Travel policy: Managing business travel costs
Do you and your employees travel by train to see customers, visit colleagues, and meet new suppliers? If so, are you happy that you have the company’s rail spend under control?
Many companies introduce a travel policy to manage travel and accommodation costs so they have a good overview of journeys taken and the costs involved. By creating a travel policy, you’ll get a much better picture of what your business is spending.
For accommodation and flights, it’s much easier to mandate the use of certain hotels and airlines but being in control of rail spend can be a little more tricky as employees can decide to buy at the station or book themselves.
To make sure you’re in control of what rail journeys are being taken and when, it’s a good idea to set up a train travel policy using an online booking tool. It means you can report on rail spend and keep costs to a minimum.
With a travel policy you can determine preferred booking behaviours. Here are some ideas to get you started.
- Set a cheapest ticket policy so travellers will pick a route and time that is most cost effective.
- Agree a minimum booking horizon so people have to plan their travel in advance and find the best available fares for their planned journey.
- Use one channel to book all of your rail travel so all journeys are recorded. It will also make it easier to update or refund bookings if applicable.
