When we hear about a Corporate Travel Agency, many questions cross our mind and first of them is “What is a Corporate Travel Agency?”. Corporate Travel Agency facilitates business travel. It includes planning and organizing business trips for employees, handling corporate events, or any other tasks related to business travel. The agency guarantees the smooth functioning of travel management.
“Why do we need Corporate Travel Agency?”
As for this question, yes you need a corporate travel agency as business travel for your company can be time-consuming and with so many options of routes, fares, and carriers at your disposal, it becomes difficult to strike the best deal for your employees. Also, the agency helps to uncomplicate things for you and keep a transparent track of your company’s travel data.
Another advantage of the Corporate Travel Agency is the reduced cost incurred in traveling. The agency has prior experience as to what deal will be the best fit for your company. From accommodation rates, transportation costs, itinerary to suitable insurances, they know it all. Having discussed why we need travel management agency for our company, it’s now important to understand
“What are the benefits of a Corporate Travel Agency?”
Before hiring a Corporate Travel Agency for your company, the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing need to be looked after and we need to analyze whether the pros overwhelm the cons. To help you in the same, we have discussed some benefits of having a Corporate Travel Agency on board-
- Expertise – The Corporate Travelling Agency provides expertise to the companies, which they have gained by working in that industry for years. The agencies hire professionals, who look after the proper planning and execution of business trips. These professionals are well-versed with ‘inside’ travel industry details and try to make the whole process hassle-free and enhance the convenience and safety of the corporate travelers.
- In-House Travel Management –Maybe your company doesn’t need a full-time travel management system and it’s already costing you both wastage of time and money. The Corporate Travel Agency can serve your purpose at the right time and the right cost without investing in the hiring of additional staff. The operational cost of maintaining a dedicated team for travel can be saved.
- Reduce Travel Cost – One of the primary reasons is that corporate travel agencies help in controlling costs and formulating a reasonable travel budget. The companies mostly organize group travels and agencies can help these companies with their established connections and collective bargaining power to get discounted rates for hotels, flights, or car rentals that the client companies might not get on their own.
- Compliance with travel policies- All the companies have some set of rules which make up their travel policies. By hiring a Corporate Travel Agency, a company can ensure the enforcement and compliance of these policies by everyone.
- Time Savings– Having a Corporate Travel Agency will ease out the process of planning a business trip. It will save a lot of crucial time for your employees that can be invested in other primary tasks.
Till now you must have understood the benefits of a corporate travel agency and why you need one for your company. So, another challenge is to decide which agency will be the best fit for your company. Next question in line is
What should I look for in a Corporate Travel Agency?
There are numerous Corporate Travel Agencies in the market offering parallel services and benefits, so how do we decide the right agency for our company? To select the right agency, we need to determine whether the agency is meeting the specific needs of our company or not. Below we have discussed some essential features to look for in a Corporate Travel Agency.
- No Hidden & Extra Cost – First and foremost, it is very important to understand the fee structure and whether it comprises all the services provided by the agency. Find out whether they have extra charges for any service that they have listed.
- Cost Savings- As Corporate Travel Agencies provide their services at a price, we need to determine whether the cost savings in business trips and travels surpasses the amount paid to the agency in the long term. As the travel agencies have excessive access and excellent contacts in the travel and tourism industry, they can transfer the discounts on hotels, flights, rentals to your employees. If your company organize frequent business trips, then an agency on board can save a lot of money and time for your company
- Trace their Footprints – When it comes to travel, having experience is very important to get the best deals for your clients. Trace the companies, the agency has worked with and what requirements does it cater to. Getting an agency that has prior work experience with a company of your niche industry can untangle the process of explaining the agency about your needs. For example, if your employees mostly go on domestic and regional trips, you have to find an agency having excessive access to the domestic travel market.
- Specialization Service – Look for an agency that is adaptable to changes according to the needs of the company. Travelers in a different industry can have different or specific needs. If there is a travel agency working specifically in your niche industry, then it will cater to your needs most efficiently.
- 24*7 Support on Trip –The primary objective of hiring a corporate travel agency is to make the experience of the employees more comfortable and hassle-free. Agency should assign an agent for your company to be available at the back end and support the travelers to have a smooth traveling experience.
- Technology –It is best to find an agency that is well-versed and well-equipped with the latest cutting-edge technology to make the user interface more smooth and efficient. If an agency wants to get ahead in the competition, it must incorporate all the latest trends in their system to reflect the same in its performance.
We hope that this list will help you in deciding the best fit for your organization.
