Integrated Travel & Expense Solution Minimizes Last-minute Travel Costs
It’s a known fact that last-minute business travel will cost more to businesses. So, how can travel policies and travel management solutions reduce last-minute business travel costs?
Recent studies revealed that the best time to book airline tickets is 8-15 days prior to the trip. Companies that book within this time frame will save 18% compared to those that book within seven days of travel. It is believed that companies that book at least eight days prior to the trip can save an average of $148 per ticket. The cost savings will be negligible when travelers book flights less than a week away.
Airline Fees Add Up
Airlines are making more money through ancillary fees. Companies should be wary of these extra fees to get the total cost of the business trip down. While the cost of an airline ticket is less, the total trip cost may end up being more if the airline has multiple ancillary charges, making it important to track all these costs.
Adopting a travel expense solution featuring analytics capabilities can provide greater insight on company travel, allowing managers to report the total cost of business trips including the add-on fees.
Another way is to adopt a travel solution such as SutiTravel, which helps you to capture end-to-end business travel costs. The solution connects with multiple vendors such as hotels, airlines, and car rental companies, and ensures business travelers receive corporate discounts when bookings. Having such solution allows you to have a complete picture of travel and ancillary fees.
Booking from an external agent isn’t necessarily maverick spending because, for the most part, bookings are approved by the managers. Enforcing travel policies is the key to monitoring real-time travel costs. Travel managers should monitor compliance and have a solution in place that prevents employees from booking outside the company’s travel policy.
Notifications and reminders should be automatically triggered to employees when they frequently book tickets within seven days of the trip so that they can take action when making bookings in the future. Necessarily, having integrated both travel and expense can better manage business travel costs.
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