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Business Travel Featured Travel Tips Vacation Travel

Is a Corporate Travel Incentive Program Right for My Business?

Imagine yourself on the trip of a lifetime with a loved one or a friend. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to visit the beaches of Thailand or marvel at the beauty of Alaskan glaciers. Now imagine your company picking up the tab for the entire trip. That would be amazing, wouldn’t it? These types of employee rewards are often known as corporate travel incentive programs. Developing these programs, with the help of Andavo Meetings & Incentives (AMI), Christopherson Business Travel’s meetings, groups, and incentive travel division, can be a smart business move for several reasons. Keep reading to learn more!

What is Incentive Travel?

Businesses use a corporate travel incentive as a reward for accomplishing a goal. Incentive travel rewards work just like bonuses or other motivational tactics in the workplace. They drive up productivity and reward strong work ethics. For example, a business could offer a travel incentive once an employee hits a certain number of sales or achieves a specific goal. The trips could be purely for vacation or combined with a few company events for a fun work getaway.

Why Use Incentive Travel Programs

When it comes to rewarding your employees for their hard work, you could just give them cash or another type of gift. But vacations provide unique opportunities for employees and even benefits for the company. If you’re looking for some reasons to use corporate travel incentive programs, here are a few:

Perks for Employees

Offering business travel incentive programs to your employees can have a different effect than cash bonuses and gifts. One reason it’s a great choice is that an amazing trip is a special occasion for people. It gives employees something to look forward to. It also gives them an opportunity to travel to places they might not otherwise visit and make memories with a friend, family member, or co-workers.

Once they’ve earned a trip with their hard work, they’ll look back on these memories and can use them as motivation to work toward their next trip. Those winning employees also help motivate other team members who may not have won that particular trip but realize they want to try for a future incentive opportunity because they don’t want to miss out.

Benefits for the Company

Why should you spend time and money establishing corporate travel incentive programs for your employees? You may be surprised to know that establishing such a program can offer a multitude of benefits for your company on top of being a great perk for your employees.

Boost employee engagement – One of the first benefits of establishing a corporate travel incentive program is boosting employee engagement. Giving your employees experiences encourages excitement and can be a powerful way to motivate them.

Strengthen your company as a team – If employees earn a trip together, they are able to get excited about the trip and make plans together. It becomes a focal point and highlight for the year. Earned vacations generate discussion and interest that help to motivate employees.

Draw top talent for your company and retain employees – Employees participating in corporate travel incentive programs experience increased loyalty to their company and have a higher opinion of their workplace. Incentive travel photos are often shared on social media for others to see which enhances your company’s image. When you offer great rewards like these vacation experiences to employees, you establish yourself as a positive company to work for and can generate interest for potential employees. It’s also a great way to retain employees as they work towards their next trip.

Factors to Consider when Deciding on Incentive Travel Programs

When deciding on implementing corporate travel incentive programs, there are a few things to consider. You’ll want to establish a program that delivers on its goals, provides a return on investment, and draws interest and excitement. Consider these following factors when selecting an incentive travel program:

Ask your staff for feedback – Business travel incentive programs only work if your employees want to go on the trips you’ve planned. AMI can help you identify a business travel incentive program that your employees will want to achieve. You can also survey your team members to get ideas for destinations and activities that appeal to them.

Establish the goals of your program – In our exploratory phase, AMI will help you outline clear goals that you’d like the employees to reach in order to achieve the travel reward. Because travel reward programs are an investment, having clear goals allows you to identify and assess your ROI. Keeping employees updated on their progress toward these goals will help boost their motivation to work towards them.

Explore vendors to find the perfect fit – While plenty of incentive travel companies offer packages claiming to take away the hassle of corporate travel planning, not all offerings are the best option for your company’s needs. AMI’s connections around the world deliver access to best-in-class experiences and accommodations, and each incentive trip planned is unique to your goals and objectives.

Request a Corporate Travel Incentive Planning Meeting

AMI’s incentive travel planning begins and ends with your goals, and your people, in mind. Our strategic, personalized approach allows us to focus on the purpose behind your incentive trip and deliver an extraordinary experience your employees will never forget. Visit andavomeetings.com or speak with our planners today for more information.

 

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Business Travel Travel Management

11 Government Contractor Travel Essentials

Government contractor travel is complex and highly regulated. So finding the right travel management company (TMC) to support those needs is key. Though there are various TMCs, only a few specialize in government contractor travel. To help you understand the ins and outs of this specific type of business travel, we’ve compiled the following list of essential tools, services, and expertise you need.

