"We let our employees arrange their own hotel accommodation - after all, they know what they want".

What is un-managed travel?

Un-managed travel, also known as 'open booking or 'travel management 2.0', is essentially where business travellers book through any channel be it via suppliers' own or aggregated content sites, with information captured in the expense system.

Requiring that all reservations go through a single hotel booking agent is not always popular with employees. They like the consistency and comfort of choosing their favourite hotels and they worry that they won't be able to participate in hotel rewards programmes if they book through a hotel-booking agent. These perceptions are largely false and we firmly believe that the concept of un-managed business travel will increase travel costs, increase productivity costs and lose valuable data, from a risk management and supplier optimisation perspective.

What are the risks of unmanaged travel?

Cost Savings

Research has shown, time and again, that companies with a reasonably significant hotel accommodation spend save well over 10% of their budget when they use a hotel booking agent.

A hotel booking agency will be able to manage compliance to clients' travel policies, leveraging savings as a consequence of the large volumes being purchased.

In addition, they will be able to consolidate data on hotel spend which can then be used as leverage in negotiations with hotels for discounted rates.

Unprofitable Employee Time and Effort

By using a hotel booking agent, companies will avoid the hidden costs of employees having to spend time and effort in managing their own travel arrangements.

A hotel booking agency in contrast will be on hand to handle complex requirements and promptly handle any last minute changes to accommodation requirements.

Risk Management

Companies are at legal risk when employees travelling on corporate business cannot be accounted for. If you allow un-managed business travel, you may lose control of your 'duty of care' for employees.

In summary, would you allow your employees to buy their own office furniture based on their likes or dislikes or buy their own laptop online and then ask IT to configure it? These items can cost less than a business trip, yet the purchasing protocols are mandated in these cases.

Booking Partners understands Business Travel Management

Booking Partners provide a FREE hotel, meeting room and conference booking service for businesses. Our dedicated team of experienced hotel booking agents are on hand to organise your hotel accommodation requirements and take care of all the paperwork on your behalf. Plus:

• Our experience and buying power enables us to leverage exclusive discounts and more favourable rates.
• We will help ensure travel policy compliance company-wide to ensure spend meets agreed budget levels.
• We also offer a host of added value services to enable you to manage your travel expenditure, giving you even greater cost control.

Contact us on +44 (0)330 022 8643 or via e-mail at reservations@bookingpartners.co.uk.