No business or startup can increase the ROI of business travel without meeting employees’ work travel experiences and meeting their expectations. Modern work travelers want to book their choice of flights, accommodations, car rentals, and similar business travel products. Also, they want to complete the business travel booking in minutes instead of hours.

Hence, organizations focus on simplifying and accelerating the business travel bookingLinks to an external site. process while making travel policies. They provide travel choices to employees in a variety of ways. Some organizations support centralized travel booking, while others opt for decentralized travel booking.

Centralized Business Travel Booking vs. Decentralized Business Travel Booking

When an organization supports decentralized travel booking, its employees can book essential business travel products using their preferred online booking sites or self-booking tools. On the other hand, companies centralize corporate travel booking using a single and central point of control.

The central point of contact used by individual employees varies. Some companies centralize business travel booking internally by deploying a dedicated travel manager or implementing travel management software. At the same time, others facilitate centralized travel booking by working with a travel arranger like a travel management consultant, a travel management company, or a specialized travel agency.

Why Centralize Business Travel Booking?

A market research study suggests that a higher percentage of businesses in the USA and Europe prefer centralized business travel booking to decentralized travel booking. If your business still supports decentralized business travel booking, it is time for you to understand some of the benefits of centralizing business travel booking.

Travel and Expense Policy Compliance

Well-defined organizational policies help employees understand what they can book and make business travel budgets. But employees often violate organizational policies to book their choice of travel products. Your organization has to monitor the self-booking process to ensure policy compliance.

But you can ensure travel and expense policy compliance by decentralizing. The travel arranger will recommend or book only in-policy travel products. Likewise, the travel management software will track policy violations along with recommending in-policy travel solutions to employees.

Faster Travel Booking

Novice work travelers often lack the expertise and experience to book business trips. They need some time to choose the right travel booking site or solution and compare travel products. Hence, decentralized travel booking makes employees put in extra time and effort to book a business trip.

Centralized travel booking creates opportunities for your organization to book business trips for employees using skilled professionals. These professionals book the right travel products in a short amount of time according to organizational policies and employees’ preferences. Hence, it becomes easier for your employees to focus on their professional responsibilities.

Fully-Flexible Tickets

Before booking a business trip, employees make elaborate business travel itineraries. They book non-flexible tickets as they know the schedules clearly. Employers incur additional costs each time an employee cancels non-flexible tickets due to last-minute changes.

Unlike self-bookers, travel arrangers book more flexible and refundable tickets. Their choice of business travel products makes it easier for your organization to get refunds and avoid cancellation charges. Hence, your business can avoid additional business travel costs by partnering with the right travel arranger.

Real-Time Information Delivery

Keeping employees safe and stress-free has become an integral part of post-pandemic business travel products. You can make employees travel for work confidently only by delivering the latest travel rules, restrictions, and information. Decentralized business travel booking requires you to spend more to meet the duty of care obligations.

The travel management software or travel management company makes employees make informed decisions before and during business trips by delivering real-time information. In addition to delivering the latest travel information, they share important information like flight delays and cancellations with employees instantly.

No Booking Errors

First-time work travelers often book the wrong business travel products due to a lack of expertise. They rectify the errors by canceling the booking. But travel arrangers book business trips by deploying travel experts. They do not commit any booking errors that will make your organization spend more. Also, they can manage a surge in business travel booking efficiently and accurately.

Lower Costs

Travel booking websites help users control costs by leveraging offers and deals. But employees often find it challenging to find the best deals and offers. On the other hand, travel management consultants and companies create opportunities for your organization to get negotiated rates.

Likewise, travel management software uses algorithms to help employees get lower rates and find the best deals. At the same time, travel arrangers and travel management software help your organization control costs by booking business travel products early.

Expense Management Automation

Decentralized travel booking allows employees to use different websites and tools. The decentralization makes it difficult for your finance team to track, review, reimburse, and audit travel expenses incurred by employees. When you centralize business travel booking, it becomes easier for your company to control costs by streamlining travel expense management.

A travel management consultant or company will help your finance team manage travel expenses more efficiently by providing consolidated expense reports. Likewise, the travel management software will help employees submit automated expense reports. Also, it will help your finance team reimburse travel expenses quickly, conduct expense audits regularly, and prevent travel expense fraud.

Advanced Data Analytics

Decentralized travel booking will not help your company unify the travel and expense data of a large number of employees. But your organization can unify travel and expense data using travel management software. In addition to unifying data automatically, the software will enable you to track expenses using a dashboard.

Also, the software will use advanced data analytics to gain actionable insights by analyzing real-time data. You can use actionable insights to boost the performance of your travel management programs by detecting patterns and trends.

Final Words

Your business can leverage several benefits by switching from decentralized travel booking to centralized travel booking. Also, you can centralize the travel booking process in several ways. But you cannot get a higher ROI on business travel only by business travel booking centralization.

You should remember that most companies and startups these days centralize business travel booking as part of business travel management automation. They implement travel management softwareLinks to an external site. that centralizes travel booking along with streamlining travel and expense management processes.