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Business Travel Travel Management

Transform Your Travel Program with Data-Driven Decision Making

Are you still trusting your gut rather than making data-driven decisions? Even in our tech-savvy world, that’s a common conflict. But Christopherson is resolving data doubt for corporate travel managers through our integration with Domo, the leading business intelligence and data visualization software. With our Domo integration, you can see the story your data tells through real-time analytics and act on data insights that benefit your travel program today.

Assessing the Data Conflict

Data is one of your business’s most valuable assets (85% of us believe this), but surveys show that U.S. businesses don’t trust 32% of their data because it’s “dirty.” And this figure is rising. Dirty data—outdated, inconsistent, inaccurate, or inconsistent data—results from many factors.

What contributes to “data grunge?” Many things:

  • Merging data from multiple sources
  • Human error in data entry and interpretation
  • Disparate data processing methods
  • Lag time between data generation and reporting activities
  • Sharing data from different departments or “data silos” across the workplace

Even simple differences, such as showing dates in different formats (YYYY-MM-DD in accounting but DD-MM-YY in HR) may muddy your data and cost you money. In fact, IBM estimated that dirty data costs the U.S. economy over $3 trillion annually.

Data may also cause inefficiencies just because there’s so much of it. Most companies are engaged in nonstop data accumulation, leaving decision makers drowning in the very figures that should provide management insights. Disparate data sources compound the problem. If managers can’t align data from HR with data from accounting, they can’t see the story their data tells.

As a result, data-related careers are booming. However, many who work with data lack the training to understand or interpret it well enough to use it as a basis for arguments and decisions, making data literacy a problem for many businesses.

And if you can’t visualize or understand your data or you doubt its accuracy, you can’t implement data-driven decision making.

Providing a Domo-integrated Data Solution

This data conflict left Christopherson with a real conundrum. We wanted to provide clients with real-time, aggregated, accessible travel program data in a visual format that turned data users into data experts.

“We were looking for speed to data. A good BI tool allows you to build charts and infographics quickly, with speed to creation much quicker than with Excel spreadsheets.”

Josh Cameron, head of strategic initiatives, Christopherson Business Travel

With an established approach of reviewing technical enhancements through the lens of “buy or build,” we looked for an existing business intelligence (BI) solution that would benefit customers and integrate with our proprietary AirPortal travel management platform.

The BI solution, we knew, had to connect to accounting, finance, marketing, and travel systems, and use real-time data analytics for the visualization and report building that would enable data-driven decision making.

A BI solution would also resolve the aging data issue businesses faced when reviewing static reports broadcast on monthly or weekly basis by providing real-time analytics and empowering data-driven decision making. Real-time analytics eliminate the worry that data will change in the middle of collecting statistics or obtaining a report and provide current, actionable data for data-based decision making.

“With instant reporting I can see what was spent yesterday. I don’t need to wait until my credit card statement or any other report to come out at the end of the month.”

Gordon C., Travel Manager, CHG Healthcare

Data access was also key. If businesses have hands-on, self-service reporting capabilities, it eliminates the lag time between client questions and account manager responses. Instead of reviewing travel programs monthly and annually, with data and travel spend monopolizing the conversation, the relationship between account and travel managers could be more consultative, more about increasing efficiency, setting goals, and aligning policy, and less about reviewing numbers.

Delivering Real-Time Data Analytics

Domo delivered what we were searching for: real-time data analytics in a dashboard that gives clients and internal employees better insights into travel budget spending.

“It’s great for travel managers and account managers. Since everything is already populated there’s no of running reports. We used to run 20–25 reports for account reviews, processing them by hand. Now these same reports can be downloaded into a presentation and we can focus on addressing client questions.”

Adelina Littler, Account Support Manager, Christopherson Business Travel

In addition to essentially quadrupling the data available to businesses at a glance, our Domo partnership provides clients with an all-encompassing BI tool that gathers, aligns, and connects those data while making real-time data analytics visible, beautiful, and easy to use. Visible data, in turn, fosters data-driven decision making.

“In today’s world, you have to bring technology to the front and provide meaningful tools to move business forward. Without it, travel managers will fall behind.” We find clients often avoid analyzing their travel data altogether, never seeing the insights that their program and travelers really need. That was our motivation behind developing a solution that makes travel data easier to understand. “Being able to visualize the story their data tells allows them to take informed action that ultimately helps them run a more cost-effective travel program.”

Mike Cameron, CEO, Christopherson Business Travel

“I am using the data to track the volume of travel per each contract we have, track and assess the impacts of ticket changes related to advance ticketing—which allows me to evaluate our recommendation for advance booking—and track volume of travel per individual.”

Stephanie P., Director of Administration/Facilities/Security, Sigmatech

Converting Travel Data into Travel Insights

Domo’s data cards, which are visual aggregations of data, provide high-level travel program views and the ability to drill down data to a granular level.

With this data visibility, businesses can easily identify and rectify data anomalies. An actual hotel error that resulted in a $59 million nightly charge was easy to pinpoint and correct because it produced a giant spike in a three-year data period.

Domo data summaries also reveal that modifying travel patterns can result in savings. By looking at advanced purchases and ticket exchanges, a travel manager determined that their employees were purchasing nonrefundable tickets too far in advance, resulting in a pattern of rescheduling travel, rebooking travel, and ticket loss. Waiting until travel schedules solidified resulted in cost savings for this client.

Conversely, another travel manager looked at cost percentages for flight bookings and acted on the data by identifying booking procrastinators and altering their pattern of last-minute airfare bookings. Booking further in advance brought this company better rates.

Speaking of travel costs, would you be surprised to discover that your most expensive traveler isn’t your most frequent traveler? By drilling to the granular level of the “top travelers” data card (clicking on a pie chart, clicking on a slice of pie, and clicking on an individual traveler), you can identify your costliest traveler and determine what inflates their expenses.

Maybe it’s an increase in international airfare rates, but perhaps Ryan is booking business-class flights and renting SUVs out of policy. Or Angela has 97 separate bookings for only 30 trips because she’s booking in stages—airfare, then hotel, then rental car—and you’re paying a fee for each booking.

Data visualization and drilling insights empower your conversations with travelers and inform your travel policy. You’ll realize savings when Ryan scales back to policy-approved comfort economy flights and smaller vehicles or your policy is amended to require that Angela book airfare, hotel, and rental car in a single transaction.

“Domo makes it extremely easy to identify problem areas—how many exchanges, and who violates the most often.”

Gordon C., Travel Manager, CHG Healthcare

In addition to providing actionable data, Domo can automate event-triggered notifications. Say you want to keep your travel spend in line with passing calendar time. Domo can provide a “gas gauge” of travel spend, notifying you that you’re over budget year-to-date.

“By continually visualizing their travel spend, travel managers have a lighter load. Instead of downloading and analyzing spreadsheets, they have a good, instant snapshot of how they’re doing on travel spend, which lets managers focus on other things but gets them the same information.”

Taylor Daily, Business Intelligence Analyst

Informing Data-driven Decision Making

Like the travel manager and traveler relationship, Domo’s data visibility changes the dynamic between upper management and travel managers. Since decision makers can access, visualize, and share real-time data, it’s easier to reach a consensus for action.

This evolution was demonstrated by a travel manager who, using visible data in Domo along with Concur Travel and Expense, showed potential savings if her company moved to an online booking tool. Not only could management see more was currently being spent for full-service bookings, they could also see travel spend was leaking outside of negotiated contracts and the Christopherson umbrella. Adding this rogue travel spend to contractual agreements improved the client’s negotiating power to justify lower rates because they used real-time data analytics to inform their decision. That’s data-driven decision making.

Negotiating power can also be drawn from viewing and acting on travel vendor data. Looking at hotel bookings by state and then by chain may reveal that you need to request/require travelers to book with your preferred vendors or you need to negotiate a contract with a vendor in a new area. One client discovered savings by requesting that travelers book a hotel in a different zip code—right across the street from the property where they were staying.

“We can easily see how much we are spending in each category (air, car, hotel) and/or with each vendor. For example, if we need to increase spending with a certain vendor to reach a threshold we can easily see where we are. Also, we can compare costs and see any potential problems. For example, in a specific city we can compare our hotel spend and identify properties that are more expensive and exceed our caps.”

Gordon C., Travel Manager, CHG Healthcare

Christopherson uses Domo not only to assess how your travel program is running but also as an internal resource for our own data challenge—assessing constant feedback on our travel management services.

“Domo is one of the most important things we done in last few years, because analyzing travel spend is core to managing a successful overall travel program.”

Matt Cameron, COO, Christopherson Business Travel

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Business Travel Travel Industry Travel Management

Why You Should Consider a Travel Management Company Instead of a Travel Agency

As companies around the world ramp up business travel operations, travel management companies are in high demand. Businesses are more focused than ever on the ROI of business travel, and the risk management of that travel has moved to the forefront of C-suite conversations.

With a steady increase of employees returning to business travel, some companies may be looking to travel agencies for help. However, organizations with business travelers will benefit most from the solutions provided by a corporate travel management company (TMC) instead.

Below, we explore the differences between a travel agency and a corporate travel management company. Plus, discover how TMCs are uniquely structured to help protect your travelers and your bottom line.

Woman using a laptop to manage business travel

What’s the Difference Between a Travel Agency and a Travel Management Company?

In the most basic terms, a corporate travel management company assists businesses with developing and managing their corporate travel program through a variety of services and technology.

The key difference between a travel agency and a travel management company is that travel management companies work directly with businesses to analyze and then streamline all aspects of their existing travel program. Often, a travel management company implements new technology to help businesses reach their intended program goals and track progress.

A singular travel agency primarily focuses on assisting clients with booking business travel. Travel agencies may also provide a limited range of special rates for vendors they have relationships with. They may or may not be able to offer off-hours assistance.

On the other hand, travel management companies offer businesses a broader set of services customized to the needs of their corporate travel program including policy creation and integration and tools for risk management. They can also provide reporting options, unused ticket management, and booking options that fit the needs of their program, company, and culture.

How Do Travel Management Companies Work?

Once you understand the difference between a travel agency and a travel management company, you can begin to see the unique value a TMC offers. Integrating, centralizing, and often automating different components of modern business travel are how travel management companies improve any organization’s corporate travel program.

If your corporate travel program is unmanaged or lacking clear goals and policies, a travel management company can work with you to develop a travel management plan that fits your strategy.

By helping you examine your existing vendor relationships, rates, travel patterns and processes, a TMC can identify ways to streamline or automate procedures, implement actionable data and reporting, while also providing you with the technology you need to execute your plan and ultimately save money.

With the necessary travel management plan and corporate travel software in place, experienced corporate travel agents, like the travel advisors at Christopherson Business Travel, can then assist your travelers based on the integrated policies of your corporate travel program. Those policies can also be fully integrated into an online booking tool that meets the needs of your travelers.

At Christopherson, our travel advisors are well-versed in the best practices of corporate travel programs, domestic and international travel, VIP travel, and the needs of corporate travelers. We maintain cost controls by utilizing your preferred vendors and finding the lowest possible rates. For those unplanned emergencies on the road, our team offers assistance 24/7, 365 days a year.

What to Look for in a Travel Management Company

The benefits of working with a travel management company extend far beyond your bottom line. Today’s business traveler needs more than efficient booking and expense management tools. Corporate travel managers have more responsibility than ever to ensure their travelers are safe, protected, and supported throughout their travel experience.

A travel management company is an effective partnership to ensure your corporate travel program functions at the highest level with the greatest efficiency. Whether you’re just beginning internal discussions or already performing a travel management company comparison, here are five key benefits to consider in making the decision to use a TMC.

An Expert Partner

A travel management company should provide consultative services to guide the development of your corporate travel management program and make meaningful recommendations to your existing policy.

Easy-to-Use Technology and Seamless Reporting

One of the most important considerations in using a travel management company involves technology and reporting.

Christopherson’s integrated software program delivers secure, real-time visibility into your organization’s entire corporate travel program. Designed to meet the needs of both travelers and travel managers, our platform delivers solutions for compliant travel booking, traveler tracking, and comprehensive reporting to see where you’re earning the most in savings.

Consistently Low Rates

Finding and securing the best rates for flights, hotels, or car rentals that also meet the scheduling restraints of the trip can be a major time drain for employees. In addition to removing that stress, a travel management company can customize your plan based on your preferred vendors and also offer a wider range of booking options for your travelers.

Corporate travel software, such as Christopherson’s tool for managing unused tickets or hotel payment authorization, allows you to maximize savings, increase compliance, protect against fraud, and eliminate waste.

Risk Management

Giving you the tools to track your business travelers’ locations and safety during a potentially dangerous situation is just one way a travel management company can help you take a proactive approach to protecting your travelers.

Christopherson’s risk management technology allows you to access global travel alerts and locate your travelers anywhere in the world. The data is updated in real-time so you can quickly confirm the safety of your travelers and push time-sensitive alerts as needed.

The Value of Integration

As one of the key differences between a TMC and a travel agency, comprehensive integration of your whole travel program is a valuable reason to use a travel management company. Program integration allows you to centralize your data, reporting, unused tickets, profiles, policies, and ensure that the right vendors and rates are used. It also streamlines your workflow and provides the information you need to deliver on your duty of care requirements.

When you’re ready to transform your travel management program, the experts at Christopherson are prepared to help. Talk to a corporate travel management consultant today.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Tips

Corporate Travel Policy for Post-Pandemic Travel

The COVID-19 pandemic shined a light on the gaps many organizations had in their corporate travel policy. Those gaps include risk and safety protocols, comprehensive unused ticket management, and corporate travel policies, to name a few. Now, corporate travel managers want to fill those gaps as travel resumes. 

But how? Can updating a corporate travel policy really influence the success of a travel program? And how do you balance the needs of the company and the satisfaction of travelers? We’re examining those questions and more in the following article about corporate travel policy.

What is a Corporate Travel Policy?

If you’re new to business travel, it’s important to understand the basics. So what is a corporate travel policy? A corporate travel policy is the set of guidelines outlined by an organization to manage their business travel program. Then, travel managers and traveling employees use those guidelines to plan, purchase, and participate in business trips. 

The two main objectives of a travel policy are to protect the travelers and to protect the company. Additionally, compliance is higher if it’s:

  • easy to understand
  • meets the needs of your travelers
  • communicated effectively
  • and integrated with booking tools.

That can feel like a tall order, but it need not be. 

How to Write a Corporate Travel Policy

One of the most important steps when writing a travel policy is collaborating with the travelers. Unfortunately, this step is often forgotten or ignored.

Firstly, get feedback about their booking and travel experience. Secondly, learn what works for them, what doesn’t, and why. Thirdly, ask about their preferences. Lastly, include them in the decision-making process. Doing so fosters goodwill and better buy-in on the policies you outline. 

Remember, travel policies are not about control. They’re also not only about cost savings. For example, let’s say a company creates their policy focused solely on the expense. With this narrow perspective, they decide that travelers must always choose the cheapest ticket possible, regardless of airline or schedule. Unfortunately, while this may reduce overall travel costs, it ignores the stress put upon the traveler. What if the cheapest flight is a 5:00 a.m. departure with a five-hour layover? Yes, it may save money, but it’s hard to maintain morale and loyalty if employees are wrung out. You want your people to feel valued. 

Furthermore, unhappy business travelers are often less effective in their work. Ultimately, this results in a lower ROI. You may even begin to experience rapid employee turnover. Ask yourself, is saving on travel costs worth the possibility of losing accounts or consistently going through the hiring process?

Moreover, effective travel policies strike a fair balance between the well-being of travelers and protecting the company’s resources. For example, some companies allow travelers to book a higher class of service (like business or first class) if the flight is longer than a set number of hours. Similarly, other companies will allow a more expensive hotel if it’s in a more convenient location. 

Things to Consider When Writing a Corporate Travel Policy

In this section, here are a few items to consider as your write or update your corporate travel policy: 

Flights – Should travelers book direct flights? Can travelers get lounge access at the airport? Can business or first class seats be purchased for longer flights? Do you have preferred airlines? 

Hotels – Will employees always stay at the same hotel chain? What happens if a hotel is priced higher but is in a more convenient location? Will extras at the hotel be allowed? 

Car Rentals – Do you want to outline what type of cars can be rented? Will limo services be allowed? What about using taxis or companies like Uber and Lyft?

Approvals – Does someone need to approve the itinerary before tickets are issued? How will this be done?

Reimbursements – How will employees be reimbursed for travel expenses? Or will they use a company credit card? Are there consequences for not submitting receipts? How much should travelers tip on meals? What’s the meal allowance? 

Traveler Well-being – Can travelers combine personal travel with business travel? Can employees accumulate their own travel reward points? Do employees have the freedom to decide to travel or not? Can they limit their number of nights away?

Safety and Security – Who should travelers contact if there’s an emergency en route? Should they purchase travel insurance? What is the extraction plan in a disaster? 

Sustainability – Is sustainability an important initiative for your company? Should travelers only book with certain carriers on specific types of planes? Should they only buy non-stop flights? 

10 Post-pandemic Travel Policy Trends 

Corporate travel policies are as unique as the organizations they belong to. There isn’t a one size fits all template. But many organizations are taking advantage of the pause the pandemic created. They see it as an opportunity to evaluate what their travel program should look like. 

As travel managers update their policies, a few common themes are emerging. For example, here are ten trends we’re seeing with both current and prospective clients:

1. Mandating Corporate Travel Policies

Many organizations are now requiring travelers to book within their managed travel program. This is particularly true at universities where travel programs were often not mandated prior to the pandemic. However, after experiencing the challenge of getting travelers home when the world shut down, many now see the wisdom. Quickly locating and helping travelers come home was more difficult for those with non-mandated programs. 

Kathleen Roberts, Christopherson Business Travel’s Chief Revenue Officer, shared this about one new client, “We recently partnered with a new client that is mandating the use of their travel program for the first time. What they experienced with the pandemic, coupled with new growth, is allowing their CFO to say, ‘Here are some things we need to do to manage our spend.’ Mandating their program is one of those things.” 

2. Ensuring Use of Unused Tickets

Travel managers are requiring unused ticket funds be used before new tickets are purchased.

3. Allowing Higher Classes of Service

A number of clients are adding allowance for higher classes of service for longer trips. There is a trending toward business class tickets and non-stop flights. Longer trips accomplish more. That combined with non-stop flights is good for the bottom line, sustainability, and traveler well-being. 

4. Partnering with TMCs

Companies with previously-unmanaged travel programs are looking to partner with travel management companies. They now see the need for expertise in setting up an integrated program. They also want a policy that supports their goals.

5. Adding VIP Service

Many clients are adding VIP service options to their program and policy.

