Do you know someone who lost his passport while on a trip? Or maybe it was their laptop or wallet. Was there anyone whose personal data was hacked while traveling? God forbid, has it ever happened to you?

There is always some risk associated with travel. The fact is almost everyone, even frequent travelers, have felt unsafe sometime or the other. So it makes perfect sense to be prepared before you embark on your next trip. When travel is for business, companies can also do a lot to make their employees feel safe. Yet, a lot depends on your own awareness and behaviour while on the road. Based on our experience as well as using inputs from few road warriors, here is a list of dos and don’ts to keep in mind during travel.

1. Know Your Destination

Read about the city you will be visiting. Get to know it’s crime rates and localities that are generally considered unsafe. Understand the local customs. And don’t forget to check up on the weather as well as any travel advisories or warnings issued by your government.

One of the best sources for information regarding international travel advisories is the US State Department travel advisory page. It is good if you have access to a travel management tool that gives personalized alerts and advisories for your destinations.

2. Secure Personal Items

When you are at the destination, unless absolutely required, do not carry any personal items or documents with you. Keep them locked in your hotel room safe. It is also a good idea to keep copies of important documents such as your passport. If you have valuables, ask the hotel reception for a deposit box.

Many of us are not aware of the typical storage options available at hotels. If you want to know, read this interesting article.

3. Be Careful About What You Eat And Drink

Sampling local cuisine is very much part of the joy of travel. But always find out what is on your plate before eating it. Ask someone if you are not sure. Drink responsibly. Alcohol not only impairs your judgment, too much of it can also make you vulnerable as a target for crime. Finally, always carry basic medicines with you, in case you unfortunately fall ill.

If you are wondering what medicines to carry on a travel, here is an advisory from the US CDC about how to pack smart for a healthy trip. And of course, ensure you have a suitable travel insurance.

4. Try To Blend In

Interact with the locals. Watch and learn how the locals do things. And don’t do stuff they consider offensive. Dress appropriately, but not necessarily in the local costumes. Try not to be too flashy, especially with jewelry.

Here are some fine pointers about how to blend in with the locals.

5. Carry Just What You Need

Do not carry too much money on your person. Take only what you may require. Everything else, keep locked up in your room safe. If you need to go to an ATM, use those located inside banks, shopping centers, hotel lobbies etc. Do it when there are people around. If you get mugged in spite of all precautions, don’t try to be a hero.

Read this fascinating article from Reader’s Digest on how muggers choose their targets and try to avoid those pitfalls.

6. Stay Connected

When you are traveling, it is important that you share your itinerary including hotel details with family, friends or colleagues and update them as often as you can. If you are traveling for work, always stay connected with the travel team in your company. Also ensure that you are familiar with the processes and tools to be used in case you need help during travel.

7. Be Cautious About How You Connect

Staying connected requires access to Internet. Always use trusted wi-fi networks like that of a workplace or your hotel. Avoid use of public wi-fi networks. If you have to, then be aware of the risks and try to use a VPN.

This article describes the risks of using a public wi-fi and how to stay safe if you have to use one.

Many companies do have robust travel risk management (TRM) programs to address traveler safety concerns. A TRM program is not just about policies, guidelines and awareness trainings. A robust TRM program also necessitates tools that provide travelers with contextual information & alerts. It requires capabilties that enable travel teams to understand where travelers are and to offer support when there is a need. The trip management feature in TCat is designed to do just that. If you want to know how, please do reach out to us.

Picture credit: Moshe Harosh from Pixabay

The world may be getting ready to ‘live with COVID’, but the journey is probably going to be a tricky one.

India resumed regular international flights from 27 March 2022 ending a two-year long suspension. Multiple countries, including most of the European ones, are now open for travel. More people are traveling on business, as evidenced by a surge in business travel bookings seen in recent weeks. Amidst all this growing optimism, we continue to see gathering clouds of uncertainty. Emergence of new COVID-19 variants, the ongoing outbreak in China and the war in Ukraine continue to affect travel recovery.

