Corporate Travel Management

Corporate Travel ManagementLEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter studying this chapter, you should be able to:Explain the value of corporate Travel managementDifferentiate the types of corporate travelers;Describe MICE, marine travel and land-based overseas workers characteristics;Describe the phases involved in corporate travel management;Differentiate rate-minus from cost-plus;Describe the corporate usage of intranets and extranets; andPrepare and evaluate a proposal or bid for a corporate travel account management

Value of corporate travel or business travelBusiness travel is characterized by sponsored travel for financial gain.Business travel management is a specialized business function that strikes a balance between the employees travel needs with the corporate goals, financial or otherwise.

The value of a corporate travel management is summarized into three:Financial ControlsPolicy adherenceSafety and efficiency

Financial ControlAs a general rule, the appointed travel management company or the in-house travel department works with each department to determine its travel needs and develop its travel budget, based on current spending and planned development.

Policy AdherenceWhile gathering and assessing travel data and negotiating travel arrangement with providers is important, it is merely the first step to realizing actual financial benefits. Corporate travel management also involves developing corporate travel policies that optimize the companys travel expences.

Safety and EfficiencyThe financial benefits of a well-managed corporate travel program are clear and well-defined. However, there are other strategic, intangible and non-monetary, less visible benefits.Corporate travel professionals are responsible for providing a valuable service to their clients, the corporate traveler.

Types of corporate travelersBusinesspersonsCorporate executivesCorporate supervisors/rank-and-fileMarinersLand-based overseas workersGovernment officials and employees

BusinesspersonsAre those who own or are owners-managers of their respective business enterprises, who travel for various reasons, mainly to solicit additional contracts, to negotiate for and source raw materials, and to participate in events of interest to the enterprises.

Corporate executivesAre those travelers of executive rank, directors, assistant and executive vice president, president, chairs and the like, traveling to represent the company in events overseas, or attend corporate affairs in a multinational setting.

Corporate supervisors/rank-and-fileLike their senior corporate officials, the lower ranks may also travel to present the corporation in meeting overseas or attend training programs in the corporate headquarters.

marinersOr seafarers travel needs are either scheduled in advance or are as the needs arises, normally under time- sensitive schedules.

Land-based overseas workersNormally travel one way, once a year, and seldom purchase round tickets.

Government officials and employees

just like corporate executives, supervisors and rank-and-files, the philippine government conducts missions to foreign countries for variouspurposes-comercial, diplomatic, military and the like.

Marine Travel BusinessCharacteristics of marine travel businessTrip schedules are strictly followedClass of travels is of no consequence, for as long as the trip schedule is strictly followedGateway airports at the destination country may not necessarily be the final destination of the marinerStandard documentation of an ordinary traveler may be waived for mariners when other documentation is availableTransactions involving mariners are paid in cash

Land-Based overseas workersCharactiristics of land-based overseas workers travel businessOne way, once a year travel-returns fares are normally purchased in the destination country.Budget conscious, the cheaper the betterLittle concern for class of travels and schedulesExcessive check-in luggage, specially on the return trip

MEETINGS,INCENTIVES CONVENTIONS AND EXHIBITIONSMEETING-is defined as the coming together of a group of people with similar interests to accomplish some predetermined goals or purposes.Seminar is defined as the coming together of a group of people with similar interests for the propose of giving are discussing information.Workshop- is a brief, intensive educational program for relatively small group of people is a given field that emphasizes participation in problem solving efforts.

incentivesAre not meetings but many convention organizers are also responsible for developing and operating programs.

The word incentive denotes something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action.

The most common objectives of the incentive programsTo increase salesTo increase productionsTo improve quality controls or solve problems within the organization.

ConventionIs an assembly of people meeting for common business purpose and a social interchange between attendees.Conference-is a formal interchanges of views, a meeting to discussing matters of common concerns.

ExhibitionsAre also known as trade events and consists of a series of exhibits booths in which people show their wares, hoping to influence attendees towards ordering purchasing.

