The first thing that comes to the mind of most people with the word business is a nice cozy office with all the advanced facilities to perform your work. But it is not always the case as many businesses and even business functions require the employee to travel within the city and even abroad. The ideal example of the importance of traveling is of a salesperson who has to travel to meet clients and secure business dealings.
The advent and advancements of technology have somewhat made communication easy and efficient, but still, many businesses require a person interacting with potential clients and suppliers face to face as it symbolizes a personalized service. The activities such as video conferencing and mobile applications have made remote work easier, but many businesses require a person to step out of the office and perform necessary tasks. The best example is of a lawyer who has to not only spend long hours in preparing legal work for his client also need to travel from one place to another and even book a flight and meet a person for collecting evidence. It can be quiet exhausting for a lawyer to keep up with the work, and many times lawyers forget to book a flight and get accommodation on time.
One of the significant reasons why business travel is essential provides the personal interaction that can lay a good foundation for future communications and understanding. Taking time out to personally meet clients means that you care for them and want to form a strong business relationship. Technology is good for numerous reasons and backbone for success for most businesses, but business travel is the best way to build relationships and grasp opportunities to grow and sustain.
Business travel is also important to managers and top management of a company who have to travel not only within the city but too many domestic places and even to international cities to meet with business partners and expand the business of their company. The managers and even top employees of a company need to travel for business meetings, conferences, corporate events, and team building events, and the one factor that can make it all this possible is traveling on time and getting good service.
The traveling expenses are not economical, and business companies have to allot a significant portion of the budget on the travel whether it is a private car, a flight ticket, and hotel room accommodation. The increase in business travel has given way to amazing solutions in the form of ‘Travel Management Company’ where a certain company assists and provides affordable and reliable business travel to all of the members of an organization.
The oil prices are increasing every few days, which results in gasoline prices and airline tickets even on a domestic route. Making a plan for business travel is easy, but the main question is managing your budget and not wasting the money on expensive travel, which includes airport transfer, flight tickets, and hotel room accommodation. The increase in travel has forced the office employees to search for cheap airfares and hotel bookings and then getting the budget approved which all takes precious time, which could be used productively instead. The finance and accounts team also have to reconcile transactions, collect reimbursements, and do proper budget forecasting.
The main purpose of a travel management company is to provide and ensure low cost business travel through the use of innovative technology and dedicated resources. The low-cost travel is given to every person in an organization from the founders to CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and from managers to employees. The travel services help to streamline travel management and expenses, which can result in organizational efficiency. Normally a senior travel agent from the travel management company would manage all the travel requirements of employees from a particular company to save both time and money. The travel management company is also called a corporate travel provider. Unlike a conventional travel agent who mostly deals with occasional traveling and accommodation needs, the travel management company provides ongoing and active service with the goal of cost savings and allowing the client to spend less time, effort, and money on making all the travel arrangements.
A travel management company mostly uses GDS (Global Distribution System or Amadeus) to know about the real-time availability and book flights, hotel rooms, and even cars. There is certainly a reliable and affordable travel management company that has made user-friendly mobile applications that have simplified the whole process of booking a flight, hotel room, and other transportation. A business professional such as a lawyer can quickly download the mobile application and check availability, book round trip tickets, and other reservations. The travel management companies offer numerous services apart from common reservations that include aircraft charter, parking and transfers, car hire, group travel, chauffeur-driven private cars, leisure travel, and venue sourcing.
The advancements in technology such as smartphones, fast internet connectivity, and mobile applications have ease every aspect of life from social connectivity, e-commerce, car booking service, and now business travel. The advantages of employing services from a travel management company are
- Around the clock support
The best thing is that the business managers and employees would know if its flight is canceled, or if your bags are lost. The support teams of travel management companies provide fast and reliable assistance
- Managing unused airline ticket
It is a fact that around 10% of the airline tickets allotted to a company go unused every year. The travel management company can update the unused tickets and give a detail report and analysis on the travel program
- No print of hidden charges
The traditional travel companies and agents take many hidden charges. The travel management companies take no hidden fees and no last minute changes and surprises.
- Help a company make a better corporate travel policy
The travel management companies know all the details of air travel, hotel reservations, and airport transfer and can conveniently help a company form a travel policy. It will help a company plan and forecast effectively.
- Stay organized with all the travel itineraries
The travel management companies have a simple and advanced portal that helps in managing airline tickets, hotel reservations, and car transportation without any inconvenience.
