Travel Management: What It Is & How It Transforms Corporate Travel

From international tech sellers to big-time pharmaceutical companies, businesses with extensive travel needs come in all sizes and industries. How do they ensure their employees have positive, safe, and budget-friendly travel experiences? The answer is effective travel management. 

For businesses in the tourism industry, travel management programs and systems are an integral part of daily operations. They facilitate the many interlaced aspects of corporate trips, which are often complex and challenging to manage. They also keep their peace of mind and boost their ROI. 

Impatient to hear more? You are in the right place. Today, we are talking about the key components and responsibilities of travel management. We will show you how effective travel management works and what benefits businesses can expect from employing travel management systems. 

Definition of Travel Management

Travel management helps corporate organizations plan and arrange business trips. Travel management companies (TMCs) and programs handle the logistic, financial, security, and administrative aspects of travel, ensuring minimum expenses and operational downtime for businesses. 

Corporate travelers rely on travel management systems (TMSs) and practices to choose travel service providers, create itineraries, book flights, accommodation, and transportation, obtain necessary policy compliance, ensure traveler comfort and safety, and oversee corporate trips. 

Importance of Travel Management

The fact is: employees love to travel. 87% of them think that in-person meetings and business travel are important for company growth, and over 90% want to continue taking work trips for the duration of their careers. However, corporate travel is not easy to organize without a good system in place. 

Can businesses travel without the assistance provided by TMCs and TMSs? Although possible, arranging corporate trips without travel management programs is expensive and time-consuming. They deliver quite a few benefits that make their services indispensable to corporate travelers.

Cost-Efficiency

• The median spend per business trip in the U.S. is $1,293. 

Businesses that plan and organize their trips outside of travel management programs experience double loss: in addition to discounts and special prices negotiated by travel management companies, these businesses also lose a lot of time and money while planning their trips.

Travel management drastically streamlines this process by providing curated flight and accommodation options or by outsourcing booking to designated corporate travel agents. 

TMCs have access to discount prices and industry experience that helps them negotiate the best deals for their clients. Even though these agents provide paid services, their assistance saves companies a lot of money in the long run, both with expense cuts and productivity savings. 

Policy Compliance

• Over 50% of travelers say they don’t always follow company policy when booking.

Corporate travel involves many people, all liable for the traveler’s well-being, the budget allocated for travel, and whether or not the trip achieves the company’s goal. Businesses require travel management to create travel policies with defined roles and accountabilities. 

A typical corporate travel policy compliance covers everything from booking procedures and preferred vendors to travel and in-destination expense limitations and safety guidelines. 

TMCs utilize travel management systems (TMSs) that automate the administrative part of corporate travel. Not only does this facilitate budgeting and reporting, but it also helps optimize corporate travel policy compliance, making policies readily available to everyone concerned. 

Travel Safety and Satisfaction

• 54% of business travelers reported increased stress levels due to travel.

Comprehensive travel management solutions can simplify travel risk assessment and management tasks. That guarantees best-in-class duty of care with non-stop tracking and real-time notifications set to inform everyone involved of any potential concerns or impending changes. 

All this allows traveler managers to keep track of employees while traveling and ensure their safety while simultaneously freeing the travelers from having to report back home. 

Travel management companies also provide 24/7 assistance to business travelers, with concierge-like services reserved for premium clients. Employing a TMc gives business VIP access to airport lounges and other travel exclusives that businesses would otherwise be unable to obtain. 

Difference Between Travel Agency and Travel Management

Is travel management the same thing as a travel agency? No, although they overlap in many ways. TMCs are specialized travel agencies with services tailored to corporate travel needs. And while agencies use management systems as well, they differ from corporate travel management. 

Over 42% of business trips are fully managed through travel management companies, while as many as 94% of corporate travel managers rely on a TMC or travel agency for reporting. 

Travel agencies mostly plan and sell itineraries with booked accommodations and transport to leisure travelers. In contrast,e travel management programs help handle corporate travel needs from a strategic point of view, including components like cost control and expense management. 

If any good, both travel agencies and travel management programs go the extra mile to make travelers safe. However, only travel management offers policy compliance and extensive reporting, which are required by companies. TMSs can facilitate all this, unlike booking tools used by agencies. 

