies to negotiate lower rates and secure better deals for your business. In-house teams may not have the same negotiating power or vendor relationships simply due to the comparatively low volume of business they’re managing, which can result in higher costs.
Communication and support: A third-party travel agency can provide around-the-clock support to travelers, including during emergencies or unexpected situations. In-house teams may not have the same level of availability or resources to handle these situations.
Ultimately, the choice between in-house and third-party travel planning depends on the specific needs and resources of your organization. While in-house teams can provide a higher degree of control and customization, outsourcing to a third-party agency or service can offer cost savings, expertise, and flexibility. It’s totally up to you and what will work best for your team.
Make sure you have a corporate travel policy
Last but not least, before your team hits the road, you want to make sure they have guidelines for employee travel and sign off on them. That’s where your travel policy comes in.
What is a travel policy, really? It’s a set of guidelines around booking, costs, behavior, and safety that your business uses to manage employee travel for business purposes. Although its components can be complex, creating one is as simple as any other company policy.
It should include:
Purpose and scope: Share why you’re putting this document out into the world and the scope. You want your team to embrace this, and understanding the “why” will help.
Approval process: Define the process for requesting and obtaining approval for travel, including any required documentation.
Travel booking: Preferred methods for booking travel, such as through a specific travel agent or online booking tool.
Travel expenses: What travel expenses are allowable and what the process is for reimbursement, how to submit expense reports, and what documentation is required.
Safety, accessibility, and security: Provisions for the safety and security of employees while traveling, such as guidelines for avoiding high-risk destinations or situations and how to request required accommodations.
Sustainability guidelines: How the organization is making an effort to reduce their carbon footprint and tips for how to do so when on the road (i.e., carpooling via Uber or taking public transportation)
Travel arrangements: Guidelines such as preferred airlines or hotels and any restrictions on class of service or accommodations.
Dining and entertainment policies: This should include what meals and/or items will/won’t be expensed (for example, is alcohol included with client dinners?) required documentation, restrictions, and consequences of non-compliance.
Communication while traveling: Outline expectations for communication while employees are traveling, including requirements for checking in or reporting any issues.
The ultimate goal is to provide a framework for company travel that your employees can follow. This way, you are able to ensure travel is cost-effective, compliant with the legal and ethical considerations of the business, and productive for the organization.
Business travel is easier with support
The considerations that come with business travel are extensive. That said, it’s no secret that having event and travel industry experts on your side will save you time, effort, and stress while ensuring you’re compliant and on budget.
The BoomPop team has a wide variety of resources to help you find the right travel solutions for you. Explore them now!
