In this fast-paced world, travel, especially business tours are becoming more scientific and data oriented. Airlines, Hotels, other Suppliers and Travel management companies are relying more and more on technology and information to make travel simpler, cost effective and better. Business travelers too have little time to focus on travel specifics, instead they are depending on top services and travel solutions that will make their travel seamless.
It has always been a subject of worry for small and medium enterprises to maintain a tight vigilance on expenses and its tracking. Unmanaged activities in travel keep posing a threat to smooth office operations. The question is how to tackle this issue and come out with effective solutions?
Our travel experts at Lufthansa City Center Travels & Rentals have identified the recurring issues in SME travel to unveil smart resolutions that will make lives simpler.
Identifying Major Threats
Lack of travel budget: One of the most significant components of managing travel expenses is preparing a comprehensive budget. A suitable budget will always keep the expenditure within limits and raise a red flag in case of overspending.
Lack of missed saving analysis: A fare may be selected without paying attention to better fares which may be available with a particular airline, on a particular date and time. This skip of analysis can also have a direct impact on the travel spend.
Inexperienced booking environment: Local travel agencies may not have access over a vast pool of suppliers that can offer best deals on airfares or hotel rooms throughout the year. They may also miss out on the seasonal offers as well. This may lead to overspending or unnecessary spending of travel budget which may disrupt the profitability measurements.
Policy violation: Expenditure can be incurred beyond travel policy or permissible limit pre, post or during travel. In such cases the authority needs to certify each document, cross check every detail that comply with the policy and make sure that they are valid bookings. If they are not then additional measures will take place.
Additional burden on Accounts: These are additional responsibilities for accounts department as they must verify all documents and compliance at every level before preparing the final statements. Especially the job becomes more tedious at the end of a financial year as events like bookkeeping, filing tax deductions and tax returns become supremely significant.
How Online Booking Systems Play a Major Role
Multiple options: The significant feature of any online booking tool is that it displays all the fares on the selected routes along with other routes available. It will also present the information of all the airlines operating on the selected routes. Hence there is immense scope of analyzing the fares and make appropriate savings.
Strong approval system: Every booking will go through an approval process for detailed verification. Any overspending or out of the budget booking will be passed to the concerned authority with a note of availability of other options in the booking system. The traveller can also put a note on their own for selecting a particular booking.
Easy reports compilation: The entire process of expense management is strongly based on accurate data and analysis. With data analytics, any enterprise - large, medium or small, can make better decisions on travel policy, approvals, nature of expenditure, set permissible limits based on hierarchy of travellers and much more.
Lufthansa City Center Travels & Rentals Makes A Difference
Our smart Online Booking Tool (OBT) has been widely utilized in the segment of business travel due to its cutting-edge features. Effectively designed for small and medium enterprises, this OBT offers the following benefits to our travelers.
Travel policy compliance: We have an efficient booking system that will connect your corporate travel program with your defined policy resulting to easy approvals of travel. The travelers will also have a clear understanding of the spending limits, approved expense categories and documents required for approvals. This reduces the risk of unauthorized expenses and ensure seamless business travel. Click How to create corporate travel policy.
Budget implementation: Our OBT provides features on implementation of the approved company budget for departments or employees separately. This feature reduces risks of overspend caused by other tools and manual processes.
Accurate reports & analytics: Correct data leads to revising or creating better travel policy and guidelines, revision on expense categories, approval system and much more. In one word, reports and analytics will help you to make better travel decisions.
Better deals on bookings: In addition to the expense management facilities, our Online Booking Tool offers more choices on travel bookings due to a wide range of suppliers we are connected with, across the world. You will get best corporate deals and fares, advantages of early booking discounts, easy amendments, better options on accommodations and much more.
Conclusion
Travel expense management is a critical component for every SMEs for cost optimization and better business operations. With our technology driven Online Booking Tool, you can simplify your travel by eliminating inefficiencies caused during manual processes, reduce the risk of over expenditure and minimize the risk of policy violations.
Our OBT ensures travel policy compliance, presents accurate reports and analytics with added benefits of accessing better deals in the system. So, connect with our travel experts today for seamless booking, flexible fares and centralized business travel management.
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