In this environment, if you are planning an international business travel in the near future, there are certain factors to keep in mind. Based on our experience over the past few weeks in helping our customers return to travel, here are the top four.

1. Air Fare

Even though restrictions on international flights have been lifted in India, airlines have not yet returned to their pre-COVID level capacities. It may take weeks for airlines to increase the number of flights and of course this will be driven by demand. In addition to this, there is the impact of prevailing oil prices and route restrictions triggered by the crisis in Ukraine. Hence be prepared for the fact that air fare, especially international, may continue to remain high for the near future. At the same time, try not to lock yourself into high-price, non-flexible fares unless the travel is urgent and immediate. Give yourself a chance, in case the situation improves and fares do come down.

2. Visa

For Indian travelers who require visas for their international travel, the situation remains challenging. Many countries, including the US, are yet to open for new business visa applications. There is also the huge backlog of existing applications waiting to be processed. All of this means that getting appointments for visa interviews can be very difficult and there are major processing delays even post that. Till these challenges get cleared, companies are better off trying to see how to optimally utilize the existing visas its employees may be holding.

3. Travel Checklists

Travel policies and checklists will remain dynamic and complex. Companies will need to continuously adapt to guidelines and restrictions imposed by various countries and situations, in order to ensure that their employees are able to travel safely, in compliance with prevalent rules. Companies are encouraged to leverage technology solutions and expert advice to ensure that they are always up to date with rules and regulations.

4. Longer Stays

Average hotel nightly rates in major business travel destinations are reported to be 20% to 30% lower compared to 2019. This coupled with the high air fares means that many companies are now planning for less frequent travels, but with longer stays at the destination. See if that works for you.

In summary, to navigate effectively through these short-term challenges, companies would need access to real-time travel information as well as support from experienced travel consultants. That means access to right technology solutions combined with appropriate human intervention. If you have questions on how this can be achieved cost effectively, please reach out to us.

The Myth: Any one “trusted” travel provider is capable of always providing you the gamut of available options to choose from, as well as the best price available in the market.

The Reality: There is no such thing as “Provider Dominance”. With the right sourcing strategy, you can make an appreciable saving on budgets. Or better still, you can travel more or enhance the experience of your travellers within the same available budget.

Travel is on the cusp of recovery, aided largely by the vaccination progress across the world, which is expected to help Governments reassess the border restrictions within and between countries. There is a great deal of pent-up demand, as already evident from the spurt in leisure travel. Select airline routes are now running at full capacity, whilst hotel prices are showing an uptick. Markets such as US are already seeing a sharp rise in business travels alongside the “return to office” effected by several corporates.

Travel suppliers such as airlines and hotels, and travel providers who enable distribution, are also getting prepared. They are investing heavily into customer experience and embracing nimble operating models, where technology is becoming the backbone. Further, travel suppliers are being pushed towards getting creative in their pricing models, leveraging data and customer behaviour insights. This is fundamental to extracting the best prices from travel buyers or travellers.

The complicated economics on the travel supply side could now present interesting opportunities for the demand side. Corporate travel buyers and leisure travellers can secure the best deals, as long as they are looking in just the right places. Leisure travellers who are flexible with their schedules can afford to wait and watch for the right prices to show up. Whereas business travel is typically time bound, and buyers target the best deal available “right now”. In such a scenario, the biggest mistake corporates can make is to narrow their horizon of searches and settle on too few providers to source their travel from.

Our research provides ample evidence that “provider dominance” – the assumption that any one trusted travel provider is capable of always providing the most relevant options and the best deal for a specific itinerary – does not exist.

Let us now examine the imperatives for corporate travel buyers to improve bottomline.

