The current financial crisis has businesses scrambling to contain costs as the Government negotiates a $700 billion bailout plan. Montrose Travel's mantra is to help YOU contain your travel costs. It's possible to reduce your travel spend upwards of 20% without reducing your actual number of trips through the use of good policies, effective enforcement and a strong Travel Management Program.

 

Without businesses having a structured travel management program, they stand to lose a large percentage of their travel budget to misuse and waste. Accomplishing a strong and comprehensive travel program means combining your culture, creating structure and providing proper business travel services while sustaining efforts to cut costs and increase productivity. To effectively measure the performance of your corporate travel program, using tools such as scorecards or defining your KPIs (key performance indicators) is essential.

 

The first step to managing your travel program is establishing a written travel policy and enforcing the use of one central agency for all travel. One of the top key saving areas is advance ticket purchase- make sure to plan ahead of time to receive the best deals, and only book restricted airfares when it is most beneficial. Another top component to a cost-effective travel policy is utilizing all of the company's preferred suppliers- these suppliers offer valuable discounts to your company. Always make sure to have clear guidelines as to when a traveler can book business and first class, abuse of these privileges can lead to unwarranted expense.

 

To learn more about creating a Written Travel Policy and hear about some of our success stories, call Montrose Travel today to see how we can help you achieve your 2008 and 2009 travel objectives.