6 Benefits of a Travel Management Company

Managing corporate travel internally can leave companies vulnerable to disruptions and lost value. Flights get rerouted, schedules change, and unused tickets or vendor credits can slip through the cracks. This is where a travel management company really makes a difference.

TMCs monitor travel in real time, proactively contacting travelers about a canceled flight or missed connection. As Stephen notes, “If a flight is canceled, airlines will only rebook you on their aircraft, whereas we are looking at the full range of options while preserving value in the form of an unused ticket.”

This oversight also helps companies protect their budgets.

“Unused ticket tracking is a big area for value preservation. Without that exposure, thousands of dollars that could be used for travel go unused,” Stephen says.

Expense reports alone rarely give a full picture of corporate travel spend or trends. A travel management company can provide detailed, actionable reporting that helps businesses make smarter decisions.

“TMCs have access to much more detailed reporting than your average expense summary, and the best TMCs will help you analyze it to see where you could be maximizing cost avoidance,” Stephen shares. “With a TMC, you have market data that can be extremely helpful in setting budgets for the coming year.”

Travel management companies leverage their industry relationships to deliver savings, perks, and added value.

“Maybe data analysis reveals you are sending a large number of travelers to Cleveland every year, but are spreading out their stays over a dozen different hotels. By concentrating their stays at select hotels moving forward, you might qualify for preferred rates or other perks,” Stephen explains.

“Even if you wouldn’t qualify on your own, being partnered with a TMC allows you to take advantage of their relationships with vendors, netting you perks you might not otherwise have access to, like free breakfast or wi-fi.”

Maintaining compliance with corporate travel policy can be challenging, particularly for employees who only travel occasionally. A travel management company ensures policies are applied consistently and helps refine them based on industry best practices.

“The TMC booking environment is shaped by the organization’s policy, so by simply booking through that marketplace, they’re applying the policy,” Stephen says. “As for evolving the policy itself, we discuss that regularly with customers and are a resource to them for policy updates. That could include sharing industry sources, redacted policies from other customers, and industry knowledge.”

Corporate travel doesn’t always follow business hours. Flight cancellations, missed connections, and personal emergencies can occur at any time.

“We recently had a corporate client traveler lose their son, who was on a personal trip overseas. They needed to travel to Asia immediately, and we helped them. We got a nice note back thanking us and the agent for being empathetic and comforting someone who was going through a difficult time,” Stephen shares.

TMCs act as a constant resource, handling emergencies and shielding internal teams from being on-call around the clock

“In situations like these, a TMC is there to act as the go-between, insulating you from having to be on-call round the clock, while reassuring your travelers that their needs will be taken care of, no matter the time.”

Employee safety is a critical part of corporate travel management. Your organization has a responsibility to keep travelers safe to the best of its ability, and a travel management company can help ensure you meet that duty.

To support this, The Travel Team integrates a duty of care platform into the TTTMobile app, giving organizations visibility into travelers’ itineraries before and during their trips, along with detailed destination insights for more effective travel management.

“By partnering with a travel management company, you’re enlisting the services of professionals with the time and resources to know exactly where your travelers are at any given time, where they are going, and handle any situations that arise,” Stephen explains.

By combining centralized bookings, real-time tracking, and TTTMobile, The Travel Team helps organizations meet duty of care expectations efficiently and cost-effectively, while giving travelers peace of mind.