Making the Business of Business Travel More Profitable - By Carl Schneider, Founder of GuestRights Corporate
Although business travel numbers are still at the same low level as last year with only one in five U.S. adults still expecting to take business trips in the next six months, the number of business trips expected to take place in the same period is set to increase.
Did you know that…
- Business travel in the U.S. is responsible for $246 billion in spending and 2.3 million American jobs.
- For every dollar invested in business travel, businesses experience an average $12.50 in increased revenue and $3.80 in new profits.
- The average U.S. business would forfeit 17 percent of its profits in the first year of eliminating business travel. It would take over three years for profits to recover.
- A 10 percent increase in business travel spending would increase multi-factor productivity, leading to a U.S. GDP increase between 1.5 percent and 2.8 percent.
That’s good news for the entire business travel industry, and it’s also good news for the corporations who rely on face-to-face meetings and events to develop key relationships with customers, with others in their industry and to sell their products.
But business travel can also be an expensive marketing tool. Travel budgets in the millions of dollars are not infrequent in larger companies, especially those in global industries or those with a presence in multiple countries and cities. It stands to reason then that by making business travel less wasteful in terms of both time and money, it will also increase the profits that the company will earn.
At Guest Rights, we have compiled three ways that companies can make the business of business travel more profitable:
Time is money
Anything that takes an employee from the business that they are traveling for is cutting into the time that they could be working and making money. Think about it this way – if an employee is wasting time arguing with a hotel manager because his AC doesn’t work, he is wasting time that he could be using to prepare for his big meeting. Arrange all travel plans in advance to avoid issues or problems with flights, airport connections, hotel bookings, etc. If an issue arises, speak directly with a supervisor or manager. In many travel and tourism companies- including hotels- only upper-level employees actually have the power to address concerns and deal with issues properly, so direct your issues to those employees empowered to resolve them.
Learn from past mistakes
There are good hotels and then there are bad hotels; what often distinguishes the bad ones is a tendency to overpromise and under-deliver. This translates into a perception of overcharging or an overall unpleasant experience for the guest. But unless you learn from your employees’ experiences as to which hotels were great and which were not, chances are you’ll continue to make the same mistake over and over. We recommend developing a consistent reporting and tracking procedure after each corporate trip taken by someone within the company. Track details such as the location, hotel name, chain affiliation, issues/concerns, price paid, quality of service, quality of amenities, etc. Only by recording and analyzing this trip data every month will you be able to determine which hotels will give the best service/experience for your corporate travel buck.
Want to find out and analyze your company’s results but without the time and effort that it takes to collect and process the data? GuestRights has just launched a corporate travel program called GuestRights Corporate, which provides this service free of charge for one month. Visit www.guestrightscorporate.comto find out more or to sign up.
The Costco mentality
Any fans of Costco will know all about the benefits of buying in bulk – cost savings, most notably. Some corporate buyers may not realize that when they are booking hotel stays and travel arrangements, many places will give a discount for frequent visitors or when buying multiple units at once. When booking, speak either to a corporate booker or a manager, explain that your firm travels frequently or in large numbers, and ask them what they can do to decrease your price.
By streamlining your corporate booking process, you will find that your employee satisfaction, travel productivity and profits increase drastically. So what do you have to lose?
About GuestRights Corporate
GuestRights Corporate offers a corporate travel program, which helps corporations identify the best hotels/resorts for their business travel needs, and facilitates a better business travel experience through the Guest Bill of Rights®, a list of ten customer service principles that GuestRights member hotels agree to uphold. To find out more about the new GuestRights Corporate program or to sign up to receive the free report, please visit www.GuestRightsCorporate.com.