6. Re-training Employees on the Travel Policy

Workforces changed dramatically over the last two years. Consequently, travel managers see the need for revising and reimplementing their policies. They are also retraining their new employees on those policies. 

7. Adding Approval or Authorization Layers

Many organizations added extra travel approval layers when the pandemic began. For example, some companies wanted supervisor approval for domestic travel and Vice President approval for international travel. Those interim policies are still in place even as travel returns. Additionally, some organizations want to add a pre-trip authorization step before a trip is booked.

That said, don’t over-complicate the approval process. You don’t want to add friction. Furthermore, you don’t want so many layers of management that it’s difficult to get the job done.

8. Updating Per Diem Guidelines

Organizations are updating per diem guidelines to align with recent changes. This resource helps travel managers assess and make those changes. 

9. Creating Multiple Policies

Some organizations are creating multiple policies for multiple groups. 

10. Using More Broad Language

Airlines are quickly approaching equilibrium in their operations. They are adding planes back into their fleets. As a result, they are changing the class of service configuration for some international travel.

Consequently, this new class of service means travelers could potentially book the better class at a better rate. But this is only true for organizations with broad policy language. Conversely, this would not be possible if an organization’s policy were to strictly state that travelers can only book “one level up” from the main economy class.

Tips for Increasing Travel Policy Compliance

By and large, most business travelers are sensible employees who make reasonable choices that aren’t detrimental to the company. But getting them to work within the parameters of a corporate travel policy can sometimes be a challenge. 

However, this is often because the policy hasn’t been communicated effectively or consistently. Ask yourself, “Is our corporate travel policy:”

  • Available
  • Accessible
  • Integrated
  • Communicated

We encourage you to train and educate your travelers on your policies. 

Additionally, it’s important to note that the rate of compliance differs for each generational group. How baby boomers and millennials prefer to book travel is often different. Not surprisingly, millennials are often more compliant when the task can be done quickly through integrated and intuitive technology. Consider your workforce and the age of your travelers. Having a booking process that aligns with the behaviors of your business travelers is essential for increasing compliance. 

Ultimately, there must be a balance between allowing travelers to have autonomy and establishing limits for the program goals. This infographic outlines exactly how you can increase compliance to your corporate travel policy.

How Christopherson Integrates Your Corporate Travel Policy

In conclusion, our team works with clients to regularly evaluate any policies in place. They seek to understand goals and culture to make sure those polices align. Furthermore, they are business travel experts who follow industry trends. Consequently, they can offer suggestions, changes, and additions to achieve greater success. 

Additionally, we fully integrate your policy with our technology. This means that when travelers book online or with our experienced advisors, you can be confident the booking is compliant.

Contact one of our executives to learn more about our approach, technology, or cost-savings tactics.

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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.

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Business Travel Travel Industry Travel Management Travel Technology Travel Tips

Why Every Business Should Embrace Corporate Travel Technology

Corporate travel technology has changed the way organizations and their travelers manage and plan, book, and experience business trips. For travel managers, keeping up to date with current innovations in corporate travel technology is critical to ensuring traveling employees are protected and prepared. Corporate travel technology also allows both managers and employees to have peace of mind through all stages of the trip.

Travel technology is constantly evolving, which means there’s almost always something new on the horizon. Below are a few critical innovations in travel technology, specifically designed for corporate travel programs.

Travel Management Software: A Must-Have for Corporate Travel

Businesses with a high volume of traveling employees face unique challenges. From booking the best rates to managing business trip approvals, tracking expenses and traveler safety, the list of responsibilities for corporate travel managers is endless.

Travel management software is a tool no corporate travel program should be without. The best travel management software should do more than track the minimum essentials. It should also integrate with other industry-leading technology tools. It’s critical that your travel management software includes a few key travel tech features:

Virtual Payment Options
Accurately tracking and reporting on business travel expenses are key to running a cost-effective corporate travel program. One way corporate travel technology helps you do this is by offering virtual payment options.

For example, companies face hotel payment challenges if a traveler is a contract worker, has limited credit, or doesn’t have a company credit card. But with virtual payment options provided by corporate travel technology, companies can easily pre-authorize payments with single-use credit cards. This option not only creates operational efficiency, but improves hotel billing accuracy, limits fraud exposure, and helps consolidate hotel spend.

Easy Booking Tools
While the internet has given everyone access to the vast options provided by airlines, hotels, and rental car companies, culling all those options takes time. Quickly finding the lowest rates, knowing which vendors provide the best value, and making bookings that align with corporate travel policies takes expertise. By partnering with a travel management company that delivers integrated corporate travel technology, travel managers can provide their travelers with booking options (online or with expert agents) that align with the company’s goals while still serving the needs of employees.

Corporate travel technology also allows travelers to create travel profiles that populate bookings with their travel preferences, reward memberships, and credit card numbers to eliminate the need for re-entering those details during the booking process.

Integrated Travel Policies
Corporate travel technology gives travel managers the ability to integrate, communicate, and enforce their corporate travel policies. You can also include your specific vendor contracts and detailed reporting requirements to easily manage expiring contracts and ensure you’re tracking the right data. This leads to overall cost-savings and improves both policy and vendor compliance.

Having the ability to customize and integrate your travel policy also means rules can be applied at the time of booking, so travelers maintain compliance from the very beginning.

Risk Management

In an era where anything can change at a moment’s notice, keeping track of traveling employees has never been more critical. Corporate risk managers need real-time access to global health and safety threats as well as the ability to quickly communicate them to business travelers.

Corporate travel technology should help you manage business travel risk by identifying risks and assessing impact, locating travelers by name, travel date, and/or location, and allow you to quickly verify safety or provide communication and assistance should an emergency arise.

 

Centralized Location
There are countless travel apps, all designed to manage different aspects of business travel. —too many options for too many singular actions. Travel managers don’t need one more app to manage one more thing. They need one tool that gives them access to everything.

The best travel management software should allow you to conveniently organize, access, and manage your entire corporate travel program from one place. When you gain access to a fully-integrated corporate travel software platform, you’re equipped to reduce spend, manage risk, track unused airline tickets, access traveler profiles, ensure policy compliance, and more. And travelers have access to the booking options, support, itineraries, and business travel resources they need to have successful trips.

Leveraging Digital Solutions

Christopherson Business Travel provides digital business travel management solutions that help companies maximize their budgets and keep travelers safe and happy.

Our integrated software platform, AirPortal, provides the essential tools for successfully managing and navigating corporate travel.

From booking to approval to security to reporting, AirPortal streamlines critical processes. AirPortal also helps companies maximize their travel budgets and reduce costs with features like AirBank, which tracks unused airline tickets to eliminate waste and ensure re-use.

Companies are always looking for ways to protect their bottom line. AirPortal’s Value Scorecard allows you to assess the ROI of your travel management company partnership by identifying and quantifying both the savings and value you’ve achieved.

All of these tools and features are easily accessible via desktop and mobile. Your dashboards are also customizable to meet your unique needs and how you manage your program and workflow.

Industry-Leading Technologies and Personalized Service

No matter the size of your company or business travel volume, Christopherson’s personalized service and industry-leading technologies can help you take control of your corporate travel program. Contact us today.

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Business Travel Travel Management

What Does a Corporate Travel Manager Do? Understanding the Travel Management Company Partnership

A corporate travel manager oversees their company’s travel program and facilitates the organization’s relationship with their travel management company.

Through the travel management company partnership, travel managers can develop a strategic plan for their travel program, outline and enforce travel policies, oversee and monitor employees’ business travel activity, build vendor relationships, create risk management plans for employee travel safety, align expense and reporting needs, ensure the ROI of the overall travel program, and more.

For organizations with extensive business travel requirements who need to facilitate group travel, or that plan conferences, retreats, and other corporate events, a strong relationship between the organization’s travel manager and a travel management company is essential to the success of the corporate travel program.

What Does A Corporate Travel Manager Do?

A day in the life of a business travel manager revolves around aligning the needs of their business travelers with the company’s requirements. This alignment occurs in myriad ways, although saving money on business travel and business traveler safety are often the highest priorities.

Typically, a corporate travel manager’s tasks involve:

  • Building a strategic partnership with a travel management company
  • Ensuring traveler safety through risk management plans
  • Developing a program that serves the needs of their travelers and facilitates well-being
  • Budgeting and measuring the ROI of the corporate travel program
  • Working with their TMC Account Manager on vendor contracts
  • Implementing travel policies and enforcing compliance
  • Overseeing their organization’s booking channels and approval process
  • Creating and analyzing reports to understand patterns, find ways to reduce spending, and identify opportunities
  • Integrating corporate travel software that saves time and money
  • Training employees on their corporate travel program’s policies, processes, and technology

Business travel safety is among a business travel manager’s top priorities, so daily tasks may also include awareness of travelers on the road and global security issues. And because saving money on business travel is so important, a travel manager is constantly looking for opportunities to streamline costs and manage efficiencies. 

Why Corporate Travel Managers Need a Strong Travel Management Company

Any organization that requires business travel should partner with a corporate travel management company. In addition to the support this relationship provides to the manager, travel management companies have the expertise and buying power to:

Transform Your Corporate Travel Program and Improve Performance

A travel management company helps you find the best rates on business travel and works with your manager to understand your organization’s needs. The travel management company also outlines goals, develops a travel management plan, and identifies key performance indicators that showcase how well your travel program operates, reduces corporate travel spending, and delivers an ROI.

Save Money on Corporate Travel

By relying on a travel management company’s expertise, corporate travel managers can leverage their organization’s buying power to negotiate the best deals with airlines, hotels, car rental companies, and other business travel service providers. Additionally, travel management companies help travel managers integrate travel policies with booking options to ensure compliance, monitor the reuse of unused airline tickets, and provide data and consultative services that ultimately save money. 

Serve Business Travelers 24/7

When employees are traveling for business, concerns and needs can arise at any time of the day. This means your managers need the 24/7 service travel management that companies can provide. In an emergency, your employees must have a line of communication to solve the issues they may face on the road and around the world. 

Save Time Managing Your Corporate Travel Program

Corporate travel managers wear many hats. They often do not have time to research countless vendors, rates, and reviews to ensure employees are using the best airline for your company, staying in safe lodging, and renting from the car company that aligns with your goals for every trip. But corporate travel management companies have the technology, experience, and expertise to automate your program’s processes, find the best rates, assist with risk management planning, and guide vendor negotiations. 

Keep Business Travelers Safe

A strong risk management plan is essential to keeping travelers safe. Corporate travel managers can implement and execute that plan with support from a travel management company with the technology and relationships required to maintain awareness of global risks, locate travelers, and communicate alerts. And because your corporate travelers have access to 24/7 business travel support, you can be confident that issues will be resolved no matter where they are in the world.

Deliver Travel Management Software that Facilitates a Strong Corporate Travel Program

 Travel managers need software solutions that facilitate success and make their job easier. Using Christopherson’s integrated business travel technology, managers can work more efficiently, access real-time data, and reduce travel spending.

As for your travelers, road warriors can also easily manage their business travel with Christopherson’s technology. Through convenient booking options, a traveler-centric dashboard, and mobile apps, they can view itineraries, check in for flights and hotels, integrate trip plans, receive alerts, and communicate with their corporate travel agent team.

What Should Corporate Travel Managers Look for in a Travel Management Company?

 Business travel managers should look for one thing when partnering with a travel management company—proven experience.

A travel management company with a strong client retention history will undoubtedly deliver the critical support travel managers need to manage a successful business travel program. 

The ideal travel management company will also provide your company’s travel managers with: 

In researching travel management companies, a company’s travel manager should determine their travel program’s needs, goals, and priorities. Next, they should research and develop a list of potential partners. As the prospect list is refined, the manager can request demos and presentations or send an RFI or RFP to help rank respondents. Ultimately, the best travel management company will be able to prove the value of their partnership and answer the vital question—Why should I choose you?

 Christopherson Business Travel—The Leading Corporate Travel Agency

 While there are dozens of corporate travel management companies, only one provides the unique intersection of personalized support and digital solutions that can propel your travel program forward. With a client retention rate of 97%, Christopherson Business Travel has proven its value and expertise for 70 years.

Learn More About Our Travel Advisors

We provide consultative corporate travel services and business travel technologies that will unlock your travel program’s potential. Our dedicated team is available 24/7, 365 days a year.

Request A Demo

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Business Travel Travel Management

Business Travel Safety Tips: 7 Things You Should Be Doing

The pandemic yanked travel manager and arranger positions from the office periphery to its center. The effort to bring travelers home before borders closed and lockdowns began demonstrated the need to verify traveler locations, check on their well-being, ensure their safety, fulfill duty of care responsibilities, and manage risk. And addressing this situation required developing new teams consisting of travel managers, HR, upper management, risk management, and other stakeholders.

While returning to travel is an office-specific effort, there are general traveler health and safety program modifications to involve your team in now. You’ll emerge on the other side of the Covid tunnel with a program that emphasizes traveler care and addresses their concerns about resuming travel, making it easier for employees to leave the office—even if they work from home.

1. Review your corporate travel insurance.

For many businesses, the coronavirus pandemic revealed just what was—and was not—covered by their travel insurance. As a result of the pandemic, some insurers quit selling travel insurance altogether and others excluded particular coronavirus claims, according to Forbes.

With business trips averaging $1,293, trip delay and cancellation insurance may be worth investigating, but travel insurance definitely helps fulfill employee duty-of-care responsibilities, as well as protecting your investment in the equipment your travelers take on the road.

Take advantage of travel downtime to review your coverage and ensure it aligns with your corporate needs, HR requirements, and emergent world situations, then stipulate a timeframe to regularly review your insurance coverage and a method of communicating your insurance coverage to your employees, such as in your benefits manual or as part of your traveler training program.

2. Revaluate how your program addresses traveler well-being.

Business travel can be stressful. According to On Call International, more than a third of business travelers said work-related travel increases their stress level—and that was before the pandemic.

“Businesses must consider and prioritize employees’ health, safety, and personal comfort levels as travel resumes,” Mike Koetting, SAP Concur chief product strategy officer told Fortune. “It’s the right thing to do, on top of having duty of care responsibilities to meet.”

As you anticipate sending employees back on the road, consider how being on the road impacts them. Query your employees about their travel concerns and wellness needs and make adjustments in your travel program to safeguard their mental, physical, and social welfare.

“Employees with high wellbeing are more resilient during widespread or personal tough times, are less likely to have unplanned days out of the office and have better performance than those with low wellbeing,” said Ryan Wolf, physical wellbeing lead at Gallup.

More information on how investing in employee well-being benefits your business and ways to create a traveler-friendly policy can be found here.

3. Implement a travel-approval tool.

The coronavirus revealed the need to review many travel program aspects, but none so much as duty of care and risk management. A recent SAP Concur survey showed that “ensuring personal health and safety while traveling is most important to business travelers, with 65% placing it in their top three considerations.”

According to HMHF Travel’s Terri Dembs, “Upper management wants to be involved in the decision as to whether or not trips are essential, and they want to be aware of where their travelers are going. Companies want their travelers to be safe, and they have a legal and moral responsibility to do so.”

Implementing a pre-trip tool, such as Christopherson Business Travel’s Travel Approval, which tracks the approval process digitally, gives managers and travelers the ability to keep tabs on not only approvals but also modifications and cancelations, and even helps enforce travel policy compliance. The Travel Approval dashboard also can be viewed by others in your organization who have access to AirPortal 360.

Has your team determined that some destinations are too high risk for your travelers? Block-listing destinations provides an additional way to approve travel. Our technology team can configure your SAP Concur online booking tool to block countries, cities, regions, and even continents, according to your travel policy.

4. Evaluate your preferred vendors’ health and safety measures and develop a contingency plan.

You’ve established preferred airlines, hotel chains, and rental car companies and even negotiated rates for your travel program, but have you checked on these vendors since the pandemic began to review their health and safety measures?

Some airlines are capping occupancy or blocking middle seats. Hotel chains may let rooms “rest” between occupants or seal doors after cleaning. Many suppliers have apps for contactless check-in and -out and car rental and drop-off. Most vendors require that their employees and customers wear masks in public areas, and cleaning frequency has been increased universally. But protocols differ between vendors, so now is a good time to review your suppliers’ efforts and determine your health and safety comfort level, using travelers as a sounding board if needed.

Christopherson’s Covid-19 Travel Vendor Health & Safety Guide provides an overview of vendor-specific measures so you can determine what is acceptable for your travelers and policy. Review health and safety measures now and revise your vendor preferences accordingly, with an eye on rate negotiations in 2021 or earlier.

Business Travel News’ Michael Baker says that this is also a good time to build supplier relationships, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises. “Hotels, for example, are not only hurting for business, but also have sales teams that likely are not occupied with large corporate clients, as they would be in a seller’s market. Not only will there be a long-term benefit in building the relationship, but it also will benefit short-term should issues arise as hotels face lower staffing levels and reduced services.”

On the road, your travelers may find discrepancies between a vendor’s intended safety measures and their actual application. It’s wise to do some advanced planning in case travelers don’t feel safe on a particular flight or at a particular property. What if the parking lot is uncomfortably packed when you arrive at the hotel, the employees aren’t adhering to mask mandates, or your room is dirty? Can your traveler opt to stay at an off-channel property or with another preferred vendor but at a higher rate? Deciding how to handle the situation—and communicating this to your travelers beforehand—eliminates some of the wariness of post-pandemic travel.

5. Develop a post-travel return-to-work plan.

With health and safety at the forefront of every travel decision, take this opportunity to consider what your travelers should do when they return from a business trip.

Legal firm Farella Braun & Martel suggests considering whether traveling employees will be allowed to return to the office and interact with coworkers. “The most cautious approach would be for the employee to work from home for two weeks to minimize their risk of infecting anyone else. Employers can also require employees to undergo COVID-19 testing before returning to the workplace so long as the testing is job-related and consistent with business necessity, and any out of pocket costs are reimbursed.”

Implementing a post-travel plan safeguards all employees from the potential spread of Covid-19, as well as other illnesses. Protocols to consider may include:

  • following state-mandated post-travel protocols
  • taking a mandatory Covid-19 test upon return
  • taking a second Covid-19 test 5–7 days after return
  • working remotely for XX days
  • screening health daily for XX days
  • filling out a return-to-work questionnaire
  • allowing PTO days following a trip
  • providing trip feedback including vendor safety

6. Communicate your duty of care policy and technology.

With border closures and quarantine mandates making return trips difficult for business travelers, the pandemic made travel managers, HR departments, and upper management acutely aware of employee duty of care.

But employees are also emphasizing their safety needs. In the SAP Concur survey, 96% of travelers said they “expect their employers to proactively take steps to improve traveler safety and lower the stress associated with travel.”

