Are Your Employees Following Corporate Travel Policies?

Having a clear corporate travel policy is a must for any business involving employee travel. A managed travel solution can be a really effective way for businesses to enforce their corporate travel policies. But what can you do about employees who resist managed travel options and prefer the flexibility of booking travel themselves — even when it might not comply with corporate travel policies? Allowing employees to schedule their own travel can result in higher costs for the company or create conflict between travel managers and employees over non-refundable expenses they incurred when booking their own travel and lodging.

Get employee buy-in

Fortunately, there are things you can do to help win over employees who resist complying with corporate travel requirements:

• Use clear and concise language in your corporate travel policy. Describe what expenses are covered, what the limits are on those expenses, and what “extras” the company is willing to pay for. For example, vague language like “reasonable airfare costs” can be interpreted in a number of ways. Instead, use more precise language like “lowest available airfare costs” to reduce ambiguity.

• Educate your employees. Explain how using the corporate-preferred managed travel solution provider benefits them — not just the company. For instance, a managed travel provider can often make the travel booking process more convenient for employees. In addition, managed travel companies typically have pre-negotiated rates that include valuable amenities such as free Wi-Fi, fitness room access, and free breakfast, ensuring that employees get the amenities they need and prefer while traveling.

• Reward your employees. Recognize them for complying with your corporate travel policy and using cost-conscious practices such as booking in advance, scheduling travel in the middle of the week when prices are lower, and submitting expense reports on time with necessary details and receipts.

• Make it easy for employees to use your managed travel solution. For instance, Creative Lodging Solutions’ WebGenesis system allows authorized employees to submit travel requests and review travel-related documentation such as confirmations, receipts, and invoices online. WebGenesis also allows employees to connect directly with CLS should a problem arise while they are on the road.

• Provide a mobile travel management app. If possible, offer traveling employees an app that lets them access the travel management system from their smartphones and tablets. When access is easy and readily available, employees are likely to be more willing to use the corporate travel management system.

Along with these tips, using a travel management service such as CLS can help travel managers ensure that employees adhere to corporate travel policies. At CLS, we handle compliance for you by making sure that every travel booking conforms to your corporate policies. And our WebGenesis system makes it easy for employees to request bookings and keep track of essential travel details.

[cta]Are you looking for ways to meet your 2014 lodging budget? Creative Lodging Solutions will help you save time and money by pre-negotiating rates ahead of time. Contact CLS at 888-852-5100 or by email to learn more about how to manage all your lodging needs.[/cta]