Corporate Travel Management
Corporate Travel ManagementLEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter studying
this chapter, you should be able to:Explain the value of corporate
Travel managementDifferentiate the types of corporate
travelers;Describe MICE, marine travel and land-based overseas
workers characteristics;Describe the phases involved in corporate
travel management;Differentiate rate-minus from cost-plus;Describe
the corporate usage of intranets and extranets; andPrepare and
evaluate a proposal or bid for a corporate travel account
management
Value of corporate travel or business travelBusiness travel is
characterized by sponsored travel for financial gain.Business
travel management is a specialized business function that strikes a
balance between the employees travel needs with the corporate
goals, financial or otherwise.
The value of a corporate travel management is summarized into
three:Financial ControlsPolicy adherenceSafety and efficiency
Financial ControlAs a general rule, the appointed travel
management company or the in-house travel department works with
each department to determine its travel needs and develop its
travel budget, based on current spending and planned
development.
Policy AdherenceWhile gathering and assessing travel data and
negotiating travel arrangement with providers is important, it is
merely the first step to realizing actual financial benefits.
Corporate travel management also involves developing corporate
travel policies that optimize the companys travel expences.
Safety and EfficiencyThe financial benefits of a well-managed
corporate travel program are clear and well-defined. However, there
are other strategic, intangible and non-monetary, less visible
benefits.Corporate travel professionals are responsible for
providing a valuable service to their clients, the corporate
traveler.
Types of corporate travelersBusinesspersonsCorporate
executivesCorporate supervisors/rank-and-fileMarinersLand-based
overseas workersGovernment officials and employees
BusinesspersonsAre those who own or are owners-managers of their
respective business enterprises, who travel for various reasons,
mainly to solicit additional contracts, to negotiate for and source
raw materials, and to participate in events of interest to the
enterprises.
Corporate executivesAre those travelers of executive rank,
directors, assistant and executive vice president, president,
chairs and the like, traveling to represent the company in events
overseas, or attend corporate affairs in a multinational
setting.
Corporate supervisors/rank-and-fileLike their senior corporate
officials, the lower ranks may also travel to present the
corporation in meeting overseas or attend training programs in the
corporate headquarters.
marinersOr seafarers travel needs are either scheduled in
advance or are as the needs arises, normally under time- sensitive
schedules.
Land-based overseas workersNormally travel one way, once a year,
and seldom purchase round tickets.
Government officials and employees
just like corporate executives, supervisors and rank-and-files,
the philippine government conducts missions to foreign countries
for variouspurposes-comercial, diplomatic, military and the
like.
Marine Travel BusinessCharacteristics of marine travel
businessTrip schedules are strictly followedClass of travels is of
no consequence, for as long as the trip schedule is strictly
followedGateway airports at the destination country may not
necessarily be the final destination of the marinerStandard
documentation of an ordinary traveler may be waived for mariners
when other documentation is availableTransactions involving
mariners are paid in cash
Land-Based overseas workersCharactiristics of land-based
overseas workers travel businessOne way, once a year travel-returns
fares are normally purchased in the destination country.Budget
conscious, the cheaper the betterLittle concern for class of
travels and schedulesExcessive check-in luggage, specially on the
return trip
MEETINGS,INCENTIVES CONVENTIONS AND EXHIBITIONSMEETING-is
defined as the coming together of a group of people with similar
interests to accomplish some predetermined goals or
purposes.Seminar is defined as the coming together of a group of
people with similar interests for the propose of giving are
discussing information.Workshop- is a brief, intensive educational
program for relatively small group of people is a given field that
emphasizes participation in problem solving efforts.
incentivesAre not meetings but many convention organizers are
also responsible for developing and operating programs.
The word incentive denotes something that incites or has a
tendency to incite to determination or action.
The most common objectives of the incentive programsTo increase
salesTo increase productionsTo improve quality controls or solve
problems within the organization.
ConventionIs an assembly of people meeting for common business
purpose and a social interchange between attendees.Conference-is a
formal interchanges of views, a meeting to discussing matters of
common concerns.
ExhibitionsAre also known as trade events and consists of a
series of exhibits booths in which people show their wares, hoping
to influence attendees towards ordering purchasing.