Before your employees begin traveling, communicate your duty of care approach by:

  • educating your travelers on your duty of care policy
  • training your travelers on your duty of care technology
    • demonstrate access to real-time Covid-19 information via Airtineraries
    • use SecurityLogic to demonstrate how off-channel booking increases traveler risk
    • update travelers’ alert preferences in AirPortal
    • send a test “Safety Check” to your travelers

We also offer a free risk-management kit to help you assess your program’s safety measures.

7. Develop a pre-travel checklist.

Developing and completing an employee pre-travel checklist helps ensure that your employees are trip-ready while contributing to your duty of care obligation. While your checklist should follow your specific corporate policy, standard items to consider include:

  • traveler’s name and vital information as it appears on official identification
  • photocopies of traveler’s current travel IDs (visa, passport, REAL ID)
  • travelers current emergency contact and backup contact information (name, phone number, email address)
  • trip-specific insurance information
  • verification of vaccinations required per destination
  • confirmation of employee’s safety/duty of care training, including emergency communication protocols
  • confirmation of hygiene kit distribution (hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, masks, etc.)
  • verification that employee’s AirPortal Traveler Profile is current/complete
  • confirmation that traveler downloaded necessary apps and received training on their use
  • verification of traveler’s completed health evaluation/testing as required per destination
  • shared pertinent information regarding any extended personal travel at the destination

Preparing now for the return of business travel ensures we stay safe out there!

Disclaimer: Business travel needs vary from corporation to corporation. This blog does not provide specific travel-restriction advice, and the information provided is not exhaustive. Changes in vendors are company-specific managerial decisions, not a result of Christopherson Business Travel publications.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Tips

7 Ways to Reduce Corporate Travel Spend

How to Reduce Corporate Travel Spend

Last-minute bookings, flight changes, additional amenities, hotel and airfare market rate fluctuations, and passenger changes can bloat your travel spend allowance, leaving you with expenses upper management may find hard to digest.

While business travel is notoriously hard to budget, travel management companies (TMCs) combine expert personnel with software and reporting tools to keep costs in check and align your travel program with your travel budget, no Alka-Seltzer® required.

In fact, the Global Business Travel Association estimates that TMCs save companies who spend at least $250,000 in annual travel from 5% to 50% of their travel spend, which is a significant savings.

Christopherson Business Travel can help you realize savings and reduce corporate travel spend using these seven methods.

1. Manage Unused Tickets

Before 2020, it was commonly estimated that 10% of business travel airline tickets went unused. However, the pandemic’s travel restrictions flooded many businesses with unused tickets, some with a total value of more than $1 million. That’s definitely an expense worth tracking and managing.

According to Christopherson Account Manager Patti Bragg, “The number one travel issue right now is unused tickets, especially when a company has guest travelers or non-profiled travelers. You need an unused ticket tracking and reporting system to see those tickets, be able to reuse them, and get those funds back. This one travel management feature really provides a lot of savings.”

To recoup unused ticket expenses, Christopherson provides a tool that tracks the entire life cycle of a ticket—from purchase to use—and automates unused ticket management, whether your travelers book online or through an advisor.

2. Capitalize on TMC Rates

You can reduce the rates you’re paying for airfare, lodging, and transportation by taking advantage of a TMC’s affiliate memberships and corporate buying power.

Hotels

Our memberships in the BCD Travel Global Hotel Program, Virtuoso, and the THOR Hotel Program provide clients with discounts, enhanced amenities, and benefits at more than 86,100 properties spanning 189 countries and 6 continents.

Depending on the property, our memberships can provide benefits such as free upgrades, breakfast, and Wi-Fi, as well as reductions on best rate pricing. So while you’re saving money, your travelers will enjoy additional perks.

“Our hotel programs really benefit clients who do lots of conference travel or group travel, clients for whom lodging is the major travel expense, and clients who don’t regularly log enough room nights to get company-specific rates. These clients can access our consortia rates. It’s a great value we bring to each account,” said Bragg.

Airlines

As an industry leader, Christopherson receives priority privileges and benefits from major carriers, which we pass on to you to improve your service and save you money.

You’ll also get preferred seating on multiple fare classes and exclusive access to international airfare, and your travelers will access Southwest Airlines’ full content, including Wanna Get Away fares, as well as TMC-only change and cancellation perks on major airlines, such as Delta, United, and American, that result in cost savings.

Rental Cars

If you don’t have company-specific negotiated rates, you can capitalize on Christopherson’s corporate buying power and standing negotiated rates with all major rental car companies, including National, Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, Budget, and others.

Your account managers may also help you obtain better rates by introducing you to additional vendors who can give you deeper discounts.

For example, a client who preferred renting cars from a particular company asked Christopherson Account Manager Susan Moon how they could reduce their rental car costs. Moon was able to look at the client’s travel spend and identify savings opportunities. By engaging two other vendors in the discussion, she introduced the client to other companies that could provide lower rates.

3. Obtain Automated Savings

Rate Monitoring Tools and Services

Finding a lower price after you’ve made a purchase is one of the most frustrating scenarios for consumers. That’s why we provide expert travel advisors and automated tools to ensure you receive lower rates when they are available for the trip options you’ve selected.

Airlines

We use a quality control fare-checking module to automatically search every itinerary for lower fares until the time of departure. When lower rates are found for an identical itinerary, that booking is returned to your travel advisor or our online team for review and response, ensuring that you receive the lower fare.

Hotels

Like the airline industry, hotels raise and lower their prices based on market conditions and inventory. Our hotel rate monitoring tool screens travel advisor-booked reservations for lower rates. Rates are checked 72 hours prior to travel and, if a lower rate is found for an “apples to apples” comparable room, your reservation will be changed and the savings tracked and reported.

To increase your savings through use of preferred vendors and negotiated rates, Christopherson also offers a tool that automates hotel program compliance and simplifies duty-of-care requirements.

After identifying itineraries without hotel bookings, the tool sends automated reminders to travelers requesting that they fill in this gap in their travel plans, which ultimately helps you get more bookings with your preferred hotels and increases your negotiating power.

4. Negotiate Lower Rates

Based on your travel spend and volume, Christopherson’s account managers can assist with hotel rate negotiations or provide you with automated tools to obtain the lowest possible rates within your travel policy parameters.

For example, one of our account managers used a tool to help a large account consolidate a 100-property hotel program that resulted in a 38.9% cost savings in hotel spend.

Moon reported a similar rate-reduction experience: “Earlier this year we negotiated with United Airlines on behalf of a client. Because of the client’s travel volume, we were able to save them $100,000 on airfare alone,” she said.

5. Receive Consultative Services

Providing consultative services—such as getting to know the client’s culture, discussing their travel policy and budgetary goals, and conducting account reviews—is a vital component of reducing corporate travel spend.

“Every account needs consultative services. Having a ton of preferred hotels isn’t necessarily best, because booking more nights at the same hotel chain increases the client’s buying power. We look at these kinds of travel patterns during the client’s travel program review to help them reduce corporate travel spend,” said Christopherson Account Manager Paul Foster.

6. Book Online

For many businesses, reducing corporate travel spend includes getting travelers to use an online booking tool. When travelers use an online booking tool, rogue travel spend—travel booked outside of your TMC—is brought back under the TMC “umbrella.”

The benefits of reigning in rogue travelers include booking more nights with your preferred hotels, which in turn leads to better rate negotiations, and accruing fewer booking fees, as all travel segments are booked at the same time, during a single transaction.

“If a client has a high number of bookings with travel advisors, we discuss the nature of their business and whether they can save fees by using the online booking tool more. We provide training as needed to make sure their travelers and travel managers have the necessary expertise to book online,” said Christopherson Account Manager M’Liss Hunter.

7. Act on Your Data

New clients and those with previously unmanaged programs are always surprised at how much information we can give them. We provide a platform that collects and consolidates your real-time travel data in one accessible place, offers powerful reporting tools, and can even alert you if your monthly travel expenditures exceed your year-to-date budget.

If your data reveal that “Matt” in “Department XYZ” is booking business class, you can act on those data to reduce your corporate travel spend by (1) revising your travel policy so business class isn’t an available option, or (2) you can discuss booking comfort class only with Matt and back up that conversation with visible, data-at-a-glance dashboard cards.

“If companies aren’t aware of their data, they can’t use it to reduce corporate travel spend,” said Hunter. “If they know about it, they can track it and analyze it.”

Data analysis is the confluence of consultative account management and data reporting tools: this combination of service and technology allows you to capitalize on your travel program and reduce your corporate travel spend. And that’s nothing to bellyache about.

After a year and a half I can clearly see the value based on the level of customer service and the transparency into our company’s travel spend.”

Jared Hughes, CFO, Forefront Healthcare

Why a Corporate Travel Agency Can Save You More Money Than Going It Alone

Partnering with a travel agency may feel like an expense rather than a cost-saving strategy. But here’s the secret: the hard and soft dollar savings that a corporate business travel partner delivers provides an actual ROI that can be measured.

How? We’ll explain.

At Christopherson Business Travel, our network is extensive. Our team of advisors and years of relationship-building and experience means we’re plugged into the travel industry far beyond what you could accomplish on your own. Our processes, connections, and automated tools create a powerful travel machine—one that can outperform a siloed, internal travel planner (especially one who juggles a handful of other responsibilities in your organization).

The beauty of a corporate travel management company is that you get the high level expertise and service you’d expect, along with digital solutions that align with your organization’s needs. Our travel management software delivers detailed, integrated insights through data analysis and reporting. It’s also valuable for the actual travel experience, too. Booking and managing trip details, locating travelers en route, and keeping your team connected across the globe are all streamlined on one convenient platform.

This article showed just a few ways our corporate travel management experts save you time and money (and in this day and age, aren’t those essentially the same?). However, these few examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many additional ways our corporate travel agency can enrich your travelers’ experience, lower costs, and improve the ease with which your organization does business around the globe.

Contact Christopherson and Start Saving Money

Want to reduce your corporate travel spend even more? Consider mandating your travel program, as explained here.

You can also contact our Business Development Team for more information on Christopherson’s money-saving tools and services.

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Business Travel Guides Travel Management

Everything You Need To Know About The Business Travel Management RFP Process

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Navigating the Business Travel Management RFP Process

Your journey to find a business travel management company (TMC) doesn’t have to be a turbulent one. Whether you’re developing a travel policy to better manage your duty of care in a pandemic world, consolidating travel services to streamline your program, leading a periodic rebid requirement, or wanting a clearer picture of your travel data to inform your decision making, we’ve broken down the Request for Proposal (RFP) process to help you reach your final destination unscathed.

Step 1: Determine Needs and Goals

The RFP process is like hiring a new employee. Before you jump to requesting resumes, you need to develop a job description to advertise for the most qualified candidate, one who is interested in a long-term relationship with your organization, meshes with your institution’s culture, and performs at a consistently high level.

Similar to collaborating on a job description for an employee who will work with multiple departments in your organization, you need to assemble a team to conduct an internal evaluation of your company’s needs and expectations for the TMC position, both current and long term. Include all of your travel stakeholders—or a representative from your stakeholder groups—as well as upper and middle management who have a vested interest in developing your travel policy and fulfilling your travel program.

In light of the recent pandemic, we recommend including HR to review duty-of-care needs and traveler well-being.

Your evaluation team should look something like this, depending on your organization’s structure and travel needs:

  • Travel manager
  • Travel arrangers/schedulers
  • Frequent travelers
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CTO
  • CFO
  • HR

Conducting an internal evaluation of your company’s needs and expectations will prepare you to engage with TMCs. The process will help you determine whether a Request for Information (RFI) provides the insight and direction you need to “hire” a best-fit TMC for your company or whether your needs require a formal RFP.

Once you’ve agreed on position requirements, give them a hierarchy based on a percentage or points system. You’ll use these criteria to rank the RFPs during Step 6. Include the criteria and ranking in your RFP so TMCs better understand your program needs and can respond accordingly. An example ranking table is given below.

Step 2: Research TMCs and Develop a Prospect List

Now that you’ve developed your job description, you need to find likely candidates. As with Step 1, doing your homework here will produce the best outcome.

A Google search for “TMC” may overwhelm you with choices, so consider asking other businesses who their travel partners are and reach out to travel industry leaders, such as SAP Concur or the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), to ask for recommendations from their TMC networks. Develop a reasonable list of prospects to continue to vet. It’s easier to begin with more prospects during this step than it is to fall short at Step 5 or 7 and have to repeat the process.

Now you can Google those candidates and assess whether they might be a good fit for your organization. Start with the candidates’ websites and review their corporate backgrounds. Are they an award-winning firm? Do they maintain their accreditations and memberships in significant travel industry groups? Is their client list impressive? Have they been in the business long enough to weather changes in technology and the travel industry? Use this background information to trim your list as needed.

Because representing your firm in the best possible light is easy on your own website, also consider what others say about the TMC. Look for mentions in travel industry/business media and on their client’s websites, check their LinkedIn profile, and review their company ratings on Glassdoor or a similar site – because how the TMC’s employees rank the working relationship is significant to your potential partnership. If the TMC is difficult to work for, they are likely difficult to work with.

Start conversing with the TMCs on your list. Ask each one some standard questions formulated during your research and request a standard proposal from likely candidates. The TMC’s standard proposal, like a resume, presents all the benefits of working with them—services, technology solutions, experience, work history, etc. This provides more information to help you weed out TMC candidates so you don’t end up with a mountain of RFIs and/or RFPs to review. Why waste your time if you can determine early on that it’s not a good fit?

Step 3: Refine Prospect List

Now that you’ve found some solid candidates, narrow your list to a manageable amount. A good rule of thumb here is to peek at the back of the book (which we would never do with a novel) and work backwards. Take a look at Steps 4, 5, and 7, and estimate how many prospective TMCs you want to include at each stage of the process, ideally ending up with two or three candidates to “interview,” that is, to demonstrate their capabilities and answer your final questions.

If you’ve already ended up with a short list and your preferred candidates are sure to meet your criteria, skip Step 4 and move on to Step 5, the RFP.

Step 4: Send an RFI

Step 4 is like getting a massage: You want to make sure those knots receive the most attention. Structure the request around your organization’s most important issues and hot buttons, such as data collection and visibility, online adoption, duty-of-care, and unused ticket tracking.

From these responses, you can quickly evaluate the TMC’s value propositions and create a shortlist of companies with which to continue. Some companies can make a final decision from these RFI responses, but if that’s not you, move on to Step 5 – the RFP.

Step 5: Write/Revise and Distribute the RFP

The RFP process is not a one-size-fits-all document: If you’re 6’6″, you’re probably not buying a suit off the rack unless you have some tailoring done. Your RFP needs a custom fit, too, because your organization has its own culture, travel policy, and technical requirements.

There are dozens of RFP templates online (we provide one, below), and you may even have a serviceable RFP that just needs dusting off and some pandemic-related adjustments. However, it’s important to compare your template, if you decide to use one, with the weighted criteria you developed during Step 1 to ensure those criteria are covered .

Ask TMCs for additional information on these criteria. For example, if data-driven reporting is critical to keeping your program on track, in addition to asking about available reporting tools, ask for examples of the reports you need most frequently and the time frames for data population and report turn-around. If your travel bookings haven’t conformed to policy, ask what specific measures the TMC recommends implementing to improve policy compliance and how those measures function with an online booking tool and a full-service travel advisor. And if you’re having a hard time retaining your most frequent travelers, ask how you can increase traveler well-being to save rehiring and retraining costs.

Getting in-depth answers to your most vital concerns is essential in the RFP process, so request additional information to inform your decision, such as:

  • Technology overview
  • Example reporting
  • Service level agreement
  • Client success stories
  • Implementation plan
  • Account review example
  • Organizational chart

Make sure your published RFP timeline is reasonable and allows for a question and answer period. Your firm needs time for internal communications, executive approvals, and input from other departments, as appropriate, as well as their ongoing projects. Establish a realistic schedule, then pad it with a week or two to give your team some leeway. It’s easier to add time upfront than to communicate schedule changes to multiple TMCs, issue RFP addendums, communicate new deadlines to your team, and reschedule meetings.

Example RFP Schedule

Step 6: Rank RFP Respondents

Using the criteria established during Step 1, rank your proposals by percentages or points. You may have a clear winner at this point and can proceed to contract negotiations and award.

However, if a few firms are closely ranked, gather your evaluation team and develop a final set of questions for the presentation/demonstration phase. Again, weight your questions so you can tally scores during Step 7.

Step 7: Request Demonstrations and Rank Presenters

If you followed Step 3, you should have a two- or three-firm shortlist from which to select your TMC. Unless you’ve been given carte blanche, utilize the main decision makers from your evaluation team as your presentation panel. Use your weighted criteria from Step 6 and the total proposal score, as well as any internal conversations around the potential working relationship, to guide your award decision.

Step 8: Select TMC

Congratulations! You’ve successfully navigated the RFP process and are ready to implement your new travel program.

We suggest you debrief the TMCs who presented to your team. Explaining why you didn’t select their services helps them strengthen their programs, which may benefit you in the future.

Need Additional Assistance?

If you have questions about the RFP process or Christopherson’s consultative approach and solution to travel management, please contact our business development team and download our sample RFP to help you get started.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”center” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” shape_type=””][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][nectar_btn size=”large” open_new_tab=”true” button_style=”regular” button_color_2=”Extra-Color-3″ icon_family=”none” text=”Download RFP Template” url=”https://staging.cbtravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/SAMPLE-TMC-RFP-TEMPLATE_Provided-by-Christopherson-Business-Travel.pdf”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Business Travel Company News and Announcements Travel Management Travel Tips

7 Things Corporate Travel Managers Should Do Now

As travel managers approach the end of this challenging year filled with a pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, riots, murder hornets, and all, it’s important to identify ways to strengthen your organization’s travel program, prepare for the return of travel, and plan for the future. To that end, we sat down with a few members of our Account Management Team to discuss what travel managers should be doing now as you move towards the fourth quarter and set your sights on a New Year.

1. Review & Update Your Corporate Travel Policy

Many companies have travel policies, but quite often, they were written years ago and haven’t been reviewed since.

“I think the biggest thing companies learned from COVID-19 was that they have to have a solid travel policy in place,” said Dallas Stewart, Christopherson’s Manager of Client Consulting Services. “Those who did fared much better at keeping their travelers safe as the pandemic began to spread. Organizations that review their policies regularly, enjoy peace of mind and have clear risk management plans.”

Account Manager Susan Moon agreed, “Now is a good time to evaluate your travel policy and make sure you are prepared should something like COVID-19 arise again in the future.”