Travel Management Process

What does a typical travel management process look like? In broad strokes, it entails planning, booking, and overseeing corporate trips. But don’t let the definition misguide you: it tackles the most complex aspects of travel, often involving multi-destination and group arrangements. 

Planning

Corporate travel is more complicated to plan for than leisure and relaxation trips. 25% of business trips are international; they often involve passport or visa checks, connecting flights, and currency changes. Trips must be organized around multiple schedules, even for a single traveler. 

Did you know that an estimated 30% of business flights are at least an hour late? 

When you travel for work, you must anticipate and plan for every eventuality. Travel management can help find budget deals for narrow time windows, book flights and accommodation for specific dates (that might be unavailable), arrange logistically complicated hotel transfers, etc. 

Booking

87% of business travelers and corporate travel managers say they want more simplified booking services and processes. That’s one of the main perks of using travel management solutions or TMCs: they foster long-lasting industry relationships with vendors and other travel service providers. 

When it comes to booking, travel managers can negotiate lower price rates while ensuring the comfort travelers need during important business trips.  Travel management solutions also offer direct access to self-booking tools and systems with thoughtfully curated offers for corporate travelers. 

Monitoring

When surveyed, 98% of travel managers claim the most significant components of travel management are policy compliance, traveler experience, and expenditure. Keeping track of administration, logistics, and expenses during work trips is also the most challenging part of corporate travel. 

Travel management systems are specialized software systems with advanced capabilities that range from sharing policy compliance with everyone involved to monitoring corporate credit card spending. These systems can also analyze expenses and make consolidated financial reports.  

Review & Improvement

80% of corporate travel managers believe that a standard measuring system would positively impact corporate travel, but only 13% actively measure trip success rate and trip ROI. Travel management systems can facilitate measuring with detailed reports and data-based analysis. 

In addition to trip success rate and ROI, TMSs provide insight into corporate travel expenses, which can be tremendously helpful in budget allocation. Their reporting capabilities can help businesses prepare safer travel policies and hone expensive or impractical processes in the future. 

Travel Management Responsibilities

Travel management is not always synonymous with TMCs, as there are many more parties involved in planning and executing corporate trips. Large businesses sometimes have a hybrid approach to corporate travel management, combining in-house expertise with travel management solutions. It’s not rare for finance teams, HR, risk management, and security teams to participate in this. 

What responsibilities do travel management companies and systems have? 

1. Planning and strategy – The primary purpose of travel management is to facilitate booking and help businesses find the best travel arrangements based on their specific needs and budgetary constraints. It also helps create itineraries within the company’s policy, ranging from company retreats and leisure travel to corporate events, transfers, and offshore work. 
2. Booking and coordination – Building and maintaining relationships with travel service providers like hoteliers, airlines, and car rentals and negotiating the best deals. Other major responsibilities of TMCs are coordinating bookings with activities like client meetings and events and securing maximum comfort for travelers during transfers, connecting flights, etc. 
3. Compliance and risk management – One of the essential tasks of travel management is to help prepare, optimize, and monitor travel policy compliance, safety protocols, and necessary risk management procedures. A huge part of compliance is travel-related documentation, from visas, tickets, and payments to legal forms and travelers’ medical records. 
4. Expense management – Travel costs and in-destination expenses can be difficult to calculate beforehand, especially without the industry know-how and experience that travel management companies have. For that reason, TMCs are often tasked with setting acceptable spending limits for business trips. This keeps spending trackable and within the budget. 
5. Travel support and safety – Travel management also involves duty of care services that imply 24/7 monitoring and assistance with any travel-related issues that may arise. A TMC is expected to tackle and resolve any disruptions or emergencies in accordance with the company’s travel policy and safety guidelines and keep everyone informed and updated. 
6. Data analysis and reporting – Like any other aspect of business, employee trips must be analyzed for performance and profitability. That’s why reporting is crucial. When corporate travel keeps draining a company’s budget, travel management helps analyze past travel reports to identify unnecessary expenses and recommend a cost-effective alternative. 
7. Sustainability initiatives – The best travel management companies recognize the importance of sustainability initiatives, which many corporate travelers are also interested in. They work with leading organizations and associations to ensure that corporate travel benefits both businesses and people while also preserving nature, cultural sites, and the planet. 