Other Classification and definitionsClinic- is a group meeting
devoted to the analysis and solutions of concrete problems.Retreat-
is a period of withdrawal for prayer, meditation, or study of
instruction under a director.Conclave- is any private meeting or
secret assembly such as that held to elect a new pope.Assembly- is
a company of persons gathered for deliberation and legislation,
worship or entertainment- such a lenitive body.Class- is a body of
students meeting regularly to study the same subject.Press
conference- is a very special kind of meeting where members of
media are invited to a gathering to be given information on some
new event ore development.Forum and symposium- are two similar
types of meeting, although the symposium is perhaps the more formal
if the two.Lecture- may be a part of a program of another meeting,
or it may be a session by itself.Panel- is a meeting where a panel
of experts with diverse views on the same subject present ideas in
turn, under the direction of a moderator.
The bidding processThe bidding process involves a proposal for
the management of the corporate travel requirements from the travel
management company to the corporation or an event management
proposal from the event planner to event organizer, when these do
not have an in-house department to plan manage the travel
arrangement of the event.
Preparing a corporate bidA corporate bid normally includes the
following:Scopes of servicesService and support staff and
equipmentProfessional feesTerms and conditions
Managing business travelCorporate travel management, that is,
the management of business travel involves a renewing cycle that
starts immediately upon the appointment of a travel management
company to service the corporate travel needs of a multinational,
transnational, or domestic corporation.
In broad strokes, following are steps to follow:Evaluation and
assessment of the travel requirementReason for official
travelFrequency of travelPrimary destinations
Identifying, negotiating and contracting vendorsBase on the
information gathered, possible vendors or suppliers of travel
services are identified and short listed according to their scope
and capability to provide the foreseen travel services required by
the corporation.Negotiation must include:Proffered carrierPreferred
hotelVendors terms and conditions
Policies and proceduresAre a set of rules regulation within the
framework of the corporate travel program.
Some travel policy highlights
are:ReservationAirfaresRoutingLayoversCorporate credit cards
Implementing travel policies and proceduresImplementing the
travel policies and procedure involves the day to day application
of companies travel policies and procedures.Travel authorization-
authorization for an employees company travel is normally done by
the immediate supervisor, who is inform upon approval of travel by
the department head, via a travel order stating the destination,
rationale and objective for the trip.
Approval power- approval power differ from authorization travel
in that the former relates the financial aspect as the trip, while
the former limits itself to the propose and duration of travel.Rank
entitlement- some corporate ranks, like managers, directors and
ranks above are authorized a class of service standards above the
normal or average.Implementing a transition plan- upon
commissioning, the travel management company must consider the
manner to thoroughness and credibility of the transition plan
implementation.
Management corpotae travel operations. Another critical aspect
of corporate travel management is the managing and monitoring
corporate travel operations.Managing travel operation- managing
travel operation start with itinerary planning and ends with the
post trip report.Quality assurance initiatives- simply stated,
quality assurance is the delivery of service booked in accordance
with reset standards.Electronic management of travel and
entertainment expenses- this simply describe as follows: employees
make reservations and order tickets online.
Reporting and analyzing performanceParallel to all the previous
stage of corporate travel management, this stage involves
generating all the necessary reports that anable analysis of
performance vis--vis the corporate travel objectives goals.This
stage consist of:Generating and analyzing reports.Reporting
violations.Monitoring compliance
Generating and analyzing reportsNowadays there are a number of
module and programs that electronically captures
travel-transactions data.These reports may be classified into
three:Operational ReportsPCbased MIS reportsFinancial Reports
Reporting violationsAny corporate traveler who elects to take
exception to the policy-defined rate ranges, or who violates any
other travel policy requirement will be included in a report to
senior management.
Monitoring ComplianceJust like reporting and analyzing data,
another parallel activity to all the previous stages of corporate
travel management involves monitoring compliance with the
corporations travel policies and procedures.
Intranets and Extranets in the world of corporate
TravelIntranet-connects a companys computers to each internally,
making information stored on each available to authorized users
within the company.Extranets- areas of an intranet that can be
access by outsiders such as vendors and clients.
Cost plus conceptIn the cost plus concept all travel expenses
are treated as costs by the TMC. These may be direct cost, actual
cost of the vendors products and services, or indirect costs, any
order cost not related to the vendors products and services.
Why cost plus?The cost-plus procedures enables the vendor to
analyze the total spend of the organization and determine ways to
cut, control or maximize it.Other benefits are:Manages the travel
spend through the development of a travel management program,
geared to the specifics of the vendee.All cost are open and
transparent, eliminating doubt and afterthoughts, resulting in
peace of mind.The organizations overall production is classified
and tagged providing leverage on whatever volume there is,
self-generated or in tandem with the TMC,
Thank you so much