When corporate travel pays off, it really pays off – in the form of new deals in lucrative new markets either at home or abroad. Unfortunately, corporate travel can be expensive, and if it doesn’t bring the returns you want, it can easily feel like a waste of time, energy, and money.

In this post we’ll explore some strategies for reducing your corporate travel costs, so your business can enjoy the many benefits of corporate travel without eating too much into your bottom line.

Reviewing Travel Expenses for Overspending

When it comes to corporate travel – whether it’s to a conference or trade show in a nearby city, or to a big meeting somewhere overseas – where does all the money go? Review your corporate travel expenses on a yearly basis to find any areas where you might be overspending. Key areas to focus on include:

• Employee accommodation
• Travel
• Food
• Insurance

These are all areas where small changes can make a big difference to your corporate travel expenses. However, don’t neglect your employees’ health and wellbeing. Don’t make corporate travel a joyless, tightly controlled, bare-bones experience. With some careful choices, you can make some huge savings without compromising on your employees’ comfort or safety.

Benefits of Encouraging Bleisure Travel

“Bleisure” is an increasingly popular approach to corporate travel in which employees combine their business travel with a personal break. For example, they might travel to a foreign city for a business meeting on the Friday, then take some annual leave so as to extend their stay until the following Monday.

Actively encouraging “bleisure” travel could be as good for your business as it is for your employees. It’s good for your employees because it allows them to enjoy a trip away without having to make separate arrangements of their own. And it’s good for your business because a “bleisure” trip can help you cut the cost of your corporate travel.

Hotels often offer discounts for extended stays. Plus, you can often save money on travel expenses if you’re flexible with your dates. So, if an employee wants to travel a few days before their conference or meeting, then return a day or two after, you may be able to pay less overall for the cost of the trip.

Key Strategies For Reducing Your Corporate Travel Costs

• Shop around for the best deal. Inner city hotels will usually charge a lot more than more out-of-the-way hotels. If the public transport’s cheap, safe, and reliable, you could save money through encouraging your employees to stay outside of the city centre. Look out for local travel passes to make the cost of public transport as low as possible.
• Contact hotels directly. Some hotels offer special rates for business travellers, and these rates may not be readily available on booking or price comparison sites. Contact the hotels directly to see what’s on offer. And if you’re a small business, you might be able to negotiate a discount.
• Look for loyalty programs. If your employees regularly travel as part of the job, look for hotels that offer some kind of loyalty scheme. You may be able to accumulate points which, in the long-term, could result in significant discounts on the cost of corporate travel accommodation.
• Consider the trip logistics. Let’s say you’re arranging a meeting with a potential new client. Think about how many employees you’ll be sending to this meeting and compare it with the number of employees from the potential client will be in attendance. Depending on the ratio, it may prove more cost effective to bring the client to you, rather than to send your employees to the client.

How a Bespoke Plan Can Cut the Costs of Corporate Travel Insurance

The key to reducing the cost of corporate travel costs is to carefully consider where your employees stay, how long they stay there, and how they get there. Yet no matter how strategic you get with your corporate travel expenses, depending on the size of your company and the sort of travel you do, you may still have to pay a significant amount for your business travel insurance.

At Capacity Insights, we specialise in providing bespoke corporate travel insurance plans for large companies with 250+ employees.

Whether you’re looking to build a corporate travel insurance plan from scratch, or you wish to change or add to your current package, we’re here for you. We can tailor a bespoke benefits package that truly meets your employees’ needs at a price you can afford. We can also help you offer leisure travel schemes as an employee benefit, so that your employees can enjoy flexible and cost-effective “bleisure” travel schemes.

Get in touch to see how we can help you.