Every organization should review their policies to make sure they’re current and relevant. Christopherson’s Account Management Team continuously collaborates with clients to evaluate old policies, draft new ones, create addendums to existing policies, and share best practices.

Here is a sample of an addendum Christopherson developed for a customer as they revised their travel policy during the pandemic:

2. Organize Your Unused Airline Tickets

Unused airline tickets are top-of-mind for most companies, and understandably so. It’s a big piece of cleaning up from COVID-19. Companies are overflowing with unused ticket credits as travel was cancelled or postponed. Travel managers want to know: How do I find out about my organization’s unused tickets? What do we do with them? How do we make sure we don’t lose those funds?

“First and foremost, we want our clients to know we are here to help,” said Adelina Littler, Manager of Implementations and Account Support. “Travel managers don’t have to know every detail of every unused ticket, how to apply them, or all the changing rules each airline has. That’s what we’re here for as their travel management company. As their partner we can help them generate the list of their unused ticket credits in our tracking tool, AirBank. That report outlines which travelers have unused tickets on which airlines, when the credits expire, and the value of the ticket. And our travel advisors know exactly how and when to apply those unused ticket credits when travelers start booking again.”

Account Manager Valerie Buckler continued, “Travel managers should definitely take this opportunity to review their unused ticket credits before the end of the year. While AirBank will track the ticket, apply the airline rules, and encourage the reuse of those funds, your company may have credits attached to the profiles of team members who are no longer traveling or who aren’t with the company anymore. By knowing who has what, you can work with your travel management company to do any necessary name changes or review other options so you don’t lose those funds. It is so important to us that we help our clients use the full extent of their unused tickets that came from COVID-19.”

While Christopherson’s AirBank technology alerts travelers of soon-to-be expiring funds and will prompt reuse at the time of booking, travel managers may also want to communicate any company-specific instructions in the event a traveler isn’t able to use the ticket before expiration.

Read Next: What You Need to Know About Unused Airline Tickets

3. Consolidate Your Business Travel

Many organizations might have previously balked at the idea of consolidating (or mandating) their business travel. But in light of the challenges experienced in 2020, companies with non-mandated programs have realized they don’t always know where all their travelers are or how to track them and ensure their safety in an emergency. It is undeniable that organizations that consolidate save money on travel and have better risk management plans.

“COVID-19 proved just how priceless it is to have all travel booked and reported through one agency and one source,” Susan said. “Doing so allows you to know where your business travelers are, how they’re being affected by extenuating circumstances, and report on every detail of your program and your travelers.”

“The benefits of consolidation are real,” continued Manager of Client Consulting Services, Sue Schroeder. “You have better risk management. You’re able to track and ensure the reuse of unused tickets so you’re not losing money. In fact, you enjoy cost savings because you can use the full extent of your vendor contracts. And you have an agency with advisors on your side to help you when flights are cancelled or pandemics hit and you need to get home.”

4. Clean Up Traveler Profiles

Cleaning up traveler profiles isn’t something that happens on a regular basis. But as many companies are still not traveling at full capacity, now is a perfect time to sweep the profiles.

Some organizations reorganized their workforces during COVID-19 while others may have been forced to downsize due to the economic pressures of the pandemic. Some employees who previously traveled may no longer be doing so, now or in the future. Our Account Managers outlined the following steps to ensure a clean traveler profile database:

  • Review your list of employees approved for business travel.
  • Identify any travelers who are no longer traveling. Make sure you transfer any unused ticket credits they may have before deactivating or deleting their profiles.
  • Set up profiles for any new travelers.
  • Have travelers review their traveler reward numbers to ensure they are capturing the full extent of their rewards, miles, and benefits once travel resumes.
  • Ensure that credit cards used for bookings and virtual payments are correct with expiration dates updated.
  • Verify that every traveler has an emergency contact listed in their profile.

“Maintaining a perfect profile bank is always a moving target,” Valerie shared, “but your Account Manager can help you with this and it’s great to start a New Year with a fully audited list of travelers.”

5. Take Advantage of Technology & Learn How to Use Your Full Suite of Tools

“Now more than ever, travel managers should be leaning on the technology their travel management company provides,” said Sue. And indeed, technology delivers the most up-to-date access to unused airline tickets, traveler safety, data, reporting, itineraries, and more. Technology allows you to work smarter and faster and run a more streamlined travel program.

Developing technology for corporate travel management has been core to Christopherson’s value proposition for more than 20 years. Our software platform, AirPortal, generates considerable cost savings for travel programs by delivering immediate access to valuable data and essential travel management tools.

Now is a perfect time to connect with your Account Manager to learn the ins and outs of a particular tool you may not be using or to dive deeper into the capabilities of one you use every day. Another way to take full advantage of the tools available to you is to evaluate your reporting.

“Many companies receive the same reports month after month for years, never stopping to think if it’s truly helpful,” Adelina explained. “I’ve encouraged my clients to review their reporting and ask themselves if these are the right reports and if they need any new information with everything that’s transpired over the last six months. Then I work with them to fill any gaps so they have the data and information they need once they resume traveling.”

6. Communicate with Your Travelers

Travel managers need to be communicating regularly with their travelers. They understand the uncertainty surrounding the travel industry and want clear messages from management as to how their organization is handling business travel and their safety.

“By committing to routine communication,” Valerie said, “you’ll get a better sense of how your travelers are feeling about the current environment. It also helps them know the company cares about them and their well-being.”

“Traveler well-being is becoming a buzz word in the industry and with good reason,” Dallas continued. “Companies need to understand how their travelers feel about business travel in the wake of the pandemic. Travel managers may want to consider sending out a traveler survey to get a pulse on what travelers are comfortable with. Their input will be invaluable.”

Travel is a very personal thing, even if it’s for business, and providing employees an opportunity to weigh in on policies and procedures will go a long way to increasing good will toward any changes that result from COVID-19.

7. Collaborate Within Your Company

As travel managers face a new, post-pandemic landscape, many are experiencing shifting realities or responsibilities. Travel managers may even feel the need to reinvent their position. We encourage you to lean into those changes and work with other departments to collaborate and improve the value of your travel program and department.

“Travel programs often ran independently, or siloed, from other departments in the past,” Dallas explained. “But the pandemic made it increasingly apparent that there needs to be more collaboration between travel, HR, legal, procurement, reporting, and executives. Doing this allows everyone to focus together on helpful creating policies and procedures that mitigate both traveler risk and company risk, while keeping employees safe and healthy.”

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Business Travel Travel Industry Travel Management Travel Technology

How to Cancel a Trip in Concur Travel

Below are the steps you can take to cancel a trip in Concur Travel:

  1. On the home travel page in Concur, click on Travel at the top of the Menu Bar.
  2. Then click on the Upcoming Trips tab to see future trips.
  3. Click on the right to cancel the trip.  This will Cancel the entire itinerary (all vendors in the record).

If the traveler has a hotel booked included in the record they cancel, they will need to make sure they receive a hotel cancellation number after the cancel. 

If they DO NOT get a cancellation number they could be trying to cancel within the penalty timeline and could get a no-show charge from the hotel.

The screenshot below outlines how to see withdrawn (canceled) trips in the Trip Library in Concur

  1. In the Trip Library, travelers can search for past travel using the date range box. 
  2. They can check the box to include withdrawn trips to see trips canceled in Concur. 
  3. The traveler can then click on a specific trip for a canceled hotel reservation and they will see the hotel cancellation number.
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Business Travel Travel Management

What Are The Benefits Of A Corporate Travel Management Company?

Why use a travel management company? The benefits of partnering with a corporate travel management company (TMC) include access to a dedicated support team, reduced travel spending, risk management assistance, access to travel technology, enhanced reporting, travel policy creation and integration, and time savings. Read on to see how the corporate travel benefits relate to both the travel manager and the business traveler.

7 Benefits of Using a Corporate Travel Management Company are:

  1. Access to a Dedicated Support Team 
  2. Cost Saving Strategies 
  3. Assistance with Risk Management
  4. Access to Technology and Tools 
  5. Enhanced Reporting
  6. Travel Policy Creation and Integration 
  7. Time Savings for Travel Managers and Traveler

1. Access to a Dedicated Support Team 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

A corporate travel management company (TMC) should offer its clients a dedicated support team. As a travel manager, you are responsible for creating and maintaining an evolving, complex program. Working with a dedicated support team to help manage your program has many benefits.

First, you can lean on a team of experts. Whether you are creating a new travel program or you are looking to improve your current one, a TMC should be able to make recommendations to help you meet your goals. 

At Christopherson Business Travel (Christopherson), our travel management experts average more than 25 years of experience in business travel. We have helped hundreds of organizations overcome the challenges of business travel and achieve a variety of goals. Not only do we recommend adjustments our clients can make to their programs, but we also specifically point out how we can help them get there. 

Another benefit of having a dedicated support team is that travel managers can rely on experts to provide best practices, industry updates, and seasoned expertise. When a business travel program is outdated, corporate travelers become frustrated. In a dynamic industry that changes rapidly, it’s important for travel managers to stay informed about current and emerging trends.   

Benefits for the Business Traveler

Depending on your booking and service needs, your travelers might have access to a dedicated travel advisor team, a certified online support team, or a combination of the two. By partnering with a corporate travel management company, your business travelers can feel confident knowing they always have trusted experts to turn to 24/7, 365 days a year. 

Having a dedicated support team to assist with travel challenges (like delayed flights or overbooked hotels) significantly improves the overall traveler experience. A TMC also considers traveler preferences and loyalty information when helping them book travel within policy. At Christopherson, your travelers can access a small, dedicated team of travel advisors, so they always know who to contact for support. 

Some TMCs offer support via a call center, which can be frustrating. Call center agents won’t be familiar with your travel preferences or policies, and travelers often don’t receive the level of customer service they deserve. With a dedicated team, you’ll have personalized service and relationships you can count on.

Another benefit of having a dedicated support team is providing VIP services for your executive travelers. At Christopherson, priority response time, requesting special accommodations, and frequent traveler enrollment assistance are just a few of the VIP services we provide.

2. Cost Saving Strategies 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

Corporate travel management companies help businesses save money by securing the lowest possible rates on travel. Consider the following hypothetical scenario: You reach out to a large hotel chain to negotiate a corporate rate for your business. You attempt to use your predicted number of reservations of 150 nights as leverage for a lower rate. The hotel is able to offer you a discounted rate of $160 a night. 

Now imagine that your corporate travel management company reaches out to the same hotel chain. Instead of 150 nights, your TMC is leveraging the 15,000 nights they anticipate booking among  75 different accounts. It probably comes as no surprise that the hotel is able to offer your TMC an even lower rate of $140 a night.

This example illustrates how working with a TMC increases your buying power and, ultimately, saves you money. Also, by consolidating your hotel spend, a TMC can continue to negotiate lower rates on your behalf year after year.

When it comes to your travel policy, corporate travel management companies make compliance effortless through integrated technology. You can find more details about this below, but one of the reasons travel policies exist is to help manage costs. If your travelers are booking outside of your policy, chances are they are paying more than you would like because they’re not accessing your negotiated rates. 

Next, let’s consider unused airline ticket funds. It’s inevitable that business travelers will have to cancel trips due to scheduling changes, which can potentially leave money on the table. Nearly 10% of all business travel airline tickets go unused. As a travel manager, how do you ensure these unused ticket funds aren’t impacting your bottom line? A TMC can monitor these funds, helping ensure they are used before they expire. 

Christopherson’s AirBank tool is our solution to managing unused airline tickets. AirBank captures those funds in a centralized database and then prompts travelers to reuse them during their next booking. AirBank’s transparency encourages active participation in the reuse of the ticket. This helps prevent loss of funds, cut costs, and eliminate waste. Managers can also access real-time status updates and reports on those unused tickets and the subsequent available funds.

Lastly, when partnering with a corporate travel management company that charges fair and transparent fees, travel managers are able to more accurately budget for their travel program costs. Christopherson’s all-inclusive pricing structure includes all account management, technology, integrated reporting systems, and tools. Some TMCs operate on an “a la carte” model which can quickly become costly and unpredictable making it more difficult to budget.

Benefits for the Business Traveler

By negotiating lower rates, travelers are often able to choose from higher-end hotels than they would be offered without the purchasing power of a TMC. This improves their overall travel experience and makes for happy travelers. 

Unless a tool or system like AirBank is in place, it is easy for travelers to forget about the unused airline tickets they have at their disposal. By providing travelers with money-saving tools like AirBank, travelers can easily cash in on those tickets whether booking online or with an advisor.  

3. Assistance with Risk Management 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

Businesses have a legal and moral responsibility to keep their travelers safe from threats while they are on the road. Threats can range from something as serious as an outbreak of an infectious disease to losing a passport. Regardless of the circumstance, it’s important that travel managers are aware of threats as soon as possible and have a process in place to keep their travelers safe. 

Assistance with risk management is a huge benefit of working with a corporate travel management company. In a recent study, only half of the travel managers surveyed felt confident that they could locate their travelers within two hours of an emergency. When working with a TMC, travel managers often have access to risk management tools that make them more efficient and effective in times of crisis.

Christopherson’s SecurityLogic tool provides travel managers real-time information regarding which of their team members are currently traveling and where those travelers are

For example, Christopherson’s SecurityLogic tool (available within our AirPortal platform) provides travel managers real-time information regarding which of their team members are currently traveling and where those travelers are. SecurityLogic allows you to quickly see if your travelers are in or will be in an affected area. 

SecurityLogic’s alerts inform travel managers of events that could impact employee travel or compromise their safety, and the Safety Check feature can be used to verify traveler safety. 

Travel Risk Management Tool

Benefits for the Business Traveler

When businesses utilize the full range of corporate travel benefits tools like SecurityLogic provide, travelers feel safe and secure while on the road. When traveling, staying up-to-date on breaking news can be a challenge. Travelers will find comfort in knowing that if they are in or traveling to a potentially dangerous area, their employer is proactively warning them of any threats and has a plan in place to keep them safe. 

4. Access to Technology and Tools 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

Without updated technology, travel managers are left to manage their travel programs manually using spreadsheets and emails, which can be time-intensive. Integrating best-in-class technology into your travel program is a sure way to save you time and money. 

Corporate travel management partners streamline your processes for requesting travel, approving travel plans, and expense reporting. Christopherson’s AirPortal software platform has your negotiated vendor contracts, travel policy, and travel approval system built-in, ensuring compliant travel booking. All reservations filter into your custom reports and align with your managed travel program. AirPortal can be integrated with valuable benchmarking tools, preferred booking tools, and your HR feed. These technologies make your program efficient and integrated. 

Mobile App For Corporate travel Managers

AirPortal 360 Mobile, the mobile version of our travel manager dashboard, is the first and only comprehensive mobile app for travel managers that allows you to manage your entire travel program from the palm of your hand. With AirPortal 360 Mobile, travel managers can locate travelers in real-time, verify their safety, view itineraries, monitor travel plans, enroll/deactivate travelers, and manage traveler profiles from anywhere.

When working with a corporate travel management partner like Christopherson, you will also have access to tools like Virtual Pay. Virtual Pay eliminates faxing credit card information to hotels by creating single-use credit cards for each hotel booking. The unique card is then sent to the hotel for booking payment. This process helps eliminate traveler reimbursements, improve billing accuracy, and consolidate hotel spend.

Benefits for the Business Traveler

With access to a robust set of tools and technology, travelers are more organized, efficient, and satisfied with their travel program. Booking compliant travel, reimbursing expenses,  and locating travel plans becomes a breeze. Traveler profiles ensure that loyalty programs and preferences are always considered at the time of booking. 

5. Enhanced Reporting 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

Arguably the most important aspect of any successful program is the ability to access, aggregate, and visualize the data to inform decisions. Some corporate travel management companies offer reporting tools that allow you to view your entire travel program in one location.

Domo, AirPortal’s integrated business intelligence and data visualization program, delivers real-time insights that help you take action and manage a smarter travel program. By aligning metrics that matter to you in one centralized location, you can start to visualize the story your data creates. 

With complete visibility into your travel program, you can quickly identify the departments that spend the most on travel or which hotels are booked the most. This allows you to draw meaningful conclusions that help you improve processes and save money. 

With Christopherson’s ValueLogic technology, travel managers can also assess the ROI of our partnership. Customizable reports show exactly how and where we’re saving our clients’ money.

Benefits for the Business Traveler

While travelers don’t necessarily need access to the full range of reporting options that travel managers need, data from these reports is essential to your travelers’ ability to book within policy, reconcile credit cards, monitor unused tickets, and identify when their profile information needs to be updated. Good data also makes life easier for travelers in the long run. 

6. Helps Create and Maintain Your Travel Policy 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

When creating or updating a policy, it’s helpful to have experts consult with you on current best practices in your industry. A travel policy should be a living concept and evolve with the industry. Corporate travel management companies help ensure your travel policy is up to date and integrated throughout your booking tools, benchmarking tools, and HR feed. 

Benefits for the Business Traveler

Keeping your travel policy current is a great way to keep your travelers happy. And with policy integration, travelers can be confident their bookings are always compliant. 

7. Saves Travel Managers and Travelers Time 

Benefits for the Travel Manager 

Streamlined and integrated travel programs save travel managers time by keeping them organized and efficient. Whether you’re managing the ins and outs of a large global travel program or have a small team of road warriors, working with a TMC makes your day-to-day efforts easier by helping you implement the processes and plans that will help you reach your goals and support your travelers. 

Benefits for the Business Traveler

Centralized, integrated travel programs save travelers time by simplifying the booking process, making it easy to get travel approved, providing the resources and service needed to make their actual trip a breeze. Gone are the days of frantic inbox searches for flight plans, not knowing whether your booking falls within policy or where your frequent flyer number is. Travelers can spend time actually doing what they were hired to do rather than wasting time weighing the costs of different flight options or figuring out logistics of an upcoming trip. A travel management company has the expertise they can rely on.

Click to Read Next:

 

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Business Travel Travel Industry Travel Management Travel Technology

What Does a Travel Management Company do?

A travel management company (TMC) is a travel agency that provides extensive business travel support to organizations of all sizes. A TMC can simplify your workload, help you manage travel risks, reduce travel spend, serve your travelers, and provide integrated and centralized data reporting.

1. Simplifies and Streamlines Your Workload

Corporate travel management is complex. As a travel manager, you are often juggling a lot of different tasks within your company. Trying to keep track of employee travel preferences, travel plans, unused tickets, and more can be a daunting task. Travel management companies streamline your processes and support your business travel program through service and technology.

