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The 2024 guide to corporate travel

 Corporate travel is a great way for employees to meet with colleagues and clients, and close business deals; but with the booking process containing so many moving parts, it can be a challenge to manage – especially if you throw in last-minute visas, cancelled flights, and hidden costs. 

Whether it’s your first time booking corporate business travel, or your fiftieth; read on to discover the different types of business travel, the challenges to overcome, things to consider, and why using a corporate travel management company like DW Travel can be so much easier, and convenient.

What is corporate travel? 

As you’d expect, corporate travel refers to employees within a company travelling for work; whether that be to go and meet clients, sign business deals, or network at a conference. 

As part of the process, you’ll need to not only book flights, accommodation, and transfers, but ensure that all necessary documents needed to enter the country are sorted, alongside prepping employees for their trip.

The different types of corporate business travel

 There are lots of different instances where you may need to book business travel for an employee, with a few of them highlighted below. 

Internal travel

 If your company has offices around the world, then it’s likely employees will need to travel to another office, to meet with colleagues – whether that’s to have face-to-face meetings, or learn about new processes or culture that the other office has implemented, or seen successes in. 

On a similar note, company retreats can be another reason for international travel, enabling everyone to meet under one roof, as they spend a few days taking part in various activities, getting to know each other better.

Client meetings

It may be that your employee is travelling for external reasons, such as meeting a client. Several countries and cultures all around the world, like Japan and other parts of Asia, really value face-to-face meetings, making them an invaluable part of building and maintaining relationships, or closing business deals.

Conferences and events 

Alternatively, it may be that employees need to travel to attend conferences to help build their knowledge, or take part in networking events to widen their contact list. Similarly, trade fairs can be a key part of corporate travel, allowing employees to have invaluable face time with prospective buyers, to increase revenue for the business.

Bleisure travel

 For many employees, being able to combine corporate business travel with leisure is invaluable, as it means they get some downtime to explore a new destination – hence the term ‘bleisure’. This is invaluable for the company too, as it means your employees can unwind and relax during this time, before they come back to work refreshed.

When booking bleisure travel, it’s likely you’ll pay for return transport and accommodation needed for the nights of the business trip, with the employee funding the remainder of the hotel, but this is entirely dependent on your company’s policy.

 Office transfers

 If you have international offices, then it’s likely you’ll have employees moving around – whether it’s a permanent move to a new country, or a sabbatical, if for instance, they need to work on a specific project, or help set up a new office.

 Office transfers tend to be a more difficult aspect of corporate travel, as you’ll need to do research into – and obtain – the correct visas and paperwork to enable your employee(s) the right to work in the country;  as well as offering them help and support to settle in, such as finding housing.

The challenges of booking corporate travel yourself

 With so many moving parts to booking business travel, there are challenges you may face along the way. However, being prepared, and having an understanding of the process can help to reduce these challenges.

Not having a clear process 

If there’s no clear process in place, then it can easily descend into chaos! Asking employees to source accommodation could mean they pick something out of budget, or not get back to you in time, which leaves everything to be sorted at the last minute. 

Similarly, if you don’t have a dedicated booking system for employees to add their requests on, then you could be receiving messages, emails, and Slack messages from various employees, which can make it a lot easier to miss something.

 If you don’t already, ensure you have a really clear booking process in place that you – or anyone who joins your team – can easily follow by reading the instructions. Communicate this plan to employees so they know who to go to, and how to request travel when needed, to help make the process a whole lot easier for you.

Getting approval

 You won’t just need to get sign off from finance and HR on budgets, but you’ll also need to get confirmation from employees travelling that they’re happy with itineraries, and check if they have any questions.

Whilst in some cases, that might be easy; in other situations, you might find you get pushback - something which can be managed by a business travel management company, if they take it on for you instead.

Managing costs

 When it comes to booking your corporate travel, you’ll have a budget in place that will need to include everything - from flights and accommodation, through to transport and food.

 Even a well-planned out budget can be difficult to manage - especially if employees want to pick their own hotels, or a last minute booking change won’t offer you a refund. Again, it’ll be up to you to make sure you stick to that budget, whilst planning all eventualities.

 Regular travel updates 

Flight times might be changed, there may be a switch in venues, or political situations in countries can be fast-moving; and as the manager of booking corporate travel, it’ll be up to you to keep on top of all information, and provide regular travel updates to all parties, which can be extremely time-consuming; and could result in plans being changed last minute.

Things to consider when booking corporate travel

 Now that we're past the challenges, there are so many moving parts you’ll need to consider when booking corporate travel, to ensure everything runs smoothly – and this is why many companies opt for a corporate travel agency like ourselves, to take the headache out of it.

Book accommodation and flights in advance

 To get the best deals, booking ahead tends to be the easiest option – although that’s not always possible with corporate travel, with some of it only agreed at the last minute. 

When it comes to booking accommodation, pricing won’t be the only thing to bear in mind. Proximity to the venue will play a key part, as well as access to public transport, and how safe the area is.

