9 Ways to Reduce Business Travel Costs
Travelling for business can a perk where you get to travel the country or world for work. Whether you’re flying to the other side of the country or half way across the world there are plenty of ways you can reduce the costs of travelling for business.
Use frequent flyer miles
If a lot of your employees are required to travel for work make sure you keep an eye on frequent flyer miles, you might be looking at a free – or heavily reduced – flight every so often if you keep collecting points.
Be flexible with your travel times
If you’re travelling and have meetings and other things booked in don’t let this limit your travel times. If your meeting starts at 11am you might find it cheaper to fly the night before and stay over an extra night in your destination than flying first thing that morning.
Look at regional airports
Both the country you’re flying from, and the one you’re flying to will have plenty of options of airports so don’t be tempted to just go for the main one’s. You might pick up a bargain or save some pounds if you opt for a regional airport, even after travelling to and from them.
Ask for corporate discounts
When doing anything related to travel whether its flights, car hire or hotel bookings ask whether they do corporate discounts. The odd few pounds here and there will all add up especially if you and your employees are frequent travellers.
Get a roaming solution
As you’re still on business the likelihood is that you will need constant access to your phone from making and receiving calls and texts to logging online to check your emails and calendar. Depending on where you travel to your current sim provider may charge the earth for these things but WordSIM allow you to receive calls for free and their general charges are roughly 85% cheaper than other networks.
Be loyal to a travel company
If you find travelling is something which is done often within your business it will pay to be loyal to a travel company. Whether it’s a travel agent or someone who works booking flights build up a relationship with a particular person and stay loyal to them. Over time they’ll see your loyalty and you might be the first in line for discounts or be the first to be told about special offers.
Be flexible with your accommodation
You will always want to stay in the best accommodation possible but there are plenty more options than just your standard hotels and B&B’s. Check out Air B&B to be able to hire out homes and flats (a good shout if there are lots of you travelling) or look at universityrooms.com which offers global accommodation during school holidays which usually boast great locations, clean rooms and Wi-Fi.
Don’t always opt for business class
Unless the occasion calls for ‘money is no option’ or it’s a long flight business class is not always needed. So many business travellers are opting for economy class seats now to keep costs lower.
Use public transport
Getting a taxi from the airport to your accommodation can usually be justified but during your day to day travelling public transport can be as good as anything else and save you quite a bit of money.