Many companies go down the route of "unmanaged travel" also known as 'open booking' or 'travel management 2.0', where they allow their staff to make their own hotel bookings and then submit expense reports. Doing this can result in disparate travel expenses and unmanaged costs that can quickly escalate depending on who is making the booking.

2016 Resolution

Although not always popular with staff, make it your 2016 resolution to take control of your hotel, meeting and conference room bookings and expenses by putting a company travel policy in place and working with an experienced hotel booking agent to manage your bookings.

Make Cost Savings

By working with an experienced hotel booking agent you can quickly and easily ensure that your travel policy benefits both your business and staff.

By leveraging your booking agent's expertise on the best hotels and conference venues to meet your needs and by having them negotiate discounted rates on your behalf, companies can make savings.

Better Use of Employee Time

When you leave hotel bookings to employees they have to spend their time researching and finding a suitable hotel and making travel arrangements. It could be argued that this is time that would be better spent on working rather than being distracted by what hotel to choose and in chasing up bookings or sorting out issues.

In comparison when you hand over your booking requirements to a hotel booking agency you can leave them to handle the requirements, negotiate on your behalf as well as deal with any last minute changes or issues, thereby freeing up your staff's time to get on with their work.

Legal Risks

Businesses have a corporate duty of care and a legal requirement to properly prepare their employees for travel and support them during and after their business trips.

Many small businesses think that because their staff make few trips, duty of care is less important. However this is not the case. No matter the size of your company or how many trips your staff makes, it's important that you have control of your staff's travel arrangements. If you allow unmanaged business travel, you may lose control of your 'duty of care' for your employees.

Travel Should Be Managed

When you consider that most businesses don't allow staff to purchase business computers or furniture, instead these types of purchases are handled by the company or an agent, it does beg the question why should travel purchases be different? So isn't it time to think about taking control of your travel arrangements?

Hotel Booking Agents

Booking Partners can work with your company and within your travel policy to book the right hotel or conference venue for you and your staff.

For more information contact us directly on +44 (0)330 022 8643 or via e-mail at reservations@bookingpartners.co.uk.