employees report to when they have a travel requirement, restrictions they are expected to abide by, and so on.” A good example of a successful informal
travel policy is at marine engineering company Mandiesel, which has 18 employees of which 75 per cent travel, largely in the UK, with some engineers also covering the rest of Europe and a recent business trip to China to make
“The charge is built in somewhere… with a TMC the fee will be visible”
a presentation on behalf of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). “Our travel bookings largely go through
our finance administrator Sarah Macleod but most of our staff have a company credit card and they are free to book on that or through Sarah, who uses one card,” says commercial director Jade Chalk. “She uses the booking information to get the best deal. She also gets feedback from travellers on the standard of accommodation.” Many of the engineers are travelling to remote locations, where a large choice of
CASE STUDY AFEX banks savings
AFEX IS A NON-BANK GLOBAL PAYMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST with 175 employees in EMEA, of whom 50 travel regularly. The firm’s UK travel spend is just over £400,000 with Corporate Traveller, which also handles AFEX’s business travel in the US and Australia. Individual travellers and PAs/office managers book travel online using Concur or offline via the TMC, and travellers can use a pre-paid company card PAYFEX for travel expenses. MI is provided by Corporate Traveller via monthly reports and quarterly review meetings; AFEX also collects MI from Concur and PAYFEX, and Corporate Traveller negotiates better rates from the company’s aggregated MI from the
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
UK and elsewhere. The AFEX travel policy is integrated into the online tool and applied to offline bookings via a Corporate Traveller account manager. Policy is communicated internally via the AFEX intranet and reviewed quarterly by the TMC’s client relationship manager. In the first quarter of this year, AFEX saved £625 on transaction fees using an online booking tool.
AFEX also made a £1,707 saving
through the TMC’s Amplify programme, which tracks and negotiates waivers and favours, such as a hotel cancellation waiver on a non-refundable rate, a free flight upgrade,and arranging the use of a no-show ticket on a low-cost carrier for a new booking.
properties does not exist. “They stay in hotels that are good value and convenient; they tend to be accessible from where they are operating, which is often near docks or the sea,” Chalk says. “Travel and accommodation ought to be common sense,” she adds. “A reasonable budget is £75 to £80 per person per room and our travellers do try to stick to that. If they cannot find it, they ring to say, ‘This is the best I can get, are you OK for me to book it?’” The only time Mandiesel used a TMC
was for the trip to China. “That is partly because it was the OEM’s travel agency and partly because the trip was more complicated and required visas, so we thought it was safer to pay people who knew what they were doing,” she says. “As is typical in a company like ours, as we have grown, people have taken on tasks like booking accommodation without having formal training in it.” And finally, “SMEs need to recognise
that there’s no such thing as a free lunch; everyone charges for their service,” says Newton. “Most airlines no longer pay the agent a commission but the charge is built in somewhere. With a TMC the fee for the service will be visible.”
STRATEGIC BUYING:
CWT Solutions Group’s top tips for SMEs
1 PROMOTE BOOKING VIA PREFERRED CHANNELS This will ensure duty-of-care and offers full visibility of your travel spend.
2 BOOK HOTELS AND FLIGHTS IN ONE PLACE Ensure that travellers book via the preferred channel (TMC, online booking tool, etc.) so the best corporate negotiated fares are used.
3 ENCOURAGE ECONOMY TICKETS FOR SHORT TRIPS Define a suitable but clear cabin rule. For example, below 6-hour flight = economy; 6 to 10-hour = Premium Economy (if available); above 10-hour = business.
4 PLAN AND BOOK AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE State guidelines for advanced booking – for example, domestic and continental, 14 days in advance; intercontinental, 21 days before departure.
5 DECIDE HOW FLEXIBLE YOU REALLY NEED TO BE Mandate the use of restrictive, non-flexible fares. Generally, flexible fares cost more than the fees paid on changing a ticket, which does not happen often.
6 INTRODUCE CITY CAPS FOR HOTEL BOOKINGS Define a ceiling for top destinations to limit expenses.
BBT July/August 2017 61
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