Expense reporting is no Season 19 of The Bachelor, but alas, it is a very important element of maintaining an accurate record while on the road. If you have ever had to print out and turn in expense reports after a company trip, you would agree that filing expenses is not how you would choose to spend your Saturday afternoon. Fortunately for us, there are a slew of apps which are successfully automating and streamlining this process. Some end-to-end travel and expense management applications, ones such as this neat one called Trippeo, give us complete visibility to control our total spend. Let us together explore the top 5 ways to save on business expenses, because honestly, who wouldn't want to save more money on business expenses?
Budget Car Rental, Dining, and Lodging Options
According to a recent study, small businesses spend around 24 percent on trips as compared to large corporations. All my small business owners, do you want to cut costs? Yeah, that is what I thought. The most effective places for cutting costs, and thus adding profit to our companies are in the areas of car rental, dining, and lodging. Since small businesses spend on average $50 more on both car rental and dining, as well as over $100 more on lodging in comparison to large companies, small business owners can book smartly and save more than $200 per trip, which when considered in totality, sums up to a sizeable portion in savings.
Take Serious Advantage of Corporate Discounts
Small businesses can further benefit from travel by utilizing corporate discounts. Sometimes, the simplest way to save is to book flights by directly calling companies. In this way, small businesses can save big not just on airline tickets, but also on hotels and car rentals. A gentle reminder that the company size is totally irrelevant!
Book Business Travel via Travel Agencies
Travel agencies are a fantastic means of saving money, since not only do they enable us to find those superbly elusive corporate discounts, but they also offer us one. In addition, most travel agencies have strong customer protection programs in place, which provide protection against flight and schedule changes. These sorts of tools are invaluable for last-minute travelers, because they actually enable us to calculate when and where we would be able to save when we consider decisions around appropriately selecting airlines and travel times.
Choose Far Flung Accommodation Locations
On average, airport hotels are around 50 percent cheaper so the locations of accommodations become a phenomenal avenue to save additional dollars. In addition, public transport, rather than a taxi, will most definitely increase overall savings as well. Beyond airports, there are a number of suburban locations which offer high quality hotels and greater discounts in comparison to airport locations. Expanding our radius of search will most definitely surprise us by enabling us to find cheaper alternatives to mainstay hotel locations.
Skip Ultra Luxurious Business Class Travel
Let's face it! Business class is a whole lot more expensive than economy class, even up to 50 percent on long-haul flights. In the world of business travel, as and when companies effectively invest in their employees, the companies benefit a great deal. As the employees travel and gain experiential knowledge, they also build foundational relationships and develop strong professional skill sets to excel in the workplace.
I hope you use these tips to save money on your upcoming business travel! Excited to hear your thoughts!