Christopherson Business Travel understands that technology is key to simplifying your workload. That’s why we built our AirPortal software platform. AirPortal provides customized dashboards for both travel managers and travelers with access to all the tools each stakeholder needs to manage the travel program and their business travel, respectively. This suite of tools within AirPortal streamlines the ability to manage risk, spend, profiles, travel plans, unused tickets, booking options, and more.

Each traveler is able to create a unique profile within our travel management platform that securely stores their travel preferences and loyalty program information. These profile details are fully integrated to ensure ease and convenience at the time of booking. When working with a TMC, travelers are able to book travel online or with an expert travel agent, based on your unique service needs. Your company travel policy is also custom-built and integrated to ensure all bookings are compliant.

AirPortal uses artificial intelligence to show the user what’s most important. On both the travel manager and traveler dashboards, AirPortal provides My Action Items, a feature that lists pressing or time-sensitive tasks and reminders so you always know what’s most important today. For example, if a traveler books their flight and rental car, but not a hotel reservation, a line will populate in their My Action Items alerting them of this gap in their travel plans. Or maybe a travel manager missed a travel approval request. This too will appear in the My Action Items feature of their dashboard, along with any other pressing tasks.AirPortal360 Travel Management Company

Some travel management companies like Christopherson also integrate their travel management software directly into valuable benchmarking tools, preferred booking tools, and your HR feed. Facilitating these integrations allows you to access everything you need from one centralized location, saving travelers and travel managers time, and ultimately money.

Providing guidance through account management is another way a travel management company can streamline and focus your travel program toward reaching your goals. Account managers should work with you to carefully analyze your program to see where you’re succeeding and where the gaps are. Based on that analysis, they should then provide a custom travel management plan to help you know where improvements can be made. This kind of consultative account management allows travel managers to lean on the expertise of seasoned industry professionals

2. Helps You Manage Risk

Duty of Care is the legal and moral responsibility each organization has to keep its employees safe from threats. Such threats could include extreme weather or natural disasters, political strikes and civil unrest, car accidents, theft, personal attacks, or terrorism—the list goes on. As a travel manager, how do you maintain confidence that you are upholding your obligation to protect and care for your travelers?

A travel management company can help expedite your knowledge of threatening situations in areas where you have travelers and facilitate your response and/or assistance. At Christopherson Business Travel, our clients utilize our SecurityLogic tool to access critical, real-time security data, quickly locate travelers and verify traveler safety.

SecurityLogic Corporate Travel Management Company Example

In a recent study, only half of the travel managers surveyed felt confident that they could locate their travelers within two hours of an emergency. If your travelers’ plans are not stored, managed, or accessible from one centralized location, trying to locate employees during a crisis could be a messy and stressful task, not to mention potentially disastrous.

SecurityLogic provides travel managers with a real-time list of who is currently traveling and where those travelers are. SecurityLogic also allows you to quickly see if your travelers are in or are going to be in an affected area.

Travel alerts inform you of events that could impact employee travel or compromise their safety. Travel managers have the option to click through to the news source to get even more information. For extra security, you can set up auto-alerts that push directly to travelers via text and email to verify safety.

Click here to see a quick video tutorial on SecurityLogic.

3. Reduces Your Travel Costs

Partnering with a corporate travel management company can significantly reduce your overall travel costs. TMCs have expert knowledge in all aspects of the travel industry, including contract negotiations. Your account manager should be able to negotiate with your preferred vendors to ensure you are paying the lowest amount possible.

Cost Savings from University Corporate Travel ColoradoBusiness travel plans often change or get canceled. Did you know that nearly 10% of all business travel airline tickets go unused? As a travel manager, how do you ensure those funds from unused airline tickets are used before they expire? Keeping track of all the changes in your traveler’s plans could be a fulltime job in and of itself.

Travel Management Companies should ensure your unused tickets don’t impact your bottom line. Christopherson’s AirBank tool, found within AirPortal, captures those unused airline tickets and prevents the loss of those funds by prompting their reuse at the time of booking, whether online or with a full-service advisor.

Working with a business travel agency also ensures employees are booking within your company travel policy. By booking within policy, you can take advantage of your corporate rates, ensure you aren’t overspending, and make expense tracking and reporting a breeze.

Lastly, by partnering with a TMC you are saving time. Every hour you do not have to spend dealing with a travel headache, is an hour you can utilize elsewhere. Travel managers shouldn’t have to troubleshoot flight delays, manually keep track of itineraries, or pull reports from multiple locations. Travelers can find information quicker, make last-minute updates to travel plans, access 24/7 support from a trusted travel expert, and locate all expense receipts in one location.

4. Serves Your Travelers

Companies rely on corporate travel to close new business, foster relationships with current accounts, or inspire and connect departments within their own organization. In order to ensure those travel dollars are well spent, businesses need to prioritize the traveler experience to avoid fatigue and travel burnout. This is where a travel management company can shine.

By utilizing a tool like AirPortal, travelers can access all their travel plans in one location. No more frustrated inbox searching! Travelers are also alerted when they have incomplete trip plans. This allows you to avoid the high-stress situation of arriving at a new destination and realizing you forgot to book a hotel. Avoiding these small hiccups makes for a better traveler experience overall.

Let’s dive deeper into the actual booking process. Whether your travelers like to book online themselves or with a travel agent, partnering with the right travel management company can provide huge upside.

First, adhering to company travel policy is effortless. Regardless of which booking option they choose, your travelers are only offered options that fit within your policy. Traveler preferences are also documented, integrated, and considered before any bookings are confirmed, which makes for happy travelers!

Most importantly, TMCs should offer around-the-clock expert support and consultation. We all know that flights are sometimes delayed or canceled. Occasionally hotels are overbooked. Having access to a dedicated travel advisor team or a certified online support team means your travelers can feel confident in knowing they always have a trusted expert to turn to.

High-stress circumstances during business travel can lead to traveler anger and resentment towards their employer. These situations need to be solved quickly and with little effort from the traveler. With Christopherson Business Travel, your travelers have an expert in their corner to deal with unforeseen issues no matter the day or time.

5. Provides Integrated and Centralized Data Reporting

Next, let’s dig into how a travel management company can help the travel manager as well as the finance department. Many businesses struggle to analyze data because this information is coming from multiple departments and software. Christopherson’s AirPortal platform takes all your data points and presents them in a meaningful and centralized way.

Your AirPortal reporting and analytics tools can help you identify which departments or individuals spend the most on travel, which travelers book outside of your policy, and trends to see where you can save money. Having clear, concise reporting ensures accountability across all departments and helps you to make better-informed business decisions.

In addition to AirPortal’s benchmarking and analytics options, you can also access ValueLogic, an ROI tool that allows you to see exactly how and where we’re saving you money. And since not all travel programs are the same, AirPortal’s reports can be customized to your specific needs, so you see what matters to you. The end result? Cost savings and a well-managed travel program.

 

Read our blog post, What are the benefits of a corporate travel management company?” to learn about more benefits a TMC can provide. 

 

Do You Need A Travel Management Company?  Customer Testimonial for CBT Travel Management

From Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits to start-ups, any organization that wants to save time or money on travel can benefit from using a TMC. Download our whitepaper “Do I Need A Travel Management Company?” to better understand how your travel program could benefit from a TMC.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Is It Time For A Business Travel Program Review?

Let’s say your company has an implemented and active travel program. You have processes in place, the correct people in charge, and travelers on the road. Everything is as it should be, right? You may actually be missing one important part of the process—an overall program review. Similar to finance or investments, it’s necessary to take a broad assessment of your travel program and your company every so often. So, is your travel program still on target? We’ve compiled these common questions to help your company decide if it’s time for a business travel program review.

Is your travel program still on target? Here’s what you should be asking:

When was the last time you reviewed your travel program? 

One year? Five years? Though yearly and quarterly reviews and assessments are imperative to a healthy travel program, we find most companies take a deeper look at their existing travel program every three to five years.

Has your company grown or shrunk since you first implemented your travel program? 

Could the person in charge of your travel need an additional set of hands to get through everything? Most often we find that companies simply outgrow their existing travel program. Additionally, your industry landscape may be completely different from when you first established your travel policy and program. Do you have new or different competitors? Are there new territories you team visits? It may be time to do a competitive review as well.

What’s new in the business travel industry? 

Business travel continues to advance at the speed of light. It’s surprising to think that ride sharing and vacation rentals like airbnb have really just entered the business travel sector. Is your team utilizing these latest advances? Or would they benefit from adding it to your program?

Are you getting the most advanced technology options on the market?  

In addition to the overall changes in the business travel industry, is the technology itself. Would your company’s travel be smoother with the use of easy-to-access itineraries, risk management support, online booking options, or real-time analysis tools? Travel technology and custom integrations can often be limited in smaller or boutique travel management companies. It might be time to research the latest in travel technology and its benefits for your company.

Is your team getting the support they need?

As your company grows, so should its support or services. What happens to your travel on the weekends or after 5pm? Smaller in-house programs or boutique TMCs often no longer provide the support, hours of service or attention that’s needed for growing companies.

Are there other travel management services that could be included?

Businesses often have an assortment of travel needs. Business travel is the most obvious, but what about VIP travel, event or meeting planning, humanitarian travel, or incentive trips? Though these types of travel can be planned through different travel companies, it is often easier and saves costs in the long run to consolidate all travel needs with one TMC.

 

As companies grow, new challenges and needs grow as well. One area that is usually overlooked is the travel program. It can be tempting to stick with an existing travel program during these times of growth. But the fact is that it may no longer effectively benefit your company or travelers. Taking the time to ask yourself these questions will put you in the right track to evaluate your travel program.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Technology

Christopherson’s Online Travel Support & Tools

Not surprisingly, the ability to book travel online is important for many busy professionals. Because we’re known for our travel advisor services and consultative approach; our exceptional online booking tools and support team can sometimes fly under the radar. With our team of industry experts and our company’s preferred partnerships, they are often the unsung heroes of easy booking and travel solutions. So, what makes our online travel support superior above others?

What does our online travel support look like?

Booking travel quickly and easily is a top priority for our busy clients. With our many years in corporate travel management, we’re well-versed in the unique challenges of online booking and support. That’s why we provide three specialized support teams and various online booking tools for our clients. Reliability is a necessity, and our services and technology ensures it runs smoothly.

Christopherson’s online support teams

It can be surprising to learn how complex online booking and support can be on the back end. It’s much more than just connecting buttons and going live. Designing our support team into three specialized groups has proven to be the best way to provide proactive and expert service for our clients. What’s even better, is our online support team are also experienced travel advisors. They often assist in other ways if needed! Here’s a closer look at our online support teams:

  1. Frontline support team – This team is dedicated to the phone and email support of the travelers. They are available to assist with anything the traveler may need while booking online. While most TMCs charge to speak with a support team, this is included at no additional cost for our clients.
  2. Reservation support team – They monitor the reservations going through our automated systems to ensure everything is working smoothly.  They contact travelers when there may be a payment issue, schedule change and handle the processing of our Airbank tickets to online reservations.
  3. Online tech team – This team handles the implementations, updates, audits and general maintenance of our 1000+ online sites.  Working directly with SAP Concur on any outstanding issues and builds, they are SAP Concur certified and regularly attend trainings.

Christopherson’s online booking tools

We work with three online booking tools: Concur Travel, Deem, and nuTravel. Because of our Concur Preferred Partner status and associated customer benefits, we often recommend our clients book through Concur Travel.

Being a Concur Preferred Partner

A Concur Preferred Partner is a travel management company that is recognized by SAP Concur to be fully equipped to manage travel needs, based on their relentless commitment to their clients and technical advancements. The company must also be a leader in the industry and fully aligned with SAP Concur’s mission and vision. They also have a history of constant collaboration with the Concur Travel team.

Christopherson is one of only 23 companies nationwide that hold this exclusive membership. In fact, we were one of the first to receive this distinction as a result of our innovation and integrations. We have worked closely with SAP Concur since 2003, and currently manage more than 1,000 sites for more than 750 companies using SAP Concur.

We are also the first agency to become a Concur Certified Agency. This new designation was earned by Christopherson’s online technology specialists, through training and testing, to ensure complete proficiency in the design and maintenance of Concur Travel sites.

What are the benefits of working with a TMC with Concur Preferred Partner status?

This preferred status is more than just a fancy title. It comes with perksmany that directly benefit the customer. So what does that include?

  • Full and open integration – Being a preferred partner enables us to offer comprehensive service and a commitment to innovation.
  • Priority escalation of Concur Travel issues – Think of this like cutting in line when an issue arises. Our perks are your perks.
  • Cutting-edge service and support – As your company grows, so will your travel program. Being a preferred partner gives us the ability to evolve, not only in the industry, but also as your travel needs change.
  • High quality service and responsive interaction – Being a longtime direct reseller of SAP Concur, you can be assured of high quality service and responsive interaction.
  • Access to Christopherson’s SAP Concur Certified Online Tech Support Team – Our specialists know the inside and out of SAP Concur, and are always available via phone or email.

See why our online travel solutions are continually recognized as one of the best in the industry?  And this is just skimming the surface of our extensive and ongoing services. Interested in learning more? Contact us with any questions or for a demo of our AirPortal technology.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Increasing Employee Compliance With New Travel Policies

Implementing new travel policies can get tricky. Yet often the real battle comes later, when you’re trying to get employee compliance on these new changes. More often than not, these new policies were sculpted with the traveler’s needs and happiness in mind. The truth is there are many reasons business travelers should want to comply, not just because the company seems to demand it.

What employees receive when they comply with the travel program:

  1. Their safety. It’s the company’s duty of care responsibility to ensure their traveler’s wellbeing while they’re traveling on the company’s behalf. Should an emergency arise, there will be no confusion if a traveler has followed the protocol of the travel policy. Plus, tools like our SecurityLogic provides instant location information, based off of their itineraries.
  2. Saves costs for the company. Vendor contracts have been painstakingly created and negotiated. It only makes sense to stay within guidelines.
  3. If done correctly, increases traveler satisfaction. As important as overall costs are for the company, ensuring their travelers are comfortable often leads to more productive meetings. By understanding what will keep your travelers happy, and ensuring they rely on your travel program to receive it, makes it a win/win for everyone.

5 ways to use traveler satisfaction to increase compliance

    1. First and foremost, talk to your travelers. Survey your employees and try to negotiate the inclusions that are important to them. They are, after all, the people enduring the trip.
    2. Recognize frequently expensed items like lounge access or Wi-Fi. Try to get these things included for frequent travelers.
    3. Don’t be afraid to get creative in negotiations. For example, if travelers are frequently expensing Starbucks, consider negating a breakfast credit to be used either in the restaurant or coffee shop (rather than a traditional breakfast) at your preferred hotel.
    4. Travelers are more likely to comply to vendors if you provide them the WIFM (what’s in it for me). Traveling for business in general may be enough of a perk of the job for some. So make sure they understand the additional benefits included in their policy. You’ve worked hard to get them these perks, so make sure they know they have it available.
    5. Continued internal communication about travel programs. This tip seems so basic, but is often overlooked. Travel management has a tendency to become a siloed conversation within companies. Sure, new employees are briefed when they come on, but how many really know what’s included in their travel policy? Many may not even realize they’re booking outside of the policy. Or reasonable alternatives to their preferences are available. Try by taking a step back and putting yourself in their shoes for a few minutes. When was the last time they were briefed on employee compliance and the travel policy? What information is available when they’re booking or if they have questions? Do you have communications protocol if a new vendor contract is created? You could make a goal to send out a quarterly update email entailing any changes or reminders of basic protocols.

Overall, getting employee compliance with travel policies requires help from both sides of the table – the company and the traveler. By understanding their needs, you can help create a superior travel experience. And hopefully the travelers will understand the importance of complying with the policy when they see the benefits for their wellbeing and safety.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Travel Smarter—With Our Travel Analytics Tools

We are excited to announce our latest innovation in travel management technology at this year’s GBTA Convention in San Diego, CA. In connection with Domo, the world’s leading data visualization platform, we are premiering our advanced travel analytics tools. Integrated within our AirPortal platform, these 16 tools allow our customers to visualize their travel data in new ways, empowering them to make data-driven decisions.

Our CEO, Mike Cameron says, “In today’s world, you have to bring technology to the front and provide meaningful tools to move business forward. Without it, travel managers will fall behind.” We find clients often avoid analyzing their travel data altogether, never seeing the insights that their program and travelers really need. That was our motivation behind developing a solution that makes travel data easier to understand. “Being able to visualize the story their data tells allows them to take informed action that ultimately helps them run a more cost-effective travel program.”

What are the additional benefits of our travel analytics tools?

  • Easy accessibility – Located on the AirPortal 360 dashboard, travel managers will find a comprehensive overview of their travel data in one convenient location. With 16 data cards on display, additional information and filters can be accessed within each card. Further customization and display settings are also available.
  • Reduces travel spend – Understand the story your travel program is telling you and use it to reduce costs. For example, by using the ‘Online vs. Full Service’ or ‘Top 25 Travelers’ data cards, a travel manager can understand their travelers’ habits or preferences. By then aligning travel policies, they can ultimately save the company money while meeting the needs of their employees.
  • Helps negotiate better vendor contracts – Identify the trends hiding in your data. By using the ‘Hotel By State’ or ‘Top 10 Hotel Chains’ data cards, travel managers can analyze patterns within their travel data. Through this easy analysis, they may recognize increased hotel bookings within one state or chain, providing a chance to negotiate better vendor contracts.

By providing easier visualizations of their data, travel managers can more effectively understand their travel program, ultimately empowering them make data-driven decisions. Stop by our expo booth 535 for a first hand look at our premier technology tools or schedule an appointment with our team through the convention planner.

Hope to see you at GBTA this week!

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Business Travel Travel Management

The Overlooked Risks of Unmanaged Business Travel

Booking and managing travel is usually a breeze when everything goes as planned. It’s even kind of fun, right? Researching new destination cities is a change of pace from the norm. And finding a good bargain on hotel or airline prices is always a win.  Heck, why do you think we like travel management so much too? But as entertaining as planning business travel can be, most professionals are unaware of the negatives that come with it. Online travel booking sites are easy to use, but truly can’t provide the support that companies need for efficient business travel. The risks of unmanaged business travel, that come without using a travel management company, vary from minor to potentially serious.

