In the contemporary corporate landscape, the art of effective business travel stands as a pivotal component for any organization's success. The key to unlocking its full potential lies in the art of leveraging business travel data intelligently. Regrettably, many travel companies underutilize this invaluable resource, restricting its application to a limited scope. Drawing from our extensive experience in collaboration with numerous global enterprises, we've curated an extensive guide on how to harness the power of business travel data.
Exploring Cost-Effective Strategies
1. Reducing Travel Costs
Efficiently managing travel expenses is fundamental to enhancing your company's travel program. To achieve this, it's imperative to have access to comprehensive business travel data, enabling you to identify various cost-saving opportunities. Here are some ways in which corporate travel data can empower you to optimize travel costs:
Benchmarking Key Cost Metrics
Every company should pinpoint the critical cost-related metrics that have the most significant influence on their expenditures. Some common metrics include:
- Average cost per flight
- Average room rate per night
- Percentage of bookings made at least seven days before travel
- Percentage of trips booked outside policy
Identifying areas for enhancement necessitates a deeper dive into these metrics. For instance, assess flight costs based on specific routes, while scrutinizing hotel rates by city. Once you've identified areas for improvement, it's crucial to make decisions that either accept these inefficiencies or take specific actions to control them.
Identifying Travel Trends for Negotiation
Travel companies with frequent travel needs can substantially benefit from establishing special agreements with preferred airlines, hotels, and car rental companies. Utilizing the right corporate travel data can help identify the most suitable partners for negotiation. Real-time access to detailed data is invaluable during these negotiations, as it allows for precise decision-making.
Identifying and Resolving Leakage
Identifying and addressing leakage areas is essential for cost-saving in business travel. While leakage areas may vary between travel programs, some common culprits include:
- Failure to use contracted rates: Data should help identify instances where an employee could have booked a contracted rate but did not. Implement systems that prompt contracted rates during bookings and regularly review reports of missed opportunities.
- Missed savings opportunities: Analyze data to pinpoint situations where employees could have booked flights and hotels at a lower cost. This goes beyond identifying policy breaches. For example, if a system can highlight a better-priced hotel available nearby, it's considered a missed savings opportunity.
Implement corrective measures like early booking nudges or rewards for cost-effective bookings to ensure policy compliance. Additionally, be prepared to revisit budget limits when necessary.
Enhancing the Traveler Experience
Measuring traveler satisfaction is a crucial key performance indicator for evaluating your company's travel program. Delighted travelers are more engaged and productive during business trips. To improve the traveler experience, focus on key metrics such as:
2. Elevating the Traveler Experience
Online Booking Adoption
Despite adopting online business travel platforms, some employees might continue to book offline due to user experience issues or the unavailability of relevant options. Monitor offline bookings to identify issues and enhance online adoption.
Hotel Feedback
Encourage travelers to rate the quality of hotels they stay in, along with reasons for their ratings. This data can help you distinguish consistently good and bad hotels. Your travel system should allow you to promote highly-rated hotels in future bookings and blacklist underperforming ones.
Traveler Net Promoter Score (TNPS)
TNPS is a valuable metric to assess the traveler's experience with the travel management process, especially if you've recently invested in an online travel management software. After each trip, ask travelers to rate their experience and provide comments to pinpoint areas for improvement.
Maximizing ROI and Business Impact
Today, businesses view business travel as an investment rather than just an expense. They aim to enhance ROI rather than merely reduce costs. To enhance ROI, consider these strategies:
3. Optimizing Travel Return on Investment (ROI)
Comprehensive Trip Spending Analysis
To gain clear visibility into ROI, it's essential to have a consolidated view of travel and reimbursement costs. Many travel companies' data is scattered across various systems, making it challenging to assess ROI accurately. An integrated travel and expense (T&E) system can provide a holistic view of all travel expenses and reimbursement data on a per-trip basis.
Requesting Outcomes in Trip Requests
Travel companies are now evaluating trips based on their potential ROI rather than focusing solely on cost. A robust travel management system should allow travelers to estimate the business impact in their trip requests, enabling approvers to consider ROI alongside costs.
Prioritizing Traveler Well-Being
A content and well-rested traveler is more likely to be productive and engaged. To optimize traveler wellness, leverage corporate travel data by monitoring the following data points:
4. Enhancing Traveler Wellness
Number of Nights Away
Analyze booking data to identify if travelers spend an excessive number of nights away from home. Adjust travel policies accordingly to mitigate the impact on traveler wellness.
Red-Eye Flights
Frequent red-eye flights can lead to various health issues. Keep track of the number of red-eye flights per employee per month using travel booking data and address this concern.
Time Zones Crossed
Each time employees cross time zones, they risk experiencing jet lag. Use corporate travel data to track employees' frequency of time zone crossings to reduce the occurrence of jet lag.
Average Layover Length
Long layovers can lead to frustration and reduced productivity. Analyze flight routes to identify unnecessary long layovers and make necessary adjustments.
Monitoring these metrics will enable travel managers to formulate wellness-oriented policies and enhance traveler well-being.
Embracing Sustainability
Sustainability in business travel is no longer a buzzword; it's a necessity. Business travel contributes significantly to climate change, with air travel alone responsible for 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To address this issue, analyze your carbon footprint and consider these steps:
5. Fostering Sustainability
- Calculate greenhouse gas emissions on a per-employee and per-trip basis.
- Account for monthly overall carbon emissions.
- Invest in carbon offsetting projects.
- Implement a green travel policy to reduce your company's environmental impact.
In conclusion, business travel data holds the potential to transform your corporate travel program. To unlock advanced insights and achieve efficiency, it's crucial to invest in a robust travel management system. With its advanced analytics and smart virtual travel consultant, Mastermind can be your ideal travel partner for data-driven travel optimization.
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