When having to travel a lot, each trip becomes a complex task to manage. And while organizing a vacation can represent a part of the fun that you'll have in the future, planning a business journey is often a source of stress and time-consuming activity. Research done by the Global Business Travel Association states that the number business trips done in U.S. will probably surpass 500 million only this year. At an estimated value of an hour spent on trip planning, booking, and expense claims, by the average employee, this leads to a total of more than 20 million collective days to manage all their travels. This translates into almost 57,000 years focusing on business travel instead of doing their actual business.
You may think that avoiding this step of planning is a better solution. Not to discourage you, but spontaneity works better if you’re traveling for pleasure and not rushing to meet a major client. When traveling for business, planning the entire trip will bring you lots of advantages while being on the road and on your way back as well. Here are four tips to change your travel routine and save a lot of time.
Read Your Company’s Travel Policy
It might seem like an additional tedious and boring task, but only by knowing your company’s travel policy will you avoid the stressful probability of facing unapproved expenses. Try to read thoroughly that copy of the company policy you probably ignored until now and pay close attention to the key points. Do you have to get a trip approved before booking it? Are you obliged to comply with maximum spending rules? Once you arrive from your trip, how much time do you have until submitting an expense report? This doesn't mean you are expected to know all the details by heart, but it is recommended to keep them handy to consult when booking your trip.
Give yourself a time limit for booking
It's a paradox to have the possibility to choose and to lose yourself in all those choices. The internet gives you the chance to discover flights, hotels or rental cars that match all your requirements, but their abundance overwhelms you. So you end up being unable to decide which option to pick. The statistics show that an average traveler views 38 websites while doing the research and organizing their trip. Seldom are the price differences truly significant among the important travel sites, since they have the same flight and hotel inventory, being rather corporate siblings than competitors. So what does it differentiate them? We believe that the user interface.
Try to simplify things by picking a travel site adequate to your needs and then sticking to it. Sometimes it might be better also to visit the site of particular airline or hotel - for example, if you’re flying out of an airport served by Southwest, (which does not list its flights on other sites) or if you benefit from a hotel loyalty program that rewards you for direct booking.
Set an expense report reminder
After arriving from a long business trip, there are few things more annoying than a bunch of expense reports to fill out. Don't postpone them and face the end-of- month reimbursement blockage. Therefore, start your expense report the moment you make the booking. Begin with your plane ticket, hotel reservation, and any similar prepaid purchases. Also, set a calendar reminder for a few days after your return from your trip to complete the report with the additional sums spent on meals, client entertainment, taxi and other minor fees.
Download a travel planning apps
We believe it to be too much hassle navigating through your inbox to find travel confirmation emails. So, we strongly recommend using apps that help you organize and access the itineraries, boarding passes or the reservation IDs. The most popular apps are TripIt and WorldMate which seamlessly integrate with all the major corporate booking and expense systems. We also advise you to choose a ground transportation provider that can give you accurate and prompt billing.
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