Time and money is precious. There’s easier ways to book business travel

How a small business should book travel

Tech and support is out there to make it easier for everyone. Enlisting the services of a business travel agent, or we call ourselves a travel management company (TMC), does it all. The difference booking with a TMC vs Expedia? Your team know exactly where to book travel and they spend less time hunting the internet for deals. And if the trip is getting complicated or they need a bit of extra help, they can just pick up the phone or email a travel expert. It’s old school but gets the task ticked off the list.

Our tech platform is called Melon. You get a tonne of other features as well.

• Personal profiles with individual preferences (you’ll never sit in the middle seat again).
• Track how much you’re spending on travel and where.
• Travel alerts and travel security dashboard.
• AI-driven customisation to any rules and preferences you have at a company level.
• Flexible payment options.

What happens after booking

It’s all well and good having your itinerary in an email but it can be a pain to search. Download your TMC’s mobile app instead – that way you can get to your trip details easily and make use of a bunch of other features. Make changes on-the-go, book car rental or taxi (including Uber and Lyft), get city info ahead of your trip, keep a copy of receipts for expenses and receive real-time travel alerts. Read more about the Melon app.

Our people are still available as well. Any time, any day. Sometimes when you’re stressed it helps to have that friendly calming voice on the other end of the line.

Other tips

1. Have a travel policy

You might have some loose rules already. Maybe no one is allowed to book first class flights. Or you might stipulate that hotels shouldn’t cost more than £80 a night. Those rules are the start of a travel policy. It might be position 17, 895 on your priority list but it will honestly save you so much time, money and general hassle. 

2. Be organised. Then be even more organised

If you use a service and tech like ours then you don’t need to consider this. But if you’re going it alone, organisation is your friend. Have everyone’s passport details securely stored in the same place. Coordinate flights and hotel bookings that maximise time and won’t make your team knackered before they’ve even got started.  

3. Have crystal clear objectives

Ooo a business trip, abroad! Your team will be buzzing when they know there’s an opportunity to travel. But they’re hopping on that flight for a reason. Are they focused on the objective and what you’re expecting from this trip? If they know from the outset, then everyone is happier in the long run and you can start to see actual ROI.

4. Do you really need that upgrade?

Sometimes the answer is yes. Certain trips and people require another level of comfort. But other times a budget airline like easyJet will do the job, especially for those quick European trips.

5. Make expenses easier

There’s nothing worse then coming back from a business trip and spending half a day going through receipts. It doesn’t need to be that way. Receipts can be stored in the Melon app and processed way quicker once you’re home, so that you and the team can focus on the debrief and follow up instead.