7 risks of unmanaged business travel

  • Lacking access to travel experts. Growing accustomed to booking your own travel can be a learning experience, but you’ll likely never gain the years of expert travel tips that experienced account managers or travel agents acquire first hand. Relying on their know-how is one of the top benefits of working with a business travel company.
  • Losing out on loyalty programs, discounts, other offers. There are so many tips, tricks, memberships, vendor contracts, etc that most companies have never even heard of before.  Without a TMC to guide you, most companies miss out on serious cost saving benefits without even knowing it.
  • No framework to ensure compliance. Booking travel is one thing, but managing, reporting and analyzing the data is a whole other ballgame for most busy professionals. Having support to ensure compliance, ultimately reducing travel spend, is a major goal that most companies just can’t realistically afford to do on their own.
  • Leveraging the company’s travel spend appropriately. Instead of loosely managing, a TMC will be able to keep a close eye on your costs and any leakage along the way.
  • Comfort for your employees while they travel. A happy traveler is usually a more productive traveler. Automatically booking them on seats or rooms based on their preferences is one easy way to keep your travelers comfortable and efficient.
  • Overall management and order to travel. Keep all itineraries, preferences, and reporting in one place. No more searching through your inbox to find your traveler’s information. Travel technology, like our AirPortal Suite, is designed to keep everything you or your travelers need readily available and in one secure place.
  • Risk management and duty of care support. One of the growing major risks of unmanaged business travel is duty of care responsibility, or lack thereof. What if an emergency arises in an area that your employee is currently traveling? Staying in communication with them, and alerted should something arise is imperative in our world today. And sadly it’s often overlooked by most companies who manage their own travel.

While most online public travel sites are easy-to-use and appear cheaper on the surface, they ultimately can’t provide the cost savings, quality of service, or duty of care support that travel management companies can overall. Ready to learn more about how Christopherson helps companies stay organized, ensure compliance, and assist with risk management? Let’s chat.

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Business Travel Travel Management

How Christopherson Reduces Travel Costs

You most likely know that partnering with a travel management company will streamline your travel experience. Your company will also be more organized with easy access to all your information. And the added peace of mind for the security and communication with your traveling employees doesn’t hurt either.  But the additional question we’re frequently asked is – how is Christopherson going to save my company money? Well let’s talk through some of the main ways that we are able to reduce travel costs for our clients.

How Christopherson reduces travel costs for our clients

  • Our AirPortal technology allows our clients to track just about everything. Our new clients often discover that they’ve been previously losing money without even realizing it. Sometimes it’s black holes within compliance. Our AirPortal dashboard provides a top-level view of travel management programs, often providing insight into previously unknown areas of your travel program. By providing a transparent look at your travel program, you can fully understand ways it’s working, but also areas for improvement.
  • Part of the AirPortal suite includes our AirBank technology tool. It tracks all unused air tickets, ensuring you never miss out.
  • Our experienced account management team. As part of their role as your designated account manager, they will always be on the lookout for ways to additionally save your company extra money.
  • Superior vendor relationships. One way our account managers provide above and beyond cost savings, is with their various vendor relationships. Through our connections, we can pass on great deals and contracts to our clients, ultimately saving you money.
  • Our relationship with airlines. One of our favorite tricks is passing on discounts we personally get from the airlines directly to our clients.

 

Our clients often come to us with differing pain points. But cost savings is typically high on everyone’s list.  That’s why we work so diligently to continually provide ways that Christopherson lowers the cost of your travel. If you are interested in learning more about how we can specifically save your company money, please contact us for a free consultation.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Why Duty Of Care For Universities Is The Real Reason To Mandate Travel

From study abroad students to professors on sabbatical; universities have their own ecosystem when is comes to travel management. Just think of it, potentially thousands of students, administrators, professors and contractors can be traveling on behalf of an academic institution at any one time. That’s why it’s so surprising to learn that many universities and colleges do not utilize travel management companies for their complex travel needs. Many know that mandating travel would help them stay organized and reduce travel costs. But unfortunately, finding the right TMC often becomes a ‘back-burner’ item. Additionally, as the global and political climate become more unpredictable, the responsibility of duty of care for universities is also growing. Can learning institutions really afford not have a mandated travel management program in this day and age?

Increase in travel risk requires more duty of care for universities

Duty of care responsibility and the travel risk management that is required to maintain it, is a large task for even small startups. The responsibility required by a university or college can be mind boggling. Whether it be theft, terrorism, disease, or weather; the risks associated with travel have always been around. And unfortunately, it appears to be increasing. iJET, a leader in integrated travel management, found that 98% of their alerts were issued in just the past five years. Additionally, 78% of travel managers plan on making risk management a higher priority this year. Risk, from pickpockets to something catastrophic, is a global issue that only seems to be growing. It is naive to think that universities and colleges of any size can adequately protect their students and employees without the assistance of a travel management program.

How a lack of duty of care lead to disaster

In 2007, Cara Munn was an active 15 year-old excited to attend a school trip to China. Her private boarding school, The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, lead a month-long excursion around the country. Part of the trip included a hike on Mount Panshan. We now know that the trip leaders never told the students to put on bug spray. She was also allowed to hike down the mountain unsupervised rather than take a cable car with the group. Ten days later, Munn was rushed to Beijing hospital with a high fever, headache and wooziness. She eventually was airlifted back to New York. Due to the hike without bug spray, Munn contracted tick-borne encephalitis. This viral infection caused by ticks commonly manifests as meningitis, encephalitis, or meningoencephalitis. Though Munn went on to finish high school and attended Trinity College, she has lost the ability to speak and some cognitive functions.

Ten years later, Hotchkiss School and the Munn family are still in the middle of a heated lawsuit. The Connecticut Supreme Court recently ruled to uphold a $41.5 million verdict for the family. They found that the school lacked duty of care responsibility when they failed to warn or protect their students against the risk of a serious insect-borne disease. Though the case is now pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the amount of time, money, stress and energy spent by the school has been insurmountable. And with the court cases appearing to favor the student, it’s becoming more and more apparent that education institutions need to have their duty of care and travel risk management protocol in place and in action should an incident arise.

The necessity of duty of care solutions for universities

Basically it comes down to one question. Can your institution afford to not have duty of care responsibility? Could you afford ten years worth of court fees like this example? What about the bad publicity and tarnished reputation that would come with it?

We’re lucky enough to live in a time where technology has made previously convoluted and confusing tasks simple and straightforward. Travel technology, like our AirPortal 360 Suite, provides support and guidance from the very beginning of your traveler’s process. Ensure they are booking within policy and easily keep track of their itinerary and preferences. Once they travel, monitor their progress and receive travel alerts around their location. Travel management and duty of care responsibility are more important now than ever, but luckily, our travel technology is easy to use and provides peace of mind. If you or your university is interested in learning more about travel management services, please contact us.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Tips

7 Questions Every Business Should Ask Before Contracting With A TMC – Part 2

Once your company decides to partner with a TMC, finding one that suits your company’s needs becomes the next challenge. If you missed it, see our part 1 of this blog series, addressing the initial questions to ask any travel management company during the vetting process. Now that you’ve asked the first round of questions from your perspective TMCs, it’s time to dive deeper. We’ve compiled additional questions to ask, regardless if this the first time you’re working with a TMC or just looking for a new fit.

Questions to ask before contracting with a TMC

  1. What are the typical savings for your clients? What’s the biggest bang for your buck? Unfortunately, when it comes to cost savings, travel management is not so black and white. Cost is often a major factor, but what are the other pain points affecting your company and its travelers? Having an understanding of what savings looks like to a TMC is an important perspective. 
  2. How much back and forth is needed to finalize travel plans? Depending on your set up and preferences, every company’s answer is going to look different. Seeing how each TMC handles this question can provide excellent insight into their customization options and overall customer service.
  3. Will I be working with a dedicated team? AKA – when the going gets tough, can I rely on people who know the ins-and-outs of my travel needs and preferences? Having reliable back up when you’re stranded alone in an airport at 2:30 am is what makes the difference between a good TMC and a great TMC. At Christopherson, you will have an account manager who always has your back, plus a collection of advisers.
  4. How do you handle travel mishaps? What happens if a traveler misses their flight? Or has a family emergency and needs to quickly change their itinerary? Asking how each company resolves unforeseen travel issues can save you time and energy in the future.
  5. Is there a general travel insurance provider? How well do they know business travel industries as a whole? Are they well-equipped to assist in other travel-related needs, like travel insurance or credit card pre-payment?
  6. Do you provide after hours support? When the unforeseen happens after 5pm, what it the procedure to assisting your travelers. Will they be waiting for a callback? Or will they receive immediate service and support?
  7. How are you different from other TMCs? Ask them for their elevator pitch. Make sure your concerns and their priorities are aligned before contracting with a TMC.

A reliable TMC who always has your back is an essential factor for any growing business. Make sure you choose the corporate travel partner that’s right for your company’s needs. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are looking for a TMC, or, just interested in more about TMCs in general. We’re always here to talk.

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Business Travel Guides Travel Management

The First Questions To Ask TMCs – Part 1

Deciding to manage travel with a TMC is an exciting transition for any company. Knowing that your travel will be in the hands of experts is relieving, and getting time back in your day back is an appealing perk too. So, now that your company is ready to move forward – where do you start?  What traits are essential for a qualified travel management company? And more importantly, which one is the right fit for your business’ specific needs?

We understand this venture can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve put together these beginning questions to ask TMCs. These are questions we’re frequently asked by interested companies. We’ve also included additional tips and thoughts to consider during the process.

The first 6 questions to ask TMCs

  1. How much money are you going to save me? This is the million dollar question, isn’t it? It’s the question we hear most frequently, and I’m sure it’s the first question your CEO is going to ask you too. Yes, this is an important question, but it shouldn’t be the deciding factor either. At Christopherson, our clients can expect to save 15-18% on travel costs on average. But it’s important to also keep in mind other factors; like price of the tickets, time, stress and ancillary costs. Items like these are often not factored into blanket cost statements. Many factors go into a healthy and successful travel management program. Cost is just one of the many considering factors.
  2. What technology do you offer? What solutions are you looking to solve in a travel management software? In your research, you may find there are tools for problems that you didn’t even know existed. Our proprietary technology, AirPortal 360, is a powerful, extensive travel technology tool. With a tool set for travel managers, as well as travelers, you can rest assured that everyone is on the same page. Stay on top of your travel with tools that assist with risk management, hotel pre-pay solutions, unused ticket assistance, and much more.
  3. What is the employee turnover rate at your company? Knowing this answer before signing on with a TMC can truly save time and wasted energy down the line. It can be the difference between and happy and long-term relationship with your account manager, or skipping to new account managers every few months. Having a company by your side that not only takes good care of you, but also their employees is important when it comes to customer satisfaction in the long run.
  4. What is your client retention rate? A very similar question. A low retention of current clients can indicate an issue with performance at a travel management company.
  5. Are there additional inclusions into the travel program? Will the TMC have an initial low price, but nickel and dime you for additional features and actions? This is one reason why the ‘how much are you going to save me’ question can be misleading and necessary to dive further.
  6. Do you provide custom solutions? Is the product and travel program a simple ‘off-the-shelf’ model?  It’s important to understand if your program will have the customization you need to run an efficient travel management program.

At Christopherson Business Travel, our approach is dedicated account management with custom travel programs. Feel confidant that your business is in the right hands with our experienced team and 24/7 service. Please contact us to learn more about how Christopherson can fit your travel needs.

Continue on our part 2 of the series: 7 questions every business should ask before partnering with a TMC

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Business Travel Travel Management

Qualities of a Great Corporate Travel Manager

Whether you’re switching from in-house travel management or changing providers, knowing what a good corporate travel manager looks like can be difficult. You want to make sure you and your employees are in good hands; and the best way to do that is ensure your corporate travel manager is up to snuff.

Top qualities of an excellent corporate travel manager

  1. Connections in the industry. Sometimes solving problems comes down to your connections or past experiences. An exceptional manager typically has years of experience under their belt, with a network of contacts to get things done quickly and smoothly. Their connections may even help you get a great deal with a vendor or accommodations.
  2. Has the experience to guide you. Travel pricing can fluctuate by the hour. Having a travel manager that can see the value in a good price or smooth itinerary can be invaluable.
  3. Works well with both large and small accounts. Companies of different sizes have different pain points. Knowing how to effectively and seamlessly work with accounts of each size is the sign of a great travel manager.
  4. Respects privacy and security. Your travel manager will have exposure to personal information. They should be utilizing the latest security tools to protect you and your travelers to help protect it.
  5. Works well on their feet. Impending weather, meeting cancellations, emergencies – there are many variables that can quickly derail travel itineraries. That’s why it’s so important to have a travel manager who can quickly pick up the pieces and move on with an effective plan.
  6. Backed by a powerful agency.  Large travel management companies, like Christopherson often have deals and connections with airlines, hotels or car services. Working through a TMC often saves you time and stress, but more often than not, a lot of money too.
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Business Travel Travel Management

How Do TMCs Assist Travelers?

On our blog, we often talk about the benefits of a managed travel program for corporations.  But what about the traveler?  Whether traveling every single week or only once a year, a company’s managed travel program should assist travelers as well.
Traveling itself is taxing. And that’s not even counting in the stress from meetings, staying on top of emails and time management. We support companies, but more importantly their employees, with the eccentricities of travel. Christopherson provides  a wealth of essential resources, just for travelers.

How Christopherson assists travelers:

  • One-stop Shopping. Book your air, hotel and car from one source.  All discounts and negotiated rates are at your fingertips.
  • Guaranteed Lowest Fare. The traveler will receive a refund if a lower fare is found that meets the same qualifications as the original fare.
  • Afterhours. Christopherson is available 24/7  You will receive experienced, efficient, and courteous support round the clock, no matter where they are in the world.
  • Unused Ticket Tracking. Unused tickets are tracked and made available to you immediately upon cancellation of the original ticket.
  • Traveler Profile. Avoid wasted time and hassle of having to communicate or re-entering your unique travel preferences every time you book your travel.

You have enough on your plate. We cover the tiny details of travel so you can focus on the more important items.

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Christopherson Business Travel is an award-winning travel management company with more that 60 years of experience.  From our custom-built technology to our experts employees, we’ve succeeded by providing superior support for all the unique problems travel hands out. If you think your company could benefit from additional travel management solutions, contact us today.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Tips

Surviving a One-Day Buisness Trip

We are all so busy that, at times, a one-day business trip can have a lot of benefits. First, it saves your company money on an overnight in a hotel. Second, it takes less time away from any personal and professional duties and can make a person more productive. While the benefits are strong, the concept of doing such a trip can be daunting to some people.

Tips to surviving a one-day business trip:

1) Stay healthy. Catching an early flight, attending meetings, and then catching another flight at the end of the day is exhausting. Combat this by drinking plenty of water and eating healthy to ensure you have plenty of energy to get you through the day.
2) Dress comfortably. Without access to a hotel, you will need to wear business clothes for the entire day. Invest in some that are wrinkle free and wear comfortable shoes.
3) Pack a small “what if” bag. You’ll need to be prepared in the event that you need to stay over. Extra undergarments, travel sized toiletries and a toothbrush can put your mind at ease.
4) Take advantage of any travel perks. If you have access to an airport lounge or a business center, these can be a great place to catch up on work. If you don’t have such access, you may consider using your extra time to enjoy your destination for an hour or two.
5) Lastly, if your trip includes a red- eye flight, you might consider purchasing an upgrade to ensure you get enough sleep to continue to be productive once you land.

A one-day business trip is eventually inevitable for most professionals.  But if you tackle it strategically, you can walk away with a productive and energetic day under your belt.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Why Universities Use TMCs

When I tell people what I do for a living, they always look surprised when I mention working with universities and higher education. Because Christopherson Business Travel has the word ‘business’ in its name, it’s easy to assume that that’s our only client base. The truth is that colleges and universities need as much travel management as corporations. Here is why many institutions of higher education choose to take travel off of their own shoulders and work with a TMC:

Reasons universities work with travel management companies (TMCs)

1) Universities often have many departments. All of those departments can be a lot for one person or one department to manage. The average university travel program includes; athletics, faculty and staff business travel, study abroad/ student trips and groups. This means at any one time, a university has dozens of people, with varying ages and levels of travel experience on the road. Christopherson employs a University Travel Team of agents who are highly experienced in booking all segments of university travel.

2) As an employer, a university has a duty to ensure the safety of their travelers. This is where we come in. With SecurityLogic, which is housed in our proprietary AirPortal 360 technology, travel arrangers are able to stay informed of the location and security of all travelers. SecurityLogic is a dynamic reporting and communication tool created to facilitate your duty of care responsibilities.

3) Keeping payment methods secure. It is very rare that all university travelers will have their own university specific credit card. So it is quite common for schools to elect to use a departmental card, or ghost card, to be utilized by several travelers. With Christopherson, regardless of your payment configuration, the appropriate card is stored in the Traveler Profile. Once it is stored, it is masked for your protection.

4) 24/7/365 agent access. Things happen when your travelers are on the road and we are here to help your travelers find options. Between our University Team of Agents and our after- hours support, we have you covered.

5) Consultative account management. Managing a university travel program can be a daunting task and you want someone in your corner with more than just a little experience. Our highly experienced account managers take a consultative approach in ensuring the success of your program.

Christopherson Business Travel has been successfully fulfilling the travel needs of higher education clients for more than 30 years and currently manages travel programs for more than 30 colleges and universities.

Categories
Travel Management Travel Tips

CV Travel Is A Humanitarian Travel Lifesaver

Rose Pylidis, a Christopherson Business Travel Executive, volunteers her time with a humanitarian organization in South Africa every year. Their goal is to create awareness and funding for food, clothing, shelter and education for women and children affected by poverty, abandonment and HIV/Aids. She flies out every year, bags in tow, to visit places such as Mabopane and Makanyane to volunteer her time and energy.

Rose has been volunteering with this non-profit for 16 years, but this is her first time traveling with the help of CV Travel, a recently acquired Christopherson Andavo company. Specializing in humanitarian travel and faith-based travel, they organize travel and provide travel support. This is Rose’s recent experience traveling with their help.

Humanitarian travel with CV Travel

How did you book travel before using CV Travel? 

Normally I would just book my trips via the Delta website.  This time, I used CV Travel to book my trip. They took care of everything!  In addition to the discount pricing, the thing I most appreciated was the ability to take 3 pieces of luggage per person.  With six of us in the group, that enabled us to bring much-needed clothing for women, children, and babies, as well as additional school supplies.
What info did you need to provide CV Travel? 

What I so appreciated was their ability to offer us different flight options/pricing within 2-3 day arrival/departure variable.  All she needed was our names as they appeared on our passports to hold the space and then we had several weeks before we had to make the final payment.

How was it different than how you previously booked humanitarian travel? I had such

I had such peace of mind knowing that I could contact CV Travel with any questions or possible changes.  Also, the fact that everyone in our party was able to take 3 suitcases at no additional charge.

Do you have any humanitarian travel tips for others?

