Most employees these days travel to various destinations for business purposes. Some employees engage in business travel regularly to strengthen customer relationships and drive market expansion. At the same time, many working professionals travel to different destinations to attend conferences, seminars, trade shows, and similar corporate events.
Employers make business trips successfully by boosting employees’ business travel experience. Many companies and startups further meet the needs and expectations of employees using business travel platform. These companies help employees plan business trips, create business travel itineraries, and make business travel arrangements.
In addition, leading travel management companies enable employees to access a feature-rich business travel platform. The platform elevates the business travel experience by automating important activities like travel bookings and travel expense reimbursements. Also, employees can use the software to mitigate business travel risks by getting travel support and emergency assistance.
We are highlighting how an innovative business travel platform helps companies boost business travel experience through automation.
9 Ways Innovative Business Travel Platforms Elevate Business Travel Experiences
1. Extending Travel Choices
Each employee wants to book his choice of flights, accommodations, car rentals, and other business travel products. A business travel platform meets this expectation by enabling work travelers to access an extensive travel product.
Travelers can access the inventory to remain stress-free and reduce their carbon footprint by booking direct flights. Also, an employee can avail of complimentary services by booking hotels or experience the local culture by booking unconventional accommodations like homestays.
2. Simplifying Business Travel Booking
Employees often have to make business travel arrangements while engaging in routine business activities. Hence, they want to book the desired travel products in a short amount of time. The business travel management software reduces business travel booking time by supporting self-booking.
Employees can use the corporate booking tool provided by the platform to compare and book travel products without visiting third-party websites. Also, they can make payments securely using their preferred digital payment method. They can use the software to cancel and reschedule bookings without visiting supplier websites.
3. Making Personalized Recommendations
While making business travel arrangements, modern work travelers love to receive personalized recommendations. The new-age business travel software recommends the appropriate travel products to each employee using intelligence technologies.
They use artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to choose and recommend travel products according to the employees’ travel choices and booking history. In addition to boosting their business travel experience, the personalized recommendations help employees speed up business travel booking.
4. Providing 24/7 Travel Support
Employees regularly travel to unknown destinations for business purposes. They need up-to-date information to create business travel itineraries, choose travel products, and follow travel etiquette. Likewise, they need support to manage travel risks like flight cancellations.
Leading corporate travel management companies boost their software by providing 24/7 travel support. An employee can get the required information and support by interacting with a support executive using popular communication channels like email, telephone, and instant messaging apps.
5. Ensuring Emergency Assistance
Leading business travel platforms help companies meet duty of care obligations by ensuring the safety and security of each work traveler. The software enhances business travel safety by tracking the real-time location of employees and delivering real-time information to them.
Also, their providers partner with global health and security risk management firms. The partnership ensures that a work traveler can access emergency assistance in minutes regardless of the business travel destination.
6. Automating Expense Report Automation
After business trips, employees often experience stress when there is a delay in travel expense reimbursement. The business travel product speeds up travel expense reimbursements by enabling employees to submit automated expense reports. Employees can use the software to generate expense reports by scanning various invoices and receipts.
At the same time, the platform features expense management solutions that help the finance team track, reimburse, and pay travel expenses incurred by employees in a shorter amount of time. The reduced expense reimbursement time keeps employees motivated and stress-free after business trips.
7. Preventing Travel Policy Violations
Employees often find it challenging to claim travel expenses by violating organizational travel and expense policies. They usually violate preset guidelines by booking out-of-policy travel products and incurring unapproved travel expenses.
While configuring and customizing travel management software, travel managers can implement organizational travel and expense policies. Also, they can divide the guidelines into small sections to convey relevant rules to each domestic or international work traveler.
Business travel products ensure policy compliance by enabling employees to access relevant guidelines seamlessly. In addition, they show and recommend only in-policy travel products to each employee. Likewise, they flag out-of-policy travel expenses while generating travel expense reports.
8. Creating Opportunities to Save
Employers increase the ROI of business travel by encouraging and incentivizing employees to reduce the average business trip costs. The business travel platform helps employees curtail costs by booking travel products at negotiated rates and canceling bookings without paying cancellation fees.
Also, employees can save money by redeeming reward points and availing of the best deals while booking business trips. At the same time, the software helps them earn cash rewards by making cost-conscious travel choices.
9. Sharing Data-Driven Insights
Data analytics help corporate travel management companies build software that provides real-time insights. New-age business travel platforms use data analytics to gain actionable insights by analyzing employees’ travel and expense data.
The data-driven insights help decision-makers identify issues impacting employees’ business travel experiences. Also, they leverage actionable insights to boost business travel experiences by refining travel policies, extending travel options, and updating travel expense lists.
Conclusion
Leading corporate travel management companies help clients boost business travel experiences by extending travel choices, managing business travel risks, and reducing travel expense reimbursement time. At the same time, they automate important business travel activities by providing robust business travel platforms.
Employees can use the business travel platform to book business trips and submit travel expense reports without putting in extra time and effort. At the same time, the software keeps them safe and stress-free by providing 24/7 support and emergency assistance. Hence, enterprises prefer corporate travel management companies providing integrated travel and expense management software.
