Business travel is an integral part of corporate life. Imagine managing a business that has offices in different countries of the world and clients and stakeholders located in different regions of the world. What if the clients want to meet in person or the stakeholder wants to see your business progress report. These are the things you can not do via video conferencing. You need to go on a business trip.

Unfortunately, many businesses end up spending more on their business trips then they should and rue the fact later. To make matters worse, the cost of business travel is rising every year. Even a week long business trip could put a big dent in your wallet especially if you are not careful. Here are seven ways to keep your business trip expenses in check.

Set A Realistic Budget

Just like business goals, your budget for business travel should be realistic. Factor in all the expensive that you will make during the business travel and set aside a budget. Once you have a budget, make sure you stick to it otherwise, there is no point in creating a budget for business trip in the first place. Tell your employees about your business trip budget and make sure that they don’t overspend on the trip.

Book Everything Before Flying

Whether it is flights or hotel rooms, booking in advance will help you save a lot of money. I know most business travelers would say that they have been told about a business trip couple of days back so how can they book everything in advance. That is why most businesses end up spending much more on business trips then they should. Concur, a travel management company conducted a study and found that booking a trip a week in advance can save a business an average of $148 on every ticket.

Tighten The Policy

Another reason why your employees are overspending on business trip is due to no travel policy. Even if a business have a travel policy, there employees are unaware of it. If you have a business travel policy and your employees are still overspending, it is time to tighten the screws a bit and change the policy altogether. Tell employees about how much they are allowed to spend on business trip and which expenses are covered under the company’s policy.

Schedule Wisely

Not all months are the same and you need to realize this if you want to save money on business travel. Avoid scheduling the business trip during the summer months as the demand is at the highest during these months. The higher the demand, the higher will be airline fares.

Schedule your business trip during winters as there is less demand so fares tend to be lower. This trend trickle down to other things such as hotel rooms and transportation cost. Consider all these factors before scheduling business trip especially if you are interested in saving money.

Avail Discounts and Use Reward Points

Another mistake most businesses make is that they pay for everything via cash. Due to this, they could not avail credit card and debit card discounts. Moreover, they fail to collect reward points. These reward points can be redeemed for making future purchases. Pay for desert safari Dubai and shop via credit and debit cards to avail discounts and collect reward points. If you frequently use plastic money to make payments, you can easily collect enough point to enjoy a free flight.

Keep An Eye On Add On Fees

Although, you can avail discounts on flights, hotel bookings and more but many businesses tend to ignore add on fees that could add up to significant amount. Everything from checked luggage fees, in flight meals, flight upgrades and more can contribute towards increasing the overall cost of business trip. With airlines getting smarter and charging for early boarding and more legroom, business travelers should also make wise decision by keeping tabs on add on fees.

Look For Alternatives

Let’s say you are in Dubai to enjoy yacht rental Dubai service but don’t have anywhere to live. Booking a hotel can be expensive so what’s the alternatives. Look for alternatives such as Airbnb, which let you book rooms at a fraction of the cost and feel right at home doing it. If you could find a home on Airbnb which is located near your clients and stakeholder or conference venues, you could save a lot of money in terms of transportation cost.
How do you save money on business trips? Feel free to share it with us in the comments section below.