On a personal note, I do keep a checklist for my international trips and always make sure to include an adaptor for charging phones, computers, etc.   Also, I spray colloidal silver on any surface that will be used to put my food on, especially the tray on the airlines, as well as spray some in my mouth.   Regardless of the area, I always make sure to pack sunscreen and bug spray.   Another important thing to consider is to take clothes that can be layered.  Also, closed-toes shoes are important.   Even though bottled water is normally available, it wouldn’t hurt to take some type of water purification device, even iodine tablets.    For humanitarian purposes, packing items that don’t require a lot of space or don’t weigh much including – stickers, socks, toothbrushes, washcloths, hair ribbons and postcards from your local area. They love seeing where you come from and understanding how other people live.

Christopherson Andavo Travel is a full-service travel company, providing assistance with corporate, leisure, and humanitarian travel management. Contact us to arrange your next excursion.

Categories
Business Travel Travel Management

The Overlooked Factor In Efficient Travel Programs

In February, the GBTA- North Carolina chapter had the pleasure of hosting Scott Gillespie, a true travel management thought leader.  Mr. Gillepsie is the CEO of t-Clara and frequent contributor to Business Travel News. His presentation focused on a question travel managers often find themselves thinking – how do I gauge success with my travel management process?

Identifying the difference in efficient travel programs

Gillespie based his findings from a recent study, sponsored by ARC, American Express Global Business Travel, and his firm, tClara.  Participants were 700 US-based road warriors who answered questions about their company’s travel policy. The questions focused on if their travel management policies emphasized convenience or budget.

Not surprisingly, travelers operating under strict cost-focused travel programs tended to be more dissatisfied. They admitted to nearly 13% less compliance with their travel policies. They also indicated a 15% higher rate of burn-out and were significantly less willing to travel within two years time.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, travelers with companies that had convenience-based travel policies tended to be more productive on the road and had an overall better outlook about their jobs.

What travel managers should also be measuring:

So are these companies specifically prioritizing cost over the wellbeing of their employees? Of course not! Most companies just aren’t measuring employee satisfaction as a KPI. Gillepsie advised that each travel manager obtain an employee turnover report for employees in traveling roles from their HR department. Getting insights on high turnover rate is the first step to see if adjustments to the travel policy to result in higher employee retention. From there, it may make sense to look at other priorities for travel policies than budget.

Read Scott Gillepsie’s article for other key performance indicators and details on the survey.

 

With our 24/7 service, online support and exceptional service delivered by our travel agents, Christopherson helps ease any challenges that occur when your travelers on the road. In addition, your consultative account manager will assist you in making the necessary changes to your travel policy to decrease traveler dissatisfaction and increase productivity!

Categories
Travel Management

5 Questions For Your Potential TMC

Travel managers and corporate executives spend considerable time researching and bidding TMCs, and partnering with the right one to deliver cost-savings and travel efficiency. Occasionally though, the chosen TMC is purchased or sold to another company. In today’s business environment, consolidation is rampant.

Larger companies look to buy-up the competition for many reasons: technology gains, customer acquisition, or simply to eliminate a growing threat.  Not surprisingly, the travel management industry can be affected as well. Unfortunately, this can leave the travel managers and corporate executives caught in the middle. I believe, that when looking for a new travel management company, it’s important to consider this possibility. Often times there is too much emphasis on the now, when the past and the future of the company should be considered as well. Companies seeking a long-term TMC should research the following, so that the TMC they choose today, doesn’t change tomorrow:

Questions to consider when looking for a long-term TMC:

  • What is the history of ownership?
  • Have they previously bought up small companies to grow, and then sold their company in the past?
  • Are they portraying the same history under their current TMC name?
  • What is their organizational health?
  • Are there any ‘red flags’ like poor growth, employee turnover, client retention, or percentage of debt? In an environment of consolidation, weakness equals opportunity.

Bottom-line is that if you want a long-term relationship with your chosen TMC, be sure you understand their past and their vision of the future. Ask questions and ‘peel the onion’ to make a better determination before signing a contract.

Christopherson Business Travel is a corporate travel management company with more than 60 years of experience. Based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, we have been privately owned by Mike and Camille Cameron since 1990. Since then, we have grown to be one of the top travel management companies in the nation, with five offices and more than 380 travel employees. If you would like to learn more about our history or our future vision, please feel free to contact us.

Categories
Travel Management Travel Technology

SecurityLogic Provides Immediate Communication During Disaster

Does anyone else remember the nightly news slogan from years ago, “It’s 10 o’clock… do you know where your children are?”  This catchphrase, of keeping an eye on your loved ones, still resonates today. The past few weeks the airwaves have been flooded with terrorists attacks in New Jersey, New York, Washington State and Minnesota. And now, Hurricane Matthew is about to hit the east coast, potentially causing massive damage.  I also find myself thinking of family, but also co-workers and other business travelers when distaster strikes.

Working in an industry filled constantly with travel and constantly changing schedules, it’s hard to know where everyone is in a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, it’s important now more than ever to not only get in touch with employees or co-workers, but have a plan in place should disaster occur.

Communicating with your business travelers during a disaster

Having an established plan in case of an emergency is the first step. Ask yourself, what is your company’s current protocol should an event occur in a city your employee is currently traveling? Do you have their email and cell number readily available? Will you need to dig through emails to find their itinerary? Who will be in charge of making these safety calls to traveling employees?

Answering these questions ahead of time will make your company more prepared, should an event occur. Developing a travel policy usually helps to establish these protocols. If you don’t have a travel policy, check out our travel policy FAQ to get started.

SecurityLogic provides peace of mind for travel managers

One of my favorite features of the Christopherson software is our SecurityLogic technology. Perhaps it’s because I can be a worrywart, but the value of this immediate and interactive technology is a lifesaver in dire situations.

For a travel manager, the goal is simple – locate all of your business travelers instantly. Through our AirPortal360 interface, you immediately know how many employees are traveling at a moment’s notice.  We supply a world map view, with pins representing your travelers. From there, you can overlay alerts, warnings, and weather. Really anything that may influence your business travelers is viewable from the map.

SecurityLogic by Christopherson

Using the rest of our technology suite, we offer easy access to your traveler’s itinerary and contact information. Travel, security, and human resource managers are able to locate  travelers and send them messages. Your business travelers can then respond to the security check and let you know they are safe. Our SecurityLogic takes the guessing out of what could be a hectic situation and provides immediate answers.

Christopherson Business Travel is an award-winning corporate travel management company. We’re passionate about assisting companies with their travel, and we think our travel technology and consultative account management does a pretty great job at it.  Contact us to learn more about SecurityLogic or our other travel technology tools.

Categories
Business Travel Guides Travel Management

Guide To Creating An Effective Business Travel Policy

We’ve said before that the cornerstone of an effective travel management program is the business travel policy. Travel policies that are practical and easy to understand have a higher compliance rate and save more money for the company. But where do you start? No business is the same, and neither is their travel policy. Whether you create your own travel policy or with the help of a travel management company, we developed this guide to familiarize professionals with the basics of creating business travel policies.

What is a business travel policy?

A business travel policy is a set of guidelines to be used by companies, travel managers and employees for travel and its related planning. The main objective of an effective travel policy is to keep travelers safe while also adhering to the company’s guidelines, including budget. If your policy is easy to understand, oversees traveler’s security, and up-to-date; compliance will likely be higher as well.

What are the benefits of having a business travel policy?

There are many advantages of utilizing a travel policy for your company. One of the most valuable is establishing clear guidelines. For example, your company might decide to allow business class seating, but only for international travel. This is then stated in the travel policy, so your present and future employees will understand its stipulations.

Travel policies also regulate cost control and savings for your budget. By regulating your traveler’s travel, you can have a better understanding of your budget and where to save moving forward. For example, just by outlining when business class tickets should be used can positively affect your travel budget! Additionally, duty of care responsibilities and safety protocols can be established and outlined. In case of an emergency, these protocols can be immediately adhered and followed.

Is every travel policy the same?

No. Every business travel policy should be created specifically for the company’s needs. No two companies are exactly the same, and neither should be their travel policy. Actually, some companies find they don’t even need a defined travel policy. How often employees travel and who pays for the travel are two important factors. If only one employee travels a couple times a year, you may be able to budget and communicate effectively without needing a full travel policy. Or, if your clients are billed for travel, budget may not be a large concern for your business model. Take a look at your company as a whole and see if it makes sense to create a travel policy. If you find you don’t need one, it’s still important to outline duty of care and safety procedures. 

How do travel policies differ?

Policies should be comprehensive and consistent, but also consider cultural nuances. This is done by differentiating between global and local policies. As the Business Travel Buyer’s Handbook 2016 said, ‘The global policy should rule, and local policies should be stricter.’ If your company is worldwide, you will have conditions that apply to everyone. Then, consider local laws and constraints for travelers in different locations.  What works best for people in the U.S. may be less advisable for people in Asian markets. You can try creating regional travel policies for countries with similar travel management needs. 

How strict should your travel policy be?

Policy rules often depend on the level of control your company wishes to exercise.  For example, some companies stipulate that the cheapest ticket must always be purchased, as long as a layover does not exceed three hours. This policy is focused on cost savings, but pretty strict. Other companies decide not to drill down as harshly. Consider what is most important to the company and the best way to accomplish that objective. Be aware that overly strict policies can hinder compliance and even your traveler’s happiness. If your frequent business travelers have three hour layovers multiple times a week, how will that affect their productivity and job satisfaction? Consider your company culture and its future before implementing a strict policy. 

What is important to include in a business travel policy?

This depends on your objectives and scope of control.  Below are common items often listed in travel policies: 

  • Air travel – Will your travelers have a budget? Should the lowest priced ticket always be purchased? Should non-stop vs. direct flights be defined? 
  • Travel approval – Will managers approve the travel itinerary before it is booked? How will this be done?
  • Hotel suppliers – Will employees always stay with the same hotel supplier? What happens when there is a lower priced room at a different hotel?
  • Car rental – Should you specify what type of cars are allowed as rentals? Compact cars vs. limos? What about using sharing economy cars like Uber? 
  • Reimbursement systems – How will employees be reimbursed for travel expenses? Or will they use a company credit card? Are there repercussions for not submitting receipts? 

Who should create the travel policy?

Input from every department works the best. Having input from a CEO or stakeholder often speeds up the process, as their approval is usually needed anyway. Discuss with HR, accounting, IT and heads of other departments to ensure their cooperation and input. Also, discuss the needs and experiences of current travelers and road warriors. What they consider important may be different than the stakeholders. 

Who is covered under a travel policy?

Travel policies should cover everyone who travels on behalf of your company. Additionally, and this may be the most important tip – keep the policy brief and clear so everyone is covered and understands the policies. Compliance will go out the window if no one understands what’s in the policy.  

Specific details can be outlined for individuals or departments. Some companies differentiate policy guidelines with special consideration for high ranking execs. You probably won’t have interns flying first class, but you also aren’t going to make the CEO fly coach either. Some companies mitigate potential disaster by not allowing more than two or three executives to fly on the same plane should disaster strike. These particular policies are often drafted in an executive level policy, so they are not known to lower level employees.

Road warriors often have their own stipulations. You can specify mileage, reimbursement, or overnight stay threshold within the travel policy too.

Other things to consider when creating a business travel policy

Customized and personalized experiences are becoming more important to travelers. Mobile devices and apps are being used more frequently, catering to specific experiences. If you want compliance to stay high, make it as easy as possible to comply with your policy. Using mobile apps or alternative communication often increases compliance. 

 

Read next from our corporate travel blog:

 

Categories
Business and Leadership Travel Industry Travel Management

Increasing Compliance With Your Millennial Business Travelers

In case you haven’t noticed, the Millennial generation have recently become the butt of  jokes at conferences, twitter chats, and professional gatherings. Millennials, or Generation Ys,  are the most recent generation to enter the workforce. Currently in their early 20s – early 30s, they are putting the traditional workforce into a spin with their differing work styles and priorities. Whether you are from the camp believing they have a productive work ethic or they are self-entitled children, we as a society need to learn how to adjust our work environments to productively work with them. As Carolyn A. Martin and Bruce Tulgan, authors of the book ‘Managing Generation Y’ said “Organizations that can’t – or won’t customize training, career paths, incentives, and work responsibilities need a wake up call.”

Millennial Generation Characteristics

  • Millennials expect everything to be customizable to their preferences. If they don’t like their profile picture on Facebook, they change it. They can have just about anything shipped directly to their house. It’s how our world works now; almost everything is customizable and instantaneous. The difference is they’ve grown up with the expectation that if you don’t like something, there is always another solution available.  
  • They are on average highly educated, but value a higher work-life balance. This often makes them appear lazy and lacking respect when they take long lunches or work from home.
  • Growing up with computers and quickly advancing technology, they are quick learners to new technology and can easy adjust to new protocols or changes in the company.
  • They value experiences, especially travel. Millennials can make the best roadwarriors. Every city they enter is new and full of promise.
  • Sharing these experiences are highly valued. Why go to a new city and not take pictures?
  • Communication is important, but not in the traditional sense. Good luck getting them on the phone. They are more apt to sending a email or text than leave a voicemail.

Millennials and Reporting Compliance

Regarding travel management, Millennials have the highest rate of non-compliance. According to Tim Hines, the presenter at a Rocky Mountain Business Travel Association luncheon, they average 46% compliance. Compared to Baby Boomers, who are on average 80% compliant, the difference is concerning. If Millennials are always connected, why are they so bad at reporting their travel expenses? Well, the devil may be in the details here. Often the reporting process is lengthy or slow. For a group that expects results instantaneously, this can be a giant hurdle.   If you need something done, it should have a quick and easy approach.

6 Tips For Improving Compliance Rates:

  • Allow customization of the reporting platform and the ability to make adjustments.
  • Make the process as automated as possible. Use text alerts or automatic updates.
  • Enhance traveler experience, possibly with incenetives.
  • Leverage social tools, like Concur, TripIt, or Airtinerary.
  • Explore alternative communication methods like Twitter, Google Chat or Slack. Providing additional channels may open up lines of communication you didn’t know was needed.
  • Put them in charge of creating a new system for regulating compliance. They are quick to learn new technology. If they are responsible for finding something that will work for them, compliance will certainly be higher.
Categories
Travel Management Travel Technology

How AirPortal 360 Provides Actionable Intelligence

At Christopherson Business Travel, we strive to continually develop travel technology that effortlessly eases travel and travel management headaches.  We’ve learned that while an engaging and useable platform is necessary, quick analysis and actionable take-aways are becoming crucial components to our clients. That’s why we further developed our AirPortal 360 technology to include actionable intelligence. We provide actionable items that your team can run with immediately in addition to our existing technology.

AirPortal includes many tools that help travel managers and travelers. Travel managers can keep tabs on various aspects of their travel programs.  We have always focused on creating tools that are elegant and easy to use.  Now with actionable intelligence, we take it one step further by reaching into the various products and retrieving the items that actually need attention. This helps ensure that important items do not slip through the cracks. This give travel managers the confidence that they are supporting both their travelers and their managed travel program.  

Travel Manager’s Actionable Intelligence includes:

  1. Travel Approvals Pending
  2. Hotel Payment Authorizations Failed
  3. Safety Check Assistance Requests
  4. New Traveler Enrollment Requests
  5. Trips Missing Hotels
  6. Unused Tickets Expiring
  7. Vendor Contracts Expiring

Additionally, we make sure travelers have their own dashboard to view their itinerary and documents. With our My Travel dashboard, they can quickly access their travel information in one place. Here they can effectively communicate their hotel plans, unused tickets and additional items, further completing compliance and duty of care responsibilities.  

Traveler’s Actionable Intelligence includes:

  1. Travel Approvals Pending
  2. Trips Missing Hotels
  3. Unused Tickets Expiring
  4. Credit Card Expiring (coming soon)
  5. Passport Expiring (coming soon)

AirPortal users receive a daily digest email with a list of their action items.  The user can choose the time of day they would like their daily digest delivered.  From the email they login into AirPortal Actionable Intelligence Dashboard and handle the items that require their attention.  

To learn more about our new AirPortal 360 Dashboard, contact your Christopherson Business Travel Account Manager or fill our the contact form on this page. Want to learn more? Read our company philosophy or additional travel technology solutions.

Categories
Business Travel Travel Management

Questions To Ask When Looking For A New TMC

Every travel program is different and we get A LOT of different kinds of questions during our initial conversations with our clients. These questions can cover such topics as duty of care, technology, quality control, integrations with third party tools, etc. You need to make sure your new TMC is equipped to provide the travel program unique to your own needs for the company and your travelers.

The 4 need-to-know questions to ask your potential TMCs:

1) Please include and EXPLAIN your pricing. Some companies will present a seemingly affordable and simple fee structure with a lot of fine print. At Christopherson, we offer simplified pricing every time, without the fine print.
2) Who will we be working with? A potential travel management partner should be able to provide detail on the service team assigned to the account. The Account Manager is responsible for working with you to make your travel program a success. No matter what your desired service configuration is, at some point your travelers will work with an agent and that experience should be stress-free. Christopherson proudly employs some of the best travel professionals in the industry with our account managers averaging over 20 years of experience and our agents averaging over 25 years of experience.
3) Explain your implementation and training processes. You want your travel program to be successful and your travel management partner should strive to make the onboarding process as painless as possible for your travelers. At Christopherson, our priority is to quickly and efficiently transition your travel program while tailoring our timeline to meet your needs. During implementation, we will collaborate with your travel arrangers to design a training and onboarding program which fits into your company culture.
4) What about your technology platform sets you apart from the competition? Christopherson offers both AirPortal 360, a technology platform that integrates both full-service and online travel management, and a choice of three powerful online booking tools. There is so much about our technology that sets us apart, they need their own blog to showcase each feature! Like how we address duty of care responsibilities, hotel attachment rates, or technology integration.

Read next:

Categories
Business Travel Travel Management

7 Tips For Keeping Your Employees Safe While Traveling

Recent events like terrorist attacks across Europe and home-bred violence have left many questioning the safety and security of traveling. And unfortunately for some industries, travel is unavoidable. As an employer overseeing your employees,  it is your responsibility to ensure their safety, even while traveling on your company’s behalf. Duty of care and security issues are a growing concern in recent years, and they are expected to continue. So what can you do to create a safe environment even with these growing safety trends?

According to Business Insurance, the best way to keep concerns at bay is to keep both the company and its business travelers informed with facts and tips. Ensuring that everyone has been briefed with information and on the same page can be vital if the unexpected arises. So during this time of growing uncertainty, how can you and your employees feel more confident about traveling for business? Read our 7 tips below.