Other Classification and definitionsClinic- is a group meeting devoted to the analysis and solutions of concrete problems.Retreat- is a period of withdrawal for prayer, meditation, or study of instruction under a director.Conclave- is any private meeting or secret assembly such as that held to elect a new pope.Assembly- is a company of persons gathered for deliberation and legislation, worship or entertainment- such a lenitive body.Class- is a body of students meeting regularly to study the same subject.Press conference- is a very special kind of meeting where members of media are invited to a gathering to be given information on some new event ore development.Forum and symposium- are two similar types of meeting, although the symposium is perhaps the more formal if the two.Lecture- may be a part of a program of another meeting, or it may be a session by itself.Panel- is a meeting where a panel of experts with diverse views on the same subject present ideas in turn, under the direction of a moderator.

The bidding processThe bidding process involves a proposal for the management of the corporate travel requirements from the travel management company to the corporation or an event management proposal from the event planner to event organizer, when these do not have an in-house department to plan manage the travel arrangement of the event.

Preparing a corporate bidA corporate bid normally includes the following:Scopes of servicesService and support staff and equipmentProfessional feesTerms and conditions

Managing business travelCorporate travel management, that is, the management of business travel involves a renewing cycle that starts immediately upon the appointment of a travel management company to service the corporate travel needs of a multinational, transnational, or domestic corporation.

In broad strokes, following are steps to follow:Evaluation and assessment of the travel requirementReason for official travelFrequency of travelPrimary destinations

Identifying, negotiating and contracting vendorsBase on the information gathered, possible vendors or suppliers of travel services are identified and short listed according to their scope and capability to provide the foreseen travel services required by the corporation.Negotiation must include:Proffered carrierPreferred hotelVendors terms and conditions

Policies and proceduresAre a set of rules regulation within the framework of the corporate travel program.

Some travel policy highlights are:ReservationAirfaresRoutingLayoversCorporate credit cards

Implementing travel policies and proceduresImplementing the travel policies and procedure involves the day to day application of companies travel policies and procedures.Travel authorization- authorization for an employees company travel is normally done by the immediate supervisor, who is inform upon approval of travel by the department head, via a travel order stating the destination, rationale and objective for the trip.

Approval power- approval power differ from authorization travel in that the former relates the financial aspect as the trip, while the former limits itself to the propose and duration of travel.Rank entitlement- some corporate ranks, like managers, directors and ranks above are authorized a class of service standards above the normal or average.Implementing a transition plan- upon commissioning, the travel management company must consider the manner to thoroughness and credibility of the transition plan implementation.

Management corpotae travel operations. Another critical aspect of corporate travel management is the managing and monitoring corporate travel operations.Managing travel operation- managing travel operation start with itinerary planning and ends with the post trip report.Quality assurance initiatives- simply stated, quality assurance is the delivery of service booked in accordance with reset standards.Electronic management of travel and entertainment expenses- this simply describe as follows: employees make reservations and order tickets online.

Reporting and analyzing performanceParallel to all the previous stage of corporate travel management, this stage involves generating all the necessary reports that anable analysis of performance vis--vis the corporate travel objectives goals.This stage consist of:Generating and analyzing reports.Reporting violations.Monitoring compliance

Generating and analyzing reportsNowadays there are a number of module and programs that electronically captures travel-transactions data.These reports may be classified into three:Operational ReportsPCbased MIS reportsFinancial Reports

Reporting violationsAny corporate traveler who elects to take exception to the policy-defined rate ranges, or who violates any other travel policy requirement will be included in a report to senior management.

Monitoring ComplianceJust like reporting and analyzing data, another parallel activity to all the previous stages of corporate travel management involves monitoring compliance with the corporations travel policies and procedures.

Intranets and Extranets in the world of corporate TravelIntranet-connects a companys computers to each internally, making information stored on each available to authorized users within the company.Extranets- areas of an intranet that can be access by outsiders such as vendors and clients.

Cost plus conceptIn the cost plus concept all travel expenses are treated as costs by the TMC. These may be direct cost, actual cost of the vendors products and services, or indirect costs, any order cost not related to the vendors products and services.

Why cost plus?The cost-plus procedures enables the vendor to analyze the total spend of the organization and determine ways to cut, control or maximize it.Other benefits are:Manages the travel spend through the development of a travel management program, geared to the specifics of the vendee.All cost are open and transparent, eliminating doubt and afterthoughts, resulting in peace of mind.The organizations overall production is classified and tagged providing leverage on whatever volume there is, self-generated or in tandem with the TMC,

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