11 Government Contractor Travel Essentials:

1. A TMC with experience in government contractor travel

Managing government contractor travel requires specialized skills to navigate the intricacies of the associated regulations. It also requires unique solutions, robust integrations, and a high level of expertise. Government contractors should only partner with a TMC that has proven experience working in government contractor travel.

By relying on a TMC that can deliver the unique solutions you need, you are able to confidently navigate the complexities of  your travel program with ease.

2. A TMC that understands the importance of government contractor travel policy

Government contractors are somewhat unique among companies and organizations that travel for business. That’s because compliance with a government contractor travel policy is not just a suggestion or a goal. It is a non-negotiable standard and must be followed exactly.

Partnering with a TMC that fully understands the complexities of a government contractor travel policy and can provide solutions and integrations that ensure compliance is essential.

3. Booking options that are integrated with your government contractor travel policy

Whether your travelers book through an online booking tool or with an experienced travel agent, the booking process must be integrated with your government contractor travel policy. In fact, your TMC should be able to customize and integrate the many government contractor travel policies that contractors often require.

When those policies are tailored to your needs and fully integrated with the booking process, you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing your travelers are compliant.

4. An automated electronic travel approval process

Easy-to-use automations are key to travel managers getting things done with efficiency. Being able to confidently trust an automated, electronic travel approval process reduces many travel management-related headaches. This type of approval process:

  1. Saves time by reducing back and forth communication
  2. Keeps the process moving and timely so good fares aren’t lost
  3. Ensures compliance with your government contractor travel policy by tracking approvals, modifications, and cancellations.

5. Expertise with Joint Travel Regulations

As outlined by the Department of Defense (DoD), Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) implements policy and law to establish travel and transportation allowances for Uniformed Service members, DoD civilian employees, and others traveling at the DoD’s expense. These allowances include things like basic travel rules, receipt requirements, per diems, lodging and transportation allowances, and more.

Your TMC should:

  1. understand these policies and laws
  2. be able to fully integrate them
  3. and align your travelers’ bookings accordingly.

6. Access to per diem rates

Ensuring your travelers have access to per diem rates for hotels should be top of mind for government contractors. Your TMC should be able to provide integrated access to those rates through both your online booking tool and travel agent team. Be sure to request information on how a TMC delivers per diem rates when you reach out for information or RFP.

7. Knowledge of the Fly America Act, Open Skies Agreement, and more

The Fly America Act is a federal regulation that requires the use of U.S. flag air carriers for any travel paid for or reimbursed by federal grants and contracts. Finding a TMC that can guide your organization through the Fly America Act, Open Skies Agreement, and other similar regulations, is key to setting your travel program up in a way that allows you to maintain your government contract.

8. Travel access to remote areas

Government contractor travel often means traveling to remote or inhospitable regions. Partnering with a TMC that has the ability to get your travelers to the front lines is crucial. For example, Christopherson’s connections with Workforce Charter companies enables our expert travel advisors to provide bookings to wherever your contracts take your travelers. Some TMCs don’t have these connections so it’s important to explore a TMC’s abilities and experience with remote areas early on in your discussions.

9. Government contractor travel safety and security technology

As previously stated, your travelers’ destinations for may be remote. Those remote areas also often have higher levels of travel advisories and risk. To help you keep your travelers safe, travel managers need risk management travel technology. Such tools and software allow you to locate travelers in real-time, verify their safety in the event of an emergency, and communicate alerts to more easily manage duty of care requirements.

10. Custom reporting for government contractor travel reconciliation and auditing

Meaningful data allows you to take meaningful action. It also helps to ensure that your travel program stays in line with the regulations of your contract. This is why government contractors need robust reporting solutions that provide access to integrated sets of data-analysis tools.

When your TMC is able to provide these types of integrated data and reporting solutions, you’re able to allocate multiple contract numbers. You’re also able to easily distinguish between direct and overhead billings.

11. 24/7/365 service and support

You never know if, when, or even where a traveler might experience a travel disruption. Having a TMC that provides service and support 24/7/365 is essential.

With more than 45 government contractor clients, Christopherson understand the requirements and intricacies of traveling under a government contract. Our experienced travel advisors are experts in the Fly America Act, Joint Travel Regulations, and per diem rates so you can ensure your bookings are billable. To learn more about our services, tools, and solutions, speak with our experts today.