7 ways to keep employees safe while traveling

  • One of the first steps is providing information about the upcoming area. Having a real sense of what your road warriors are heading into or what can be expected is often the biggest comfort. Research and briefing on the country, city or neighborhood can often reveal interesting facts or tips. Also providing guidelines or schedules can provide more structure and context for travelers.
    • An interactive resource includes the U.S. State Department’s online Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). This free service allows U.S. citizens to enroll with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate when traveling or living abroad. The purpose is to provide latest safety and security  information in the area, and inform the U.S. Embassy of your whereabouts, in case of an emergency.
    • Additional research can be beneficial depending on the area of the traveler. For instance, the US government has released an app for U.S.travelers attending the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. It provides tourist and safety information about the area, including the location of embassies, hospitals and emergency numbers.
  • Additional duty of care responsibilities for travelers. We know assessing this risk is your biggest responsibility. Has your organization demonstrated you have taken all practicable steps to meet your employee’s health, safety and well-being needs? Is it credible and well documented? Having open and clear communication with your employees are necessary for this assessment. And of course, if your employee does not feel comfortable traveling, you need to listen to these concerns and assess the situation.
  • Know your travelers specific travel needs. Be aware of any individual requirements needed by the traveler, and ensure they are given the appropriate information in order to manage, reduce or eliminate specific risks. Employers should be aware of pre existing medical conditions and confirm the traveling country has adequate medical facilities.
  • Invest in a business travel policy.  Travel policies are created to establish that companies are providing efficient support for their travelers, and travelers are aware of the support given too. Again, communication about what is provided and what to expect can go a long way.
  • Encourage employees to take appropriate health measures beforehand. Providing guidelines on the area to which they are traveling can prepare them for health measures as well.  Recommend your traveler visits their doctor to go over specific risks and prevention methods.
  • Ensure tech and cyber security has been discussed. This is another growing area of concern. Discuss cyber threat methods and the best ways to thwart them.
  • Finally, Make an evacuation plan or communication plan in case the unexpected arises. If the worst does happen, are you prepared? Are you able to immediately communicate with your road warriors if they are in an insecure area? Do they know the communication protocol should something arise? Unfortunately, the answer is usually ‘no’. That’s why we created SecurityLogic as part of our travel technology suite. This application alerts travel managers if a traveler is in an area experiencing threats or attacks. The travel manager can then immediately text or email from the application to immediately make contact and ensure the traveler is safe.

Christopherson Business Travel is a corporate travel management company, dedicated to providing travel solutions for busy businesses. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in learning more about travel policies, our proprietary technology, or how we continually save companies time and money.

Read next:

Categories
Travel Management Travel Technology

Seamless Technology Integration Is Vital For Travel Management

While Travel Management Companies (TMCs) provide many solutions for businesses, I’ve found that one of the most valuable is offering effective system integrations.  A managed travel program needs the flexibility to easily connect to many diverse systems that are required for a complete and effective travel management system.

That’s one reason why we created our own proprietary system, AirPortal. Not only does this provide access to our own unique travel solutions, but it manages all of the information flowing between these systems as well.  AirPortal also provides the user interface for our clients, giving them one central location from which to manage their travel program. 

Our new AirPortal Integrations highlights many of the integrations that we offer, including some ‘one click’ installs.  Take a look and see what we can do for your travel program.  If you have a key vendor that is not on the list, give us a call — we are always adding additional integrations.

integrations8-9

The following are some of the category choices that we offer:

  • Data Feeds/Reporting
  • Traveler Safety/Security
  • Virtual Payment Solutions
  • Online Expense Tools
  • Online Booking Tools
  • Traveler Apps/Integrations

So, leave the heavy lifting to us and get on with the rest of your day. Christopherson Business Travel is a corporate travel management company that specializes in innovative travel technology and consultative customer service. Contact us to learn more about our proprietary technology and how we continually save our clients time and money.

Categories
Travel Management Travel Technology

What Is Duty of Care?

I recently wrote the blog,  What does a Travel Management Company do?  In the process of writing it, I realized that we use industry phrases, assuming everyone understands what we are referring to.  Take Duty of Care for instance.  If you were to ask your next door neighbor, your hair dresser and your mother what Duty of Care is, you will probably get three totally different answers.  I even googled Duty of Care and found more than three different definitions! But this definition by Merriam-Webster was the most simple and straightforward: ‘a duty to use due care toward others in order to protect them from unnecessary risk of harm’.

Duty of Care and your travel management program

So what does that mean for travel?  Simply put, it is an employers moral and legal obligation for the safety of their employees while traveling.  In the university setting, this even includes students!  Many countries, including the US, are in the process of developing strict laws to help protect business travelers. But until these laws are worldwide and regulated, corporations and universities without a managed travel program run the risk of serious consequences in the event of an emergency.

How SecurityLogic assists with Duty of Care responsibility

To assist corporations and universities with their duty of care obligations, Christopherson Business Travel developed SecurityLogic.  Our clients have access to global alerts and valuable tools to ensure the safety of your travelers.  With SecurityLogic, travel managers can access real-time security, weather, flight delays, and disaster alerts. They are then automatically pushed to travelers via text and email. And, with the intuitive Safety Check feature, you can also request safety verification from your travelers anywhere in the world.

SecurityLogic provides multiple global map overlays, and because all travel information is geocoded to street-level accuracy, you can zoom in on any country, city, or street to find your travelers through the tool’s customized search options. With customized search options our clients can quickly locate their travelers by name, department, date, and/or location.

An effective duty of care program is essential for every corporation and university. To discuss if SecurityLogic is a good fit for your company, feel free to contact us using the form on this page.

Read next – How To Get Started – Duty Of Care Advice

 

 

Categories
Travel Management

The Downside Of Using Online Booking Sites

When the time comes to book upcoming business travel, many companies ask their employees to take on the responsibility. They are often told to use public online booking sites or book directly through the website of a specific airline or hotel.  Though this may initially seem like the easiest way to book travel, it often isn’t the best solution for a company.  Here are our top five reasons why booking through online sites are not always the best option for corporate travel management:

What every company should know about online booking sites:

  • Time.  It takes time to shop every airline website for the best deal. Your employees should be focusing on their ‘real’ job, not bogged down by price checking travel on different sites.
  • Hidden Charges.  Most online booking websites and airline websites charge a service fee.  In many cases, it is hidden in the small print with the taxes and then further buried in a hyperlink.  Additionally, they are often missing out on vendor discounts or bundled deals by booking for themselves.
  • No Travel Policy Enforcement. What stops your employee from booking a more expensive hotel or choosing a first class seat? Without an enforcement on travel policy, what may seem like a tiny splurge to them, could be taking a toll on your bottom line.
  • Duty of Care. When a traveler books from an outside source or multiple sources, the only way the company can provide their duty of care obligation is to have the traveler email a copy of each segment of their trip to one person in the organization.  It is that person’s responsibility to keep track of each traveler. That can easily get confusing and stressful should something go wrong.
  • No Data. Companies typically have no data to negotiate better rates when available. We often see that internal reporting and analysis of their travel management is also lacking.

Working with a TMC provides additional benefits

Travel management companies, including Christopherson Business Travel, specialize in understanding these downfalls and provide solutions for your business travel needs. Whether it’s keeping employees within your travel policy, or just the convenience of booking, there are many benefits to using a travel management company. Though our clients can customize their plans, below are a few of the benefits that are always included for our clients.

  • Discounted and negotiated airfares, hotel and car rental discounts.
  • Company travel policy, so your travelers can’t book Business Class and stay at the Four Seasons without your knowledge.
  • Christopherson’s partner discounts – we have discounts with airlines and at more than 40,000 hotels in over 170 countries.
  • Travel approval notification for managers, if desired.
  • Safety and security alerts for Duty of Care responsibility, using geo-location technology in case of an emergency.

Christopherson Business Travel has more than 60 years of experience with business travel management. Combine that with our mobile travel technology and superior customer service, and it’s no surprise we have a 97 percent client retention rate. Please contact us to learn more about our corporate travel packages or read or recommended blogs below.

Read next: What Are The Benefits Of A Travel Management Company

 

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Business Travel Travel Management

How To Stay Under Your Corporate Travel Budget

Managing corporate travel is a tough job with many moving parts. Not only are you, as the travel manager, accountable for everything going smoothly, but also responsible for any unforeseen glitches. The biggest frustration is often budget. Check out our seven tips to keep you under your corporate travel budget.

7 tips to stay under corporate travel budget

  1. Book travel early. Did you know that even just a two day difference in purchasing a plane ticket can make a big difference? One study looking at the difference in business travel purchase behavior between men and women, found that waiting only two days for a ticket was a difference of 113 dollars. We know that business travel is often last minute, but keep in mind–even an extra day in booking can make a big difference.
  2. Take into account all the details and agendas before booking. How long will your travelers be staying? Are there any alternatives that may work better than the norm? For instance, it might make more sense to purchase metro cards for travelers in New York City, rather than renting a car. Driving and parking in large cities are often a pain anyway, and you will also avoid parking fees.
  3. Review travel receipts in more detail. Give yourself more time to look through the details of submitted travel receipts. Does anything unnecessary pop out at you? Nipping those unnecessary expenses can add up to big savings.
  4. Create and actively use travel incentives. Give your team of business travelers incentives to stay under budget. This keeps them motivated to shop for the best price. You can also encourage them to become loyalty members with your preferred vendors. This allows you to fulfill your contract agreements while your travelers rack up personal travel points.
  5. Stay organized. Work to proactively take control of the next trip. Know what’s needed and don’t be caught scrambling to make travel plans at the last minute.
  6. Establish preferred vendor relationships. Developing these relationships will definitely benefit you in the long run.
  7. Hire a travel management company. Sometimes the best solution is having an expert manage your travel in order to get the most out of your budget and valuable time. Most travel management companies, including Christopherson, are affiliates of global companies. This allows them to provide the individualized customer service experience you need, with global relationships and discounts that help you always get you the best price on business travel.

Staying on top of your travel is not difficult, but it does take additional time and forethought. Try out our tips this month and see if you notice any difference in travel costs. Let us know what you find. Or, contact us if you would like to know more about how Christopherson Business Travel can save you time and money.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Top 10 Reasons You DON’T Need a Travel Management Company

Nowadays, it seems like there’s list after list of reasons that you “NEED” to do something.  But sometimes, perspectives need to be altered. That’s why today we are focusing on the top 10 reasons you don’t need a travel management company to assist with your business travel needs.

10 Reasons You Don’t Need a TMC:

  1. Saving the company money simply isn’t that important to you or the company
  2. Ensuring the safety of your travelers isn’t a critical responsibility
  3. Its not important for the company’s employees to be more efficient
  4. Paying travel suppliers more than needed sounds like a great idea
  5. It doesn’t matter if unused tickets expire, or are being misused
  6. Maintaining a spreadsheet is preferred to a professional reporting system
  7. A preference for getting nothing vs. earning corporate travel loyalty points
  8. Love living by the saying: “We’ve always done it this way, so why change now?”
  9. When there’s a travel problem, it’s a ‘thrill’ to spend 2hrs on the phone solving it
  10. Enjoy having no one to call for help, after missing the day’s last flight home

The bottom-line is that if you travel any more than never, it probably doesn’t hurt to have a travel management company on your side.  Christopherson Business Travel is an award-winning travel management company. With more than 60 years of experience, our cost-saving solutions and dedicated travel experts have saved companies thousands every year. Contact us to learn more. Or, keep reading about the benefits of using a travel management company.

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Business Travel Travel Management

5 Signs You Need A Corporate Travel Management Company

You are busy. Between today’s deadlines and propelling your company to the next level, you likely don’t have time to sort through details. And corporate travel may be one of those details you are ignoring. Unfortunately, this aspect of business plays a major role in the functionality of your company as well as the lives of your employees. Without a corporate travel management company (TMC) to assist you, you may be missing out on valuable resources and savings. But how do you know if you would benefit from a TMC?

5 Signs That You Could Use a Corporate Travel Management Company

  • You lack the human resources. The task of travel management often falls on someone with a completely different title, who likely hasn’t been trained in corporate travel. This wastes company time and money when that person should be doing their “real” job, but is stuck trying to buy tickets and wrangle itineraries.
  • You lack patience. Do you struggle to know which deals are the best deals? Do you have other things to do than spend the afternoon comparing sites, flight routes, and prices? With a travel management company, let someone else find the best deals.
  • You have little or no travel management industry knowledge. Do you know the most effective practices for corporate travel policies? How about negotiating airline or hotel contracts? You may be missing out on standard practices or budget saving tips.
  • Your analytics and reporting are non-existent. Just like other areas of your business, analyzing and managing the expenses and trends of your corporate travel program is important for running your business overall.
  • You don’t have an emergency plan for travelers. Should your employees face an emergency when traveling, do you have a plan? Do they know what to do next? Travel management companies can provide additional duty of care support when you need it the most.

If you answered “yes” to any of the signs above, you would certainly benefit from using a business travel management company. Let the corporate travel experts handle the details, while you focus on your company’s growth and success. Christopherson Business Travel has more than 60 years of experience, and continually ranks one of the top travel management companies in the country. Learn more about our advanced travel technology and what else makes us different.

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Travel Industry Travel Management

Higher Education Travel Experts

Colleges and universities need convenient and cost-saving travel management. With more than three decades of experience managing higher education travel, Christopherson provides that expertise. In 2014, we created a University Travel Team, dedicated to meeting the distinct needs of colleges and universities. Understanding the unique challenges that higher education institutions face, we developed solutions to meet those needs. Christopherson offers the perfect blend of mega-agency buying power and high-touch, consultative service.

Christopherson Specializes In Higher Education Travel Management

Christopherson’s University Travel Team and online options provide domestic and international travel arrangements for faculty, staff, athletics, and university executives. We also coordinate air and ground transportation, hotel accommodations, study abroad programs, educational tours, and team travel.

Configuration

Christopherson customizes your university’s service configuration. Whether you book with our University Travel Team agents, the online booking tool, or even on-campus agents, we tailor your configuration to meet the needs of each university. We also offer a VIP desk for university executives.

Customization

Christopherson fully customizes each University online booking tool site to include travel policy, preferred suppliers, grant tracking, approval policies, and more. Furthermore, we offer our online support team to assist travelers with navigational and system questions via phone or email.

Dedicated Account Managers

Account Managers with higher education experience will oversee your account, offering consultative services and insight into higher ed best practices. Your travel dollars are maximized as they apply their proven proficiencies and extend the following account management services:

  • Analyzing travel patterns and offering suggestions for money-saving improvements
  • Uncovering new savings opportunities and negotiating with vendors
  • Validating the quality of your travel program through ongoing evaluations and reviews ensuring that quality standards are met

Christopherson has been a frontrunner in implementing collegiate and university travel programs. Recently, after implementing a comprehensive travel program at a large southeastern university (which had previously been unmanaged), the school, in less than a year, boasted an agency compliance average of more than 90 percent and more than 55 percent online adoption. (The remaining 45 percent of the university’s bookings are group travel, athletic travel, and international bookings being made by Christopherson’s University Travel Team.) Similarly, Christopherson consolidated another large, multi-campus, fragmented travel program from 12 agencies to one. Today, this university has achieved agency compliance of more than 90 percent and more than 60 percent online booking tool compliance (five percent more than their initial goal).

Interested in learning more? Contact us to get in touch with one of our business executives, or keep reading about our university-focused services.

Categories
Travel Management Travel Technology

How To Get Started – Duty Of Care Advice

Traveling is so much more than booking a ticket and getting the seat assignment you want on the plane. From a company’s perspective, safety of the traveler is a major concern. Considering duty of care, the company holds responsibility for the traveler’s well being. Many companies use a risk management team to educate their travelers. But what if your company has not yet implemented a plan? Read our tips below to start implementing a duty of care travel security plan for your corporation.

Duty of care advice for busy companies:

  • Consider working with a third party-risk management organization like iSOS or iJET.  Specializing in only medical and travel security assistance, they could be a good fit if you are only looking for assistance with safety. Review all costs associated prior to contracting.
  • Have a team approach. It is best to have all stakeholders involved in this decision including: travel department, security, HR, senior management, risk staff, and your designated travel management company.
  • Keep your travelers educated. Try different mediums of information like: travel policies, smart travel communications, web pages, and special alerts.
  • Keep communications simple and clear on who your travelers should call and what they should do in emergencies.
  • Travelers need to understand their ownership of their trip. If their trip is rescheduled or changed by the airline directly, your corporate travel management company will not get the updates so it is up to the travelers to notify the travel manager or key contact so contracted services can be rendered.
  • International travel comes with additional precautions. Travelers need to review their insurance coverage and ensure they have the ability to make larger payments for emergency tickets, hotel rooms and charter flights at a moment’s notice in case of evacuations.
  • Seek feedback from your business travelers to see what is working and not working.
  • Christopherson Business Travel has propriety technology called SecurityLogic® that will offer a jump start into launching a risk management program.

Read Next: Christopherson Business Travel Helps With Duty Of Care blog.

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Business Travel Travel Management

Why should I use a travel management company?

mergerjpg-ebd28bdd261f4f90As a business development executive for the 11th largest travel management company in the U.S., I am often asked, “Why should I use a travel management company?”

Smart companies looking for ways to save on travel understand that having a managed travel program is a business function that will help align their employees requirements and desires with corporate goals. A managed travel program helps to realize cost tracking and control for organizations and gives employees the opportunity to adhere to the company’s travel and entertainment policies, not to mention the ability to generate savings through negotiated discounts, specifically with hotel and car rental vendors.

Through Christopherson’s proprietary technology tools, like SecurityLogic® for example, corporations have instant access to data and information to assist in maintaining Duty of Care requirements. With Christopherson’s tool AirBank®, travel managers and executives have access of all their travelers’ unused tickets. Another example is AirPortal 360 Mobile, Christopherson’s mobile app, which allows travel managers and planners the ability to manage the company’s travel program from anywhere, at any time.

For more information on how Christopherson provides a clearer path to your company’s goals, please contact a member of our business development team.

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Business Travel Travel Management Travel Tips

Why Book Through A Travel Agent?

pichjkChristopherson Business Travel provides their clients with two ways to book travel–through a customized online booking tool or with a team of experienced agents.

In a Forbes article by Larry Olmsted, I was reminded of the many reasons why choosing to book through an agent may be the best way. As Mr. Olmsted explains, “the bottom line is that they know more than you do, they are better connected than you, they have access to benefits you can’t get otherwise, they can often beat any other prices available (even online, yes), and after you have planned everything, they provide a safety net during your trip that you simply won’t get by booking yourself or buying insurance.”

Christopherson agents average 20 years of experience in the travel industry. Many of our corporate clients have realized the benefits of our agents’ expertise, saving time and money–by leaving it to the experts!