Direct Travel

Websites like Airbnb have dramatically changed how consumers look for places to stay while traveling, just as ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft have transformed the speed by which people get from one place to the next. These services — at first ignored by businesses used to taxis and car hires — are staking their claim with corporate business travelers by expanding their services through platforms like Uber for Business and Lyft for Work. Both Uber and Lyft provide liability insurance for their drivers, yet because of the lack of regulation of ridesharing services in some cities, businesses may still take the brunt of costs in case of an accident. Once you’ve determined your relationship with ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft, develop a travel policy that effectively addresses these services as well as additional preferred ground transportation vendors.

The information that’s gathered from your travel and expense reporting system will provide your preferred travel suppliers with the data they need to give you the best discount options. These agreements can range from corporate affinity programs where suppliers provide benefits based on volume to group agreements where discounts are given when a certain number of employees are travelling to one location for a meeting. These agreements can range from corporate affinity programs where suppliers provide benefits based on volume to group agreements where discounts are given when a certain number of employees are travelling to one location for a meeting. Knowing how much your company spends on travel, understanding your travel volume and travelers’ preferences can help improve your ability to negotiate meaningful discounts with preferred suppliers.

The Business Dictionary defines duty of care as, “an individual or organization is obliged to avoid acts or omissions (which can be reasonably foreseen) to be likely to cause harm to others.”In other words, the company is responsible for ensuring business travelers are forewarned about any potential dangers of travel conducted on their behalf. Your travel policy should identify “at risk” areas and ensure business travelers are informed about any specific or foreseeable dangers as line items within the policy. Your travel policy needs to clarify your risk management strategy andconsider everything from pre-trip authorization and data management to crisis management and emergency procedures. You’ll want to determine the risk types, assess risk exposure, mitigate or manage potential risks, communicate effectively with your team and audit your travel policy to make sure it’s both current and complete.

A TMC’s system gives travelers options that are typically unavailable outside the TMC industry, such as: Trip arrangements are made according to defined policy guidelines. It is difficult to capture and process data from trips that are booked out of the company’s booking system, increasing the risk of false expense reporting. Policy enforcement in a managed process will automatically double check the following for travel compliance: Trip pricing, approval paths and required documentation through the company portal and designated agent platforms. Benefits of a managed payment process include: Easy and secure payment options via a traveler’s pre-paid card, the organization’s corporate card or a virtual payment system, keeping traveler and company credit card information safe.