1. Ensure that all options available in the market are on your menu

Of the top 8 travel providers covered in our research, the providers on an average missed out on 15% of the total inventory available in the market, i.e. 15 in 100 flight/hotel options were not even displayed to end users of such providers. Whilst this means that a lower cost option may not even have been available for selection, the value of business travel to a company is also dependent on the right timing/duration of flights and right location/amenities of hotels available. Making sure you book the right flight or hotel for your traveller at the right cost would therefore require a wider access to the market!

2. Verify each fare for competing bids from multiple providers

Even for flights and hotels that did show availability with the providers covered in our research, some degree of price disparity (variance in fares across different providers for the same product) existed in 97% of the instances for flights and 99% of the instances for hotels. That means out of every 100 itineraries we studied, only 1-3 options had the same fares across all providers. With travel being a dynamically priced product, this disparity would remain over time, as seats are shifted from one fare class to another and changing demand keeps prices on the move.

For instance, the price leader for international flights in our research offered the best fares around 32% of the time, which means that in 68 of 100 flights even they lost out to other providers. One provider that gave you the best fare once upon a time is not likely to repeat this again the next time around. You need to look far and wide in the market to ensure the best deal for your company.

Price leadership – the ability of a travel provider to offer the best fare in a particular instance – is a tough proposition in the Indian market, as our research shows. But it is quantitative in nature and the extent of the advantage offered is easily measurable. As per our research, the price savings for flights ranged typically from 10-20% with a maximum saving of 48%, whereas the price savings for hotels ranged typically from 15-30% with a maximum saving of 39%.

3. Look beyond prior performance of the provider

In a market with price disparity, an obvious strategy on the demand side is to check each offer with an additional provider to see if they can match or outdo it on a regular basis. Or one may tend to trust the provider who gave the best fare on a previous occasion. However, our research reveals that in the Indian market there is far too much dispersion in pricing, to allow best deals to come from only one or even two providers consistently.

4. Look for intangible advantages beyond the cash fare

Any platform which compares providers strictly on price without any additional variables would rank a fare of $100 as clearly preferable to a fare of $101 without considering any other factor of the itinerary that would make a difference to the corporate or the concerned traveller.

However, a corporate may attach a great degree of value to flights of shorter duration, convenient timings, journey duration, proximity of hotel to place of business, additional amenities, etc. Traveller wellness and convenience may have a direct correlation to the business outcomes intended from the travel. Therefore, it is critical to consider these intangibles alongside the “cash saved” instead of straightaway purchasing the “best fare”.

Conclusion

Clearly, the evidence from our research is strongly against the existence of any significant level of provider dominance in the Indian travel market. To the typical business looking for consistent, predictable and impactful savings on their travel costs, the solution lies in a broader horizon of travel providers.

A travel sourcing strategy, where the travel options are evaluated from across multiple providers, offers the highest chance of success, but poses logistical challenges for effective management. This points to a technology platform capable of collecting data from the right sources and an analytical layer which matches the available inventory to your preferences as a customer. The market is ripe!

Footnote: Research Methodology
The data presented above is the result of a proprietary research study carried out by Catalyca. We profiled some of the largest OTAs and B2B travel aggregators (“travel providers”) in terms of user volume and revenue in the Indian travel market. Inventory availability and prices of flights in approximately 100 unique routes (Indian domestic and international) across multiple date combinations were covered in the study conducted over a period of time.

Business travel was one among the first to taper at the beginning of the Corona virus pandemic. Travel dipped heavily and has started to inch back in small increments recently. It is not a steady climb, but moving up, nevertheless.

A steep downturn in the economic scenario and resultant pressure on company budgets are a deterrent for a smooth travel process. To remain viable, businesses will have to reduce costs including travel. The new normal involves and promotes the use of technology tools such as Zoom. However, these tools are not long-term replacements to trust-inducing in person face-to-face meetings.

Controlling Costs for Business Travel

Business travel holds great importance for most businesses irrespective of size, and the associated costs form a big chunk of the budgetary allocations. Negotiating for best fares becomes meaningful when there is at least a minimum budget to spare; however, when travel allocations are close to none such comparisons become a wasted expense of time.

