10 Tips for Small Business Travel Discounts

Business travel discounts have the potential to help your company save significantly in air travel, hotel accommodations, ground transfer, and more. However, finding these discounts is not an easy feat, especially for small businesses. While large enterprises have dedicated advisors for it, small businesses struggle to find ways to save money even though their employees travel regularly. In this article, we will explore the 10 ways to get the best offers and discounts that will help small businesses stick to a budget:

Business travel is among the top areas of expenditure for most organisations, costing large sums of money. Henceforth, if this expense is not managed carefully, it has the capacity to damage the economic health of a company.

Business travel in this day and age is a necessity that cannot be avoided but there are a few ways that can help businesses save money on their employees’ business trips. With the right tools at their disposal, an organisation can cut down their expenditure on corporate travel. Business travel discounts are one such tool that can potentially benefit businesses, especially small businesses in saving not only money but also their time.

Earlier, the advantages of a corporate travel program were restricted to large enterprises. This was a consequence of offline travel agents paying more attention to the large organizations who had big budgets and an even bigger spending capacity. However, with the changing times, this trend has also undergone a change. Now, even smaller companies enjoy a myriad of options to make the most of corporate offers and save plentiful.

So, learn the most important tips on finding the best saving the capital of your small business:

Tip 1: Research Thoroughly

 

The first step to getting unmatched travel discounts is research. It is the primary and the most useful tip to ensure higher savings on business travel. It is fruitful to dedicate significant number of hours to sit and compare the prices of flight and hotel bookings. This exercise of dedicating valuable time on exploring the travel rates across platforms as well as amidst online and offline travel management solutions will surely bear fruit in the long run. It has the long-term benefit of reducing the business travel expense incurred by your company.

Tip 2: Seek Corporate Travel Rates

 

Most travel service suppliers of flights, hotels, and rental cabs understand the importance of having recurring clients. It is good for their business. They, therefore, put a lot of onus on developing business relationships with companies that have frequent business travellers. They expect their loyalty to pay off by partnering with the big players of the corporate travel industry. Hence, they offer corporate travel discounts on fares which are special rates by the suppliers offered on services like:

1. Air fares
2. Hotel rates
3. Rental cab rates
4. Bus fares
5. Train tickets

Tip 3: Connect Directly

 

Traditionally, human connections have been the best way to get access to the best offers owing to strong relationships being forged. Hence, it might bear results by reaching out directly to the sales team of flight and hotel suppliers and seek discounted rates on bookings. Such discounts are usually arrived at on the basis of how much business a company manages to send their way. Hence, the bigger the piece of pie being offered, the bigger the discounts will be. It is, therefore, best to convey the expected travel needs of your company to the suppliers from the onset to get corporate hotel discounts and reduced flight rates for the corporate travel of your small business.

Tip 4: Negotiate the Rates

 

Suppliers of services do not always openly advertise their B2B special fares. Hence, a good tactic is to ask them upfront for such preferential rates. In the event that they convey rates that are higher than your expectations and budget, do not hesitate to negotiate for better rates. It is important to remember that most travel service providers have enough room to negotiate for lower price and therefore, small businesses should refrain from paying a higher price than what was discovered through the process of research.

Tip 5: Budget and Monitor Expenses 

 

Setting up a business travel budget from the onset can help your business keep a track of its expenditure. To ease this process even further, the use of an expense tracking system is ideal to keep an eye on the travel expenditure of your company. Monitoring these expenses closely can also enable the review of these on a continuous basis. This will further facilitate you in identifying the key areas of cutting costs, thus saving more. It will even help you to make the right choice in opting for the best offers based on the business travel allowance of your company.

Tip 6: Partner with a Travel Management Company

 

A travel management company is the easiest way to get a hold of the best business travel discounts and deals. They are the ideal choice for availing special unadvertised rates and business travel discounts for SME. These corporate travel management platforms offer comprehensive travel solutions and act as a mediator negotiating cheaper packages with the suppliers of airlines, hotels, restaurants, rental cabs, etc for a corporate travel discount. The pros of using this method is that they are inexpensive to partner with. myBiz, which is a leading TMC in the corporate travel segment, offers special corporate fares to all companies irrespective of the size of the organization and its travel budget. 

 

Tip 7: Opt for Corporate Credit Cards

 

There are several banks as well as credit card providers that are known to offer special products that are specially designed to cater to those who frequently travel for fulfilling their business objectives. These cards are known as business travel credit cards and they come with multiple perks for the corporate travellers. Opting for such cards for the payment of your business travel, your company is likely to get the following benefits:

• Discounted rates on hotel and flights booking.
• Participation in loyalty programs that come with several rewards.
• Access to business-class or VIP lounges at the airport for greater comfort.

 

Tip 8: Sign Up for Rewards Program 

 

It is best to sign up for the rewards program or loyalty schemes of a certain flight, hotel, or rental cab supplier that your employees often end up using for their business travel. Owing to the business your company offers to these suppliers, you might be able to use their services with the best business travel deals. These loyalty programs come with several benefits like:

• Discounted fares.
• Free in-flight meals.
• More luggage check -in.
• Free airport transfers.

… and many more. 

 

Tip 9: Choose Travel on Weekdays

 

This generic tip actually holds the possibility to save large sums, thus enabling small businesses to not overshoot their budget. Travelling on the weekday, that is, Monday to Friday can be cheaper since not only does it help travellers avoid the rush of people travelling for leisure but usually airlines tickets are marked at a lower cost for the same reason. The same is true for hotel accommodations. Hence, this implies more options to choose from both in terms of hotel rooms and flight seats, but also more savings thanks to business travel deals.

 

Tip 10: Get GST Invoices

 

Another effective way to save up on business travel costs is to get the GST invoice of each expense. This way not only can your business enjoy the services of companies with the best travel benefits but it can even make a claim to get returns through Input Tax Credit or ITC. This will add on to the savings made by your company on the business travel of your employees.

 

myBiz takes care of this issue with its assured GST invoices and helps businesses control their costs and save more. It empowers both employees and their employers through its one-stop solution which offers a consolidated view of bookings as well as expenses. It makes record-keeping and monitoring more efficient to identify key areas of savings alongside travel discounts for small businesses. So, make the most of special corporate fares on travel bookings along with best-in-class management of your business travel and expenses. Join now!

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

 

Q1. What is the benefit of corporate travel discounts for small businesses?

Ans. Corporate deals offer several benefits like cost saving, convenience, and more perks to the business travellers.

 

Q2. How to get corporate hotel discounts?

Ans. Using an established travel management company like myBiz can help businesses get corporate fares on hotel bookings that can help them save significantly. 

 

Q3. How can a small business ensure higher savings during corporate travel? 

Ans. Taking the services of an online travel management company like myBiz is the right choice to save more with their reduced corporate fares on corporate travel bookings.

 

Q4. Why do airline service providers offer corporate rates? 

Ans. Suppliers recognize the benefit of giving corporate deals to companies because they put value in having recurring customers that bring business and loyalty to the them, ensureing more profit.