 You’ll also want to look into amenities such as breakfast, and sort an alternative if that’s not on offer; alongside conference rooms (if needed), and a gym, spa, and swimming pool, which can be a nice added touch for employees who are staying for a couple of nights.

Before booking, make sure you check the reviews, filtering them through to corporate travellers where possible, to get the best possible overview of what the hotel is actually like.

 Obtain all necessary information

 To ensure the trip runs smoothly, you’ll need to make sure employees’ passports are in date, and all relevant international visas have been obtained, to enable them to enter the country they’ll be visiting.

You’ll also want to obtain things like emergency contact details, food preferences, so you can cater to their needs while they’re abroad; and their home address, so you can arrange the necessary pick-up/drop off transfers, as well as planning the most effective route, if there are a few people travelling together.

How to improve your corporate travel 

So, now you know the things you’ll need to consider when booking corporate travel, we’ve laid out a few extra things you can do (or we can help out with), that will really help to elevate your employee(s) time overseas, and ensure they have a great time.

Research your destination 

Once you’ve booked the accommodation, and before employees travel, doing some research into the place they’re going can help them feel a lot more prepared. Look into the weather forecast, the safety of the destination (think crime rates, and the political situation), as well as the nearest public transport stop, and health options should they fall ill. Essentially, you’ll want to have all bases covered should the worst happen! 

However, it’s not all doom and gloom, as there will be lots of fun things to research too, such as restaurants and bars near the hotel, as well as top sights to see, and things to do during their downtime.

Give employees an itinerary 

Once you’ve done all that research, and made any necessary bookings, pull together an itinerary that details everything on a day-by-day basis, and provide travellers with both a printed version, and a digital copy, should they lose the hard copy. 

in your itinerary you’ll want to cover: 

●       Transfer to the airport: This includes pick-up times, and where they’ll be picked up from.

●       Flight times: This includes the take-off time, any layovers, and relevant flight code(s).

●       Transfer on arrival at their destination: Where they’ll be met, the number plate of the car, and the driver’s name and contact details, if you have them to hand.

●       Accommodation: This includes the address, check in/out times, contact details, whether or not breakfast is served (and timings), and details of any extra amenities they have.

●       Things to do: For whatever reason your employee(s) may be travelling, you may need to let them know what time they need to be at a venue, meeting times, travel times, where and when dinner has been booked, etc.

●       Free time options: Adding in your research on the top things to do, lunch or restaurant spots, and more, will be a nice touch.

●       Emergency contact details: Any names, phone numbers, and email addresses of people either in your office, and who they’re meeting will be really handy if timings are late, or if employees need something last minute when they’re out there.

 Brief employees before they fly 

To ensure all bases are covered, we’d recommend booking in a chat with employee(s) so you can brief them on travel arrangements, and let them ask you any questions they may have. With some countries needing to see specific documents on arrival, this can be the perfect opportunity to remind employees what documents they need to have to hand when they travel, to ensure a smooth experience.

Why use a business travel management company instead?

Realistically, there’s a lot that needs to be covered when booking corporate travel, which is why many companies use a service like DW Travel, to do the hard work for them!

Some of the benefits of using a business travel management company include:

●       24/7 help: Hopefully, your employees’ time abroad will run smoothly, but there’s always a chance of something unexpected happening! Whether it’s a cancelled flight, or a quickly changing political situation that means employees need to leave, we’re only a phone call away. We’ll always be there for you and your colleagues, and our partnership with a dedicated risk management company means your employees will always be safe.

●       Reduction of errors: With so many moving parts involved in booking corporate travel, it’s easy for something to be missed. However, working with a professional corporate travel management company like DW Travel means that errors will be minimised. Simply let us know your requirements, and we’ll take care of the rest!

●       Help set a company travel policy: One of the main headaches of keeping corporate travel internal, is the need to set up a standardised policy. By using a management system, that’s automatically done for you, with one clear procedure for everyone in your company to follow.

●       Manual work is reduced: Forget researching hotels closest to your chosen venue, working out pick-up times for transport, and confirming flight codes - the manual admin of corporate travel will be taken away from you with a corporate travel management company; freeing up your time to focus on other tasks.

●       Tracking approvals process: With everything done online through one system, both you and your employees will easily be able to see where you’re at with approvals, and what needs chasing.

●       Risk reduction: There are many risks to booking overseas travel at work, and it’s easy to overlook something. Partner with DW Travel, and we’ll not only ensure that all the visas and legal paperwork are taken care of for travel, but that risk assessments are conducted for the destination employees are visiting, alongside a review of your duty of care obligations, and so much more.

●       Cost saving: We partner with the best in the business, which means that we’re able to enjoy significant savings on flights, accommodation, and more, which we pass on to you.

For more information about how we can help you with your corporate travel, please get in touch  with us today; or for more travel tips, head on over to our blog.