As per PhocusWire, in the current situation, all new business travel will be scrutinized. Herein lies the importance of cost control measures. Let us take a relevant example, one of travel procurement, to see how cost control post the pandemic can be implemented with lesser impact on business outcomes.

Travel Planning & Procurement

After the travel decision is made, it is important to carry out planning cautiously, so that cost control and safety measures are in place. In the normal circumstance, this includes the travel manager collecting staff member details. They will then initiate procurement by interacting with multiple vendors/ suppliers. Whether a large team of travel managers dealing with 100 travellers or a solo travel admin working for a smaller organization, the situation can be a hassle.

Another challenge is the cost. Multiple calls and emails will not guarantee the lowest prices and good services. Travel prices are seldom the same across suppliers, creating price disparity. Also, the prices quoted by suppliers are not their best rates. In addition to this. quotes from multiple vendors need manual or semi-manual processing that can lead to less than accurate decision making and revenue loss. No single vendor can provide the best fares at all time and a lot of effort needs to be spent on identifying the right combination every time a purchase decision is made.

Fare escalations are also troublesome for companies trying to rein in costs.

Most businesses therefore rely on OTAs which can be a separate task that needs attention and focus for successful execution. Since businesses need to focus on their business more, this kind of an engagement can be a distraction.

Role of Technology

Compare this exercise to the presence of a smart travel management system that can automate travel procurement. Such a system can also accelerate other aspects of travel. However, most importantly, the tool must be able to provide a unified digital marketplace with ample choice, allowing travel managers to choose the right suppliers with matching prices, all within policy framework.

A right choice of suppliers, adoption of technology tools and focused efforts on the travel program can help businesses make considerable savings on costs.

TCat – Travel Management Solution from Catalyca

TCat offers a unique way of solving cost control challenges related to travel, particularly procurement. The system empowers the business to provide wider choices through collective bargaining in a digital marketplace. TCat combines travel procured from multiple vendors into a single unified platform, enriched with intuitive user experience and proactive traveller support.

TCat allows the below benefits for travel managers & other stakeholders.

• Diversity of choices
• Rich content through IATA Standards (NDC)
• Opens hitherto inaccessible suppliers
• Collective bargaining power
• Seamless supplier switching

TCat offers a traveller-first approach, one that is also highly personalized without causing revenue leakage. In TCat, all dimensions of travel are integrated to provide a seamless experience to stakeholders named as One Travel.

To know more about how TCat can save travel costs for your business, reach out to us today.

To a world that was increasingly starting to open up with travel across regional boundaries becoming more and more seam-less, the current COVID scenario has dealt a big blow. Travel has not just become difficult, but it is far riskier than ever before.

Travel restrictions are currently a universal measure and are intended to contain the spread of the virus. International borders are not fully open, and these are the times when we are forced to have a rethink of future travel options. Corporates need to proactively change policies, plans and make prudent decisions. The nature of the pandemic is at an unprecedented scale and needs appropriate safety measures to be taken. However, similar pandemic situations might repeat. What is needed is for businesses to have a fresh approach that prevents stagnation.

The Importance of Travel Risk Management
Corporates need to layout a travel risk management program that can help employees navigate the situation better. Travel risk management comprises of well thought and documented processes and steps that help to mitigate the disruption and risks connected to travel.

How to Manage Travel Risk
Travel risk management starts with a detailed analysis of the travel need. Whenever a travel need comes up the corporate shall analyze it based on a pre-determined framework. This framework will consider whether the

1. Proposed journey is critical for the business or is avoidable
2. Government advisories, regulations and other restrictions that impact the travel and traveller
3. Probability of a risk materializing during the travel
4. Impact to travel or the traveller, if the risk materializes
5. Availability of feasible and viable mitigation plans if the risk materializes
6. Traveller is fully aware and clear about risks and mitigation plans

Once the analysis is completed and the decision made, the next step is to facilitate the travel safely and successfully.

