How to trim your business travel bill

Imagine you need to visit Washington on business and you've never travelled to the city before. You don't know which carriers fly there, where to stay or even in which part of town your meeting will take place. What do you do? Call your travel agent and ask them to fix everything, or spend a morning online looking for a deal?

I'm guessing you pick the latter option. Whether you do or don't, this approach is commonplace, especially in SMEs where business travel is, understandably, an after-thought. But companies are wasting time with this unstructured attitude. And time means money.

Let's assume a person going to Washington earns £60,000 a year. That morning of searching online just cost £115. Now let's say there are 20 travellers in an office who make 20 trips a year, and they book independently. That's more than £46,000 of billable hours wasted.
What's the alternative? SMEs may not have the buying power to negotiate discounts, but they can buy smarter, save time and effort, and enjoy increased rewards from suppliers. Here are six helpful tips...

1. Get your house in order. Appoint a member of your management support team to take responsibility for buying business travel and work together to introduce a company-wide policy to control spending and reporting.

2. Avoid online leisure travel agents. They eat up time and charge hidden fees. If you know what you want to book, go direct—you'll get better service and equally good prices. Or...

3. Ask the experts. If most of your travel is in the UK, use rail and hotel booking agents (HBAs). They will save you time, and HBAs don't charge. They also have access to a wider choice of accommodation to suit all budgets. Buy flights from an agent such as Advantage Business Travel or Uniglobe, which deal with more complex itineraries. For a small fee, they'll save you hours.

4. Book ahead. Planning in advance helps you buy quality services for less money. Fly midweek or out of season, buy a multi-city ticket rather than a round-trip fare, bundle flights and accommodation, purchase a restricted ticket and stick to your plan rather than fork out for a fully flexible fare. Never buy train tickets at railway stations; it will cost you 30 to 40 per cent more.

5. Show brand loyalty. Price is always king, but if you can be loyal it pays. By signing up for programmes that reward companies and travellers, you can use free upgrades to make your money go further. Most leading airlines and hotel groups operate reward schemes, which have become more popular during the recession.

6. Look at the big picture. Booking the cheapest but not necessarily the nearest hotel room may end up costing you more when you take into account taxi fares, parking fees, airport transfers, internet charges and the extra time it takes to reach your meeting.

If you'd like to see how much money you could save by using a business travel supplier, check out the savings calculator in the Visitor Zone of the Business Travel & Meetings Show website.

David Chapple is event director of the Business Travel & Meetings Show, 8 to 9 February, 2011, Earls Court 2, London. For information, visit www.businesstravelshow.com