10 secrets to manage your travel expenses

1. Develop a travel policy 

If your team is making booking decisions without a clear framework, your travel budget can quickly drift off course. A solid travel policy covers everything from flights and accommodation to car hire and traveller safety, with no grey areas, no guesswork, and no rogue last-minute decisions. 

Check out our free travel policy template for a good starting point.

2. Ensure travel policy compliance 

A policy is only as good as the people following it. Make sure yours is communicated to your travellers clearly and often, and back it up with a booking tool like Melon that has the rules built in. When compliance happens at the point of booking, you don't need to chase anyone down after the fact.

3. Reporting and tracking 

You can't control what you can't see. A live reporting dashboard that pulls together all your flights, hotels, and car hire spend in one place gives you the visibility to understand your average cost per trip, so you can set your budget accordingly. No more nasty budget surprises!

4. Make payments in one account 

Scattered payments across personal cards and multiple accounts make it nearly impossible to get a clear picture of what you're spending. Consolidating everything into a single credit account gives you total visibility over your travel spend, all from one place. 

5. Visibility of unused credits 

Unused air credits can be easy to forget about, but they're money sitting on the table. Make sure they're being surfaced automatically and applied to future bookings, so nothing goes to waste and your travel budget works as hard as possible. 

6. Line of credit for cash flow 

Expenses and reimbursement cycles put unnecessary pressure on your cash flow. With Corporate Traveller, all travel is paid for through one credit account, ensuring your business trips are covered and travellers have no friction when trying to book and pay.

7. Integrate with finance systems 

The less manual work your finance team has to do, the better. When your travel expense data syncs directly with your accounting platforms, you cut out errors, save hours of admin, and give your team the headspace to focus on what actually matters.

8. Waivers and favours on changes 

Travel plans change. When they do, having the right partnerships in your corner makes a real difference. Through strong relationships with airlines and hotels, Corporate Traveller can help secure waivers and favours for changes or cancellations, giving you access to exclusive rates and better deals without having to negotiate every single time.

9. Easy reconciliation 

Month-end doesn't have to be a scramble. With automated approvals, customised reporting, and a booking-to-reconciliation process that runs smoothly in the background, your finance team can close the books faster and with a lot less stress. 

10. Programme optimisation tools 

Small tweaks to how and when your team travel can make a meaningful difference to the bottom line. Corporate Traveller's dedicated local team, averaging nine or more years of industry experience, is backed by 24/7 support, smart reporting tools, and tailored account management to handle every aspect of business travel. From proactive problem-solving to hotel perks and supplier negotiations, it's a full-service model built to save businesses time and money.