Role of a Travel Management Platform in Facilitating Safe Travel
A travel management platform is vital to facilitate safe business trips for employees. Such a system can direct the course of travel prior to, during and after the business trip. To deliver a safe trip, the system must have features that provide relevant information to all stakeholders to manage all phases of a trip.

Let us see what a travel management system shall do to manage risk during the various phases of a business trip.

Pre-Trip Features

Travel Risk Assessment Analysis

The travel management platform must aid in carrying out an overall travel risk analysis assessment. This would assist the management in making timely and proper decisions on the travel risks involved. The platform shall also provide various travel advisories and alerts to the travellers and other stakeholders. Such advisories shall be made available over multiple channels including mobile devices for easy access at all times and phases of the business trip.

Some examples of information that will facilitate travel risk assessment are:

1. Destination and transit country-specific travel advisories, safety, security, health alerts and other relevant information.
2. Destination city or town specific travel advisories, safety, security and health alerts
   Government and other regulators directions regarding the mode of travel, precautions to be considered before and during the travel.
3. Some of the other pre-trip features that shall be supported by the platform are cited below.

Capture of traveller details: Full information about traveller itinerary for the business trip shall be available in the platform. Data required to communicate with the traveller shall be available in the platform and this information will help to reach out to a possibly distressed traveller or his/her emergency contacts if the need arises.

Availability of Real-time Information: The traveller shall have access latest travel advisories, health alerts, risks associated with a particular destination, as and when such an event occurs at the destination.

In-Trip Features

Trip Monitoring & Safety Tracking

To effectively ensure a safe trip for the employees, an organization needs to be able to pinpoint their employee’s locations anywhere in the world at any time, predicting the risks in those locations, and initiating contact with other staff members at the location to render immediate assistance if the need arises.

When the trip is in progress, the platform should be in a constant risk & safety monitoring mode, enabling the corporate to track the situation as it evolves on a 24×7 basis. A real time dashboard that displays latest travel advisories and alerts for various geo-locations where employees are or will be in a few days, shall enable the corporate to easily locate, communicate and provide support to employees in a risky situation.

Communication Channels

The capability of the platform to be in touch with travellers during an emergency situation is a mandatory requirement. The system shall be capable of using multiple methods to locate and communicate with the traveller.

Once located, the corporate should be able to facilitate bi-directional communication between traveller and the corporate. The various channels that the platform shall support include e-mail, SMS, social media, and mobile app-based chat tools.

Linking Co-Travelers

Linking travellers at a specific destination so that they can coordinate among themselves with ease is a desirable feature of the platform. Buddy or Fellow traveller information can be cross-linked and made easily available to travellers.

Post Trip Features

The post-trip features will include feedback collection and collation from travellers and preparation of analysis reports. This information shall act as the basis for review and improvement of travel risk program.

Conclusion

Technology has a greater role to play in the post COVID world scenario and travellers will insist on systems, services and measures that ensure safety while going on a business trip. Travel Management platform shall enable the corporate to facilitate a safe trip for its employees.

By Team Catalyca

For more information on Travel Risk Management using Catalyca and TCAT, please write to hello@catalyca.com.

In a survey conducted recently among business travelers, we found that close to 75% out of the 600 plus respondents were keen on being informed well ahead about incidents that could disrupt their journey. This testifies to the fact that business travel is not always a smooth and simple experience. There is a lot of unpredictability inherent to travel due to multiple external factors such as weather, aircraft technical snags, local airport incidents etc. However, a traveller can be made to feel more assured if there is a process that provides information and decision support in a timely manner. Such a process that supports a traveller during pre-trip, in-trip and post-trip phases of business travel can be called proactive traveller support.

What does proactive traveller support involve?

The foundation of proactive traveller support is the ability to provide timely information and alerts to a traveller. Such information could include the following.

