Why Data Analytics is Important in Business Travel?

A recent survey by a leading travel management company has revealed that travel managers are relying more on travel data to create a better travel management program. Across various industries, the survey has also revealed that top priorities revolve around 3 key factors –

a. Savings & cost control

b. Policy compliance and

c. Duty of Care

Therefore, corporate travel is no longer limited to flight bookings, hotel bookings or car rentals only, but it is meant to enhance travellers’ experience from starting of the journey till its completion. And at the core of the process, lies data-driven decision making.

This article will elaborately touch on the following vital points.

A.     Dependence on Travel Management Companies for Data Analytics

Travel management companies (TMCs) play a significant role in producing travel data to the enterprises. This data can act as a reliable source of forecasting travel budgets, identifying cost saving opportunities, tracking client travel patterns like frequency and preferred airlines/hotels/cars, and producing real-time insights.

Far beyond logistics, TMCs also has access to their own dashboards and reporting tools that generate easy reports highlighting key points through infographics. This offers an easy understanding to the travel managers through actionable data.

B.     Data Collection from Online Booking Tools 

The survey has revealed that online booking tools account for 66% of the total data collection sources. The reason being few companies have transformed into self-booking mode which allows them to book their travel independently, anytime from anywhere. It kind of offers freedom to the travellers to reserve their own booking seats with their preferred suppliers available in the booking tool. Hence online booking tool is a significant source for data collection that provides real time insights of travel patterns.

|” But Travel Data collection is not the objective. Taking action on it is”.

The above statement is true to its core. Now since we have discussed channels of collecting data, let us now focus on the action part.

C.     Building Smart Spend Management

Cost control is one of the top priorities of business travel. Balancing spend with value is a critical factor as you have to look at many key factors. High-cost routes, inefficient booking behavior, or frequent last-minute bookings can spike up the cost of travel, but with a comprehensive planning and efficient travel budgeting, it may lead to reduction of travel costs. It is also very important to analyze travel data across departments, geographies, and teams and that can play an equal part in lowering the costs.

D.   Policy Compliance and Risk Mitigation

One of the major challenges in business travel is ensuring employees adhere to the company’s travel policy. Non-compliance not only escalates costs but also exposes the organization to risks—financial, legal, and operational. Here again, data analytics offers a strong solution. With clear analytics, businesses can identify the policy breaches like booking beyond approved fares, selecting a beyond category room or class and last-minute travel. These challenges can be faced by offering clarity on permissible travel to the employees and updating the policies on regular intervals and that can drive better compliance.

 E.     Making Better Travel Decisions

And quite certainly, the most compelling reason to embrace data analytics is making informed decisions in a better and faster way. With access to clean, structured, and real-time data, businesses can shift from reactive to proactive travel management. If analytics reveals that certain teams are achieving higher ROI per trip, leadership can prioritize those departments for travel budgets. Hence a continuous flow of data and information will enhance refine strategies, improve traveler satisfaction, and increase overall efficiency.

Conclusion:

Data Analytics empower organizations to transform travel from a cost center to a strategic asset. Enterprises can take assistance from TMCs or gather relevant data from online booking tool, what’s more important is to act on it through developing smart spend management, policy compliance and mitigating risks. Finding out the avenues of leakages of costs and sealing them needs a strategic approach which data analytics helps to achieve.

In case you are looking for self-booking options and searching for an online booking tool, Lufthansa City Center Travels & Rentals has it ready for you. Click here and connect with us for a free demo.