5 ways to reduce your business travel costs

By Henry Brown

In this day and age, business travel is becoming less and less essential. If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that a large proportion of work can be carried out just as effectively from home. Video conferencing software allows employees to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, clients, customers, and partners all over the world without stepping out of their front door.

But there are still times when travel is essential. When wooing prospective clients and business partners, it’s often much more effective to have a face-to-face meeting. Fuel and travel expenses are unavoidable costs for many businesses, but there are still ways you can spend less money. Here are five handy tips to help you reduce your business travel costs.

Plan ahead

When there is a business trip on the cards, don’t leave everything to the last minute. Airlines and accommodation providers often ramp up their prices closer to the date of travel, so you will be able to save a lot of money with advance planning. Plus, if traveling for a conference or industry event, you might find the most affordable local hotels book up quickly, so it pays to be ahead of the game.

Set a realistic allowance

Giving employees a daily allowance for food and travel expenses may lead to a reduction in spending. Simply provide a reasonable amount of money for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and give them free rein over how they allocate the funds. Advise them to choose the most cost-effective mode of travel rather than the quickest.

Find discounts

Things like flights and hotels are expensive, but often businesses just book the most convenient options. With a little forward planning, it’s easy enough to save a lot of money on these expenses. By being flexible about travel dates, you can get cheap deals on plane fares, and there are plenty of booking websites that allow you to find great hotel rates. The cost of rooms can greatly vary even within the same hotel, so do some digging to find a cost-effective option. Even the pickiest employee doesn’t need a five-star suite for a two-day business trip.

Promote fuel-efficient driving

When your staff has to drive to distant meetings, that’s when the expenses really start to rack up. Despite companies such as GPI making great strides in fuelling technology, gas remains a costly necessity of driving. But huge savings could be made if drivers in your company were to alter their habits. Simple techniques such as maintaining a steady speed, easing up on the accelerator, coasting to decelerate, and keeping their tires correctly inflated would all lead to a more conservative use of fuel.

Minimize face-to-face meetings

Not all communication needs to be done face to face. By investing in a video conferencing software solution, your team will be able to have highly effective and efficient meetings with people all over the world. The best programs allow for multiple participants, screen sharing, recording, room systems, and a whole host of other functions that closely simulate a real-life business meeting.

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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop, he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.

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