• Flight Status: Delays and changes in flight timings are very much part and parcel of air travel. They can be disruptive, but when it comes to meetings that need to be postponed and conferences that cannot be moved ahead, timely updates on flight changes/cancellations can come in handy to a traveller.
• Baggage Status: While travelling, one of the greatest fears is that of losing one’s baggage. If notification about baggage can be proactively provided, a great deal of stress is eliminated for the traveler.
• Check-In Reminders: Web check-ins are a boon for busy executives, but they need to be prompted or notified about it as soon as their flight is open for check-in. Not many enjoy having to sit in a middle seat, especially in a long flight, because they forgot to check-in early.
• Gate Changes: Knowing about gate and terminal changes as and when they occur can be very important. It is not fun finding out about a gate change at the last moment, particularly when one is in one of the larger international airport terminals.
• Weather: Alerts and notifications on weather conditions can help travellers, especially new visitors to a place, prepare themselves better.
• Destination Information: Most business travelers wish to explore the destinations they are visiting for work. Travellers are also increasingly taking a lonely spouse/partner/child along on business trips. Information about their destinations and places worth visiting nearby would be valuable to such travellers.

Other than just consumption, many a times, timely information can also result in better handling of disruptions. They also open the possibility for travellers to avail services that could save money, time or fulfill some specific need. Consider the following examples.

• Changes & Cancellations: Letting a traveller know about any changes to the planned travel, assessing its downstream impacts and providing options to handle the situation will be appreciated. If this is done proactively, without the traveller having to frantically reach for help, it can be a valuable service.
• Seat Upgrades: When there is a seat upgrade available, many travellers would appreciate knowing about it. If airlines are able to proactively communicate directly to travellers, it would be mutually beneficial.
• Price Alerts: Flight and hotel availability and prices change dynamically. Travellers would love to get alerts for room availability at one’s preferred hotel or an aisle seat that was not available at the time of check-in.
• Early Check-In: Syncing travel time with hotel check-in time can be tricky. However, waiting at the hotel lobby for long hours to check-in after an early morning flight is dreaded by everyone. Sharing of information between travellers and hotels to efficiently manage room allotments can be a boon to both parties.
• Recommendations: Recommendations that can help travellers find places of interest to visit near to their destination or places to eat that match with their preferences is increasingly becoming relevant to travellers.
• Receipts: Business travelers can have trouble keeping receipts for submission on return. The ability to scan and store receipts coupled with notifications to remind about expense claim on return can be extremely useful.
• Duty of Care: Whenever there are risks involved in the journey that can be potentially life-threatening, the traveler should be alerted by the management. Vice versa, when the traveller is in need of help, the company too needs to be alerted. This is part of traveler risk management and is the duty of a company. Providing a channel to enable this will be invaluable.

How can a traveller receive the above described proactive support? To start with, there are many apps that cater to perceptive notifications about potential trip disruptions and other services mentioned earlier. The problem is in their multiplicity. A recent research showed that as many as 50 apps need to be downloaded by a business traveler to cover all the needs of a trip. And most of these apps will not talk to each other to give a seamless experience.

What next?

IATA’s Global Passenger Survey mentions that 54% travelers prefer real-time, accurate notifications that help them move forward in a journey without major disruptions. They need on-the-move support that is 24/7 and is proactive in nature. They are more comfortable when there is a human touch to the support. In short, there is an increasing need for a human-centered, service transformation in business travel.

An online travel management platform that integrates with airline systems and other service providers to identify potential disruptions in a journey, coupled with a support service that automatically sends out notifications as well as takes farsighted actions such as booking alternate flights, re-booking hotel and ground transportation based on the revised itinerary post a disruption will be the future. Such a platform will take travel management beyond booking and fulfillment, to the point where it can guarantee travel, thus taking a huge load off the traveller’s already burdened shoulders.

