Five Smart Ways to Keep your Business Travel Budget Down

If you’re the business owner of a small or medium enterprise, keeping your company’s travel budget in check is most likely a top priority. Business travel has been rated one of the five most significant expenses for businesses of any size. However, Andrew Grunewald, Brand Leader at Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT), warns against slashing budgets to make travel-budget ends meet. “A knee-jerk reaction to cut down on travel cost often sees companies limit employees to unreasonable per diems or put them up in more affordable accommodation,” he says. “Not only will this alienate your best employees, but it is also unlikely to generate the savings you are looking for. A cheap hotel might put your employee at risk. Or the amount you save per night could be eaten up in transport costs because it’s far from any convention centre or business district.” Instead, Grunewald suggests five ways companies can keep travel budgets down while still growing their business: Offer your travellers value-for-money perks It might sound counter-productive, but, offering your travellers perks and luxuries could, in fact, save you money.  Value-adds don’t always have to be at the expense of a company. “You can proactively offer your employees perks while staying within budget,” says Grunewald. “FCBT’s SmartSTAY programme is designed to afford corporate travellers some luxuries. Perks vary from free breakfast to early check-in and free upgrades, which go a long way towards making travellers more productive when on the road.” Make the most of loyalty programmes Loyalty programmes…

Get exclusive access to this story

Subscribe to Nomad Africa and get unlimited access to our exclusive articles on African cultural heritage, travel tips, tourism news updates, industry trends and insights. Your subscription will also help support tourism in Africa. Subscription starts from only R15 ($1 USD) per month.*

SUBSCRIBE