This is rightly named as the age of traveler-centricity and with the evolution of the new era of personalized travel; it is leading to research and development of a host of new so-called intelligent services. The Minibus Taxi command-and-control facets of traveling have changed a lot from the past and the focus has moved more on the traveler and the productivity of each trip. It has become essential to maintain that the travelers have the greatest return on each trip. New generations of young employees and administrators, who have been growing up and dwelling in a digital age, are moving up the ranks as travelers. It has become essential to recognize the need for greater flexibility acknowledging that the employees who travel on corporate trips also consider a percentage of their trip to be a leisure outlet. With increasing globalization and rise in companies sending their staff overseas to network and connect with their ocean going prospects/customers/suppliers, corporate travel is a highly profitable vacation area. Before we talk about how vacation companies can better cater to business travelers, let us first look at why they prefer to use specialized corporate agencies over traditional agents
Why do businesses use Corporate Travel Agencies?
This might be the most basic question for a travel agency as to why they need to use agencies devoted to corporate travel when there are plenty of regular travel agents in the market. Here is the great need of corporate travel agencies who have online systems which allow business travelers access to their complete itinerary.
The following information are at the palms of the CTAs: –
full business itinerary details
up-to-date tracking details of travellers (including delays or rescheduling)
transparent details about additional costs such as baggage fees or in-flight fees
travel alerts, if any, in the most likely going area
complete and up-to-date details about the visa procurement policies and identification required
currency requirement and conversion rates
What do corporate clients expect from Corporate Travel Agencies?
Negotiated Prices
The corporate Agencies generally have tie-ups with hotels, car leases, travellers etc. giving them access to lower prices which can be used only by the frequent business travelers. Discounted prices are not the only advantage though as they also offer flight improvements, room improvements, and VIP check-in lines as required.
In-depth information about the travel industry
Corporate travel agents have access to many travel resources and most prominently, quickly, than any other leisure travel agent. Additional information helps to make the business trips convenient and comfortable.
Changes in Itinerary
When an airline ticket needs to get rescheduled or cancelled, chances are the airline or the online service provider will charge substantial fees. When booking with a corporate travel agent, most of the times schedule changes can be done at zero or minimal extra charges.
Viable emergency contacts
It is important for the business travelers to reach the correct person at the need of trouble. Corporate travel agents have the experience and professionalism to relieve stress for the traveler and the company.
What you need to consider as corporate travel increases?
Business Travel Barometer reported that corporate travel is watching an accelerated growth. However, when poorly managed, it may be no longer an advantage to companies and may, in fact become a burden. There are some factors which the enterprises and CTAs must consider to get the best out of the time spent traveling.
Adopting a travel policy
The corporate must define a travel policy which is applicable to and respected by travelers at all levels. This policy should be used to establish the standards which will help to track the improvement of business travel. It will eventually help to reduce the costs of the entire package.
Do not limit the traveler’s autonomy
The management is responsible for budgeting the travel policy which helps to improve cost management however, it is also essential to give a degree of autonomy to the traveler. The policy should be flexible enough to allow the employee to adapt the trip as per the situatio.