Travel is exciting, even when it is for the purpose of business. There is hardly anybody who does not like to roam the world, but in reality, the experience is not always seamless. International and domestic travel come with a number of stringent rules and regulations, resulting in the need for travellers to carry appropriate documents with them. Though rules related to domestic travel are simple, the ones for international travel are complex and dynamic. This can be tricky for travel managers and travellers, as it requires them to validate and recheck document requirements every time, especially when the trip is planned in haste. Sometimes, mistakes can happen to even the most frequent travellers.

One such example comes to mind, cited by a colleague. He was travelling from India to Namibia for business via Dubai and Johannesburg. His travel agent booked tickets without realizing that for transiting Johannesburg, a transit visa was needed for an Indian passport holder. Airline personnel too missed checking for transit visa as he was checking-in from Delhi. However, in Dubai, he was stopped before boarding the flight to Johannesburg. The airline tried to re-route him via other points but couldn’t because he was not vaccinated for yellow fever as mandated for travel in certain African countries. Finally, the trip had to be abandoned. He returned to India after a gruelling eight hour wait at the Dubai airport. You may have had or heard about similar experiences and would agree that the loss of time and money as a result of not being aware of documentation/visa requirements is entirely avoidable.

In a recent survey conducted by Catalyca, it was found that a whopping 84% of business travelers out of 600 plus respondents wanted to have clear visibility into the sufficiency of their travel documents before embarking on a trip.

The list of important documents and artifacts typically required during travel goes like this.

1. Passport
2. Visas
3. National IDs
4. Travel Insurance Documents
5. Flight/ Rail Tickets
6. Hotel Reservation
7. Credit/ Travel/ Forex Cards
8. Vaccination & Other Medical Details
9. Driving Licenses

An IATA analysis of 2016 says that 60,000 travelers are turned back at destinations or transfer points by immigration authorities each year. This cost the world’s airlines a substantial amount of money in fines and associated expenses. At an average of $3,500 per passenger, these fines are colossal. Airlines have to fly the traveller back to their country of origin at their own expense, occupying the seat on a fight that they could have otherwise sold to a revenue generating passenger.

It’s not just the airlines, travellers too end up paying a large price for such mistakes. These breaches, when they occur, could end up being costly for future travels of the traveller. Visa denials to the same destination in future is such a possibility. Hence, it is in the best interest of travellers to verify their documents before commencing a trip.

How can businesses ensure effective document verification for its busy employees?

The traditional method has been to trust the expertise of the travel agent. But as we have seen in the quoted story, this is not always effective.

One way to save the day is to have a smart booking tool fortified with features for identifying travel document requirements of the traveller. The tool can throw up a checklist for the travel and examine available travel documents to flag any risks related to the proposed travel. The challenge with this approach is the required knowledge of applicable rules and regulations. This information is so scattered across multiple sources such as various government repositories that creating a consolidated view is extremely difficult.

Are there any such consolidated sources? The answer is yes. IATA’s TIMATIC database allows travelers to check the document requirements for different global destinations. TravelDoc is another such tool. These tools are used by airlines and travel agents across the world. Considering today’s connected environment and the personal stakes of the traveller in case of a breach, it is time to provide these services direct to the traveller.

A smart corporate travel booking tool should have the provision to validate the existence of all mandatory documents for business travel, flag associated risks, issue applicable reminders and alerts so as to ensure that the traveller and the travel manager are aware of the compliance at all times. Today the cost of integration with such tools can be quite high, making it a challenging proposition for smaller organizations without necessary resources. Models of collective bargaining needs to evolve to make such integrations a reality.

The primary goal of a corporate booking tool is to simplify the travel booking process end to end. When this simplification encompasses even pre-trip checklists such as travel documents, it creates a smooth and seamless path for travelers, making travel happier, assured and all the more exciting.

An economic downturn or any likelihood of such an unfavourable situation is probably not a good time to indulge in a lot of spending, unless absolutely required. However, such slumps in the economic scenario cannot be wished away, as they are dependent on a host of external factors that are beyond our immediate control. In fact, the opposite is also true. The economy is very much dependent on healthy businesses for its revival. It is a reciprocal relationship that needs mutual nurturing.