You will need to take these main responsibilities seriously, particularly those regarding expenses and safety, to ensure a business trip goes over smoothly.   

Travel Management System

A travel management system (TMS) is centralized software used to manage the many different elements of corporate travel within an organization. A typical TMS consists of tools for travel booking and expense management, as well as real-time travel tracking and cost control features. 

Who uses travel management systems? These tools are the backbone of management services provided by TMCs, but they can also be used in large organizations and businesses with extensive corporate travel needs, especially those that plan, manage, and track corporate trips internally.

A reliable travel management system should have the following capabilities: 

Key Components of an Effective Travel Management Program

Travel management is supposed to provide a framework for best corporate travel practices that save both time and money, all while enhancing the traveling experience. But what does that mean, exactly? What are the essential components of an effective time management program? 

Trust and Transparency

With or without the employer’s permission, 45% of business travelers extend their trips for leisure. 80% of frequent business travelers feel that they deserve to make time for fun activities during most of their business trips, but their plans don’t always fall within their company’s travel policy. 

In fact, 60% of work travelers don’t understand the benefits of travel policy. A uniform and transparent policy that clearly outlines the company’s stance on travel expenses, booking procedures, and approval processes can help fix that and ensure compliance by simplifying things for travelers. 

That is also how effective travel management builds trust. It establishes a real-time rapport channel between the company and the traveler. Employees feel looked out for and supported while traveling, knowing that the policy is there to protect them, as well as their company credit card. 

Technology Integration

Over 50% of travelers would appreciate real-time notifications and for airlines to rebook their flights automatically, shining the light on the importance of technology in travel management. Another stat shows that 42% of travelers think that booking a trip is more challenging than traveling.

Corporate travel is immensely complex and cannot be successfully managed without a centralized solution that includes booking tools, customizable policy templates, comprehensive reporting, and expense tracking. Integrations with existing tools and mobile apps are also paramount. 

Large organizations and businesses with extensive travel needs employ advanced travel management solutions with AI tools for flight forecasting and workflow automation. Additionally, these tools offer real-time tracking and data insights that maximize efficiency and minimize downtime. 

Sustainability Practices

In 2022, over 40% of corporate travel managers said that partnering with hotels that have sustainability measures in place is important to them. In 2024, 63% of companies are investing more in sustainable travel, and 80% of business travelers want more sustainable options when booking. 

Finding hotels and airlines that meet the basic sustainability requirements and adhere to company travel policies is not easy. Several travel management companies, like Satguru Corporate Travel Management, “have emerged as key players in driving change and supporting sustainability goals.”

Businesses with in-house travel management may have a hard time achieving this goal, as they lack the industry connections needed to choose eco-friendly vendors that won’t burn their budget. Luckily, there are TMSs with inventories that prioritize green transportation and zero-waste hotels.

Integrated Duty of Care

Without travel management, work travelers don’t have the safety net they need when faced with flight delays, natural catastrophes, and other unforeseen circumstances. 73% of those who travel for work are concerned about this. Alarmingly, 46% of them don’t have a corporate safety plan. 

Ultimately, no aspect of corporate travel should be more important than traveler safety. An effective travel management program must incorporate duty of care as its core policy and create a positive and secure travel experience both for the company’s sake and the sake of its employees. 

By prioritizing duty of care, businesses demonstrate commitment to the health and security of their employees, which helps build trust and loyalty. Additionally, a solid duty of care program can protect the company from potential legal liabilities associated with employee travel.

Conclusion

At its usual scale, corporate travel is simply not viable without proper travel management practices and solutions. However, businesses do have a choice between outsourcing employee trip planning, booking, and overseeing TMCs while building an effective travel management program in-house. 

In either case, travel management helps us create and share company travel policies with employees, making them easy to follow during the booking process and while spending the travel budget. It has sprawling benefits for traveler safety and comfort, as well as the company’s bottom line. 

However, travel management practices and solutions are constantly changing. Trends come and go, leaving a lasting impact on travel. The future will likely be shaped by AI technology and sustainability efforts. There’s no time like the present to rethink and update your travel management practices. 

FAQ