As per widely discussed reports, unbalanced trade situations across the world have triggered an equally unbalanced economic environment. This threatens to shake the more or less stable ground that businesses have been operating on in the recent past. It means that companies will look for ways to cut down on seemingly deferrable expenses and business travel will be an obvious target.

Cutting business travel during financial crunch

Would cutting down on travel expenses serve the purpose of saving much-needed cash for business sustenance? Striking off unnecessary expenses are no doubt required. However, that said, relationships are a most important aspect for business growth. Without relationships being nurtured, customers and partners may turn elsewhere. And what better way to nurture relationships than to meet people in person?

We no longer reside in a world where services are priced in a one size fits all mode. The gig economy has ensured that we can travel, eat, work and bank easily with help of a smartphone. Today there are several cheaper or more reasonably priced alternatives to most services used by a business traveller. Low cost airlines, app-based taxis, home-stays and online food delivery services make it easier for us to access many essential services that were earlier centralized and therefore, not in plenty or available at a higher cost. This environment gives businesses multiple ways to control costs of essential business travel.
How can businesses ensure cost savings while sustaining necessary travel decisions?

Advance planning

Economical travel choices are much wider these days and such choices can be exercised better if planned in advance. Once the travel dates are decided, trip costs can be divided under heads such as travel, accommodation, food, local transport and others. For each head, cheaper options could be available if the travel is planned well in advance. Advance planning can be augmented by providing automation through adoption of tools. Self-booking tools, especially, can empower employees to make smarter decisions at the right time.

Empowering employees to make the right choices

Companies can allow for economical means of travel and accommodation to be integrated into the self-booking tool. This means asking your employees to select options that are comfortable, but cost-effective. This is where the gig economy has a meaningful role to play. There are several choices available to the business traveller that allows for personalization in addition to cost savings. Services such as Airbnb offer cheaper, yet comfortable stay, Uber and Lyft offer on-demand local transportation at lower costs and LCCs offer low-priced flights.

Being flexible

Airlines offer many options to travel at a lower cost. For example, flexible date airfares are a means to choose dates when cheaper fares are available. Smart airfare search through airline websites helps to identify discounted rates not available through online travel booking portals. Similarly, a booking engine that keeps track of fare dips can quickly update you about a possible rate drop, making it possible to trim travel costs.

Managing local transportation

There are several ways companies can encourage staff members to save on local transportation costs. Booking accommodation closer to the venue is often an overlooked but important decision. Another is the usage of app-based taxi services or tools that encourage travellers to book the nearest available transportation based on user ratings. Providing trains as an option for inland travel is another option to keep costs under check.

Balancing budgets and preferences

Allowing employees to mix and match travel preferences and helping them make sharper decisions will save money while retaining their productivity. A preference for staying in cheaper hotels while flying business class can be an example. If such options can be provided through an intelligent self-booking application while staying well within the framework of company policies and budgets, it could become a win-win proposition.

Motivation through incentives

It might be important to keep employees motivated to fly, sleep and dine within company budget while travelling for work. Incentives for smart travel decisions can be a useful tool when companies want to cut down on costs. When staff members stay well within budget and save money while travelling, they can be encouraged by adding back some of the cost savings to their next travel account. Similarly last minute bookings could be discouraged with deductions. A self-booking application helps here as well, by keeping track of each traveller’s spend and savings.

Direct relations with airlines and hotels

Corporate agreements with preferred hotels and airlines for discounted rates is an extremely useful tool. Online self-booking tools that can make these relations work in a seamless manner without manual interventions can be an added advantage both for the corporate and the employee.

Pruning travel costs rationally, instead of stopping all travel, helps to keep the business engine revved up and contributing even during economic downturns. In fact, such challenging periods are probably the right time for companies to start investing on processes and tools that can significantly increase efficiencies in employee travel management. In the current context, that would mean tools that promote digitization and employee self-service.