The old idea of a business trip is quite indulgent. You might think of having a limit-free credit card, many spa treatments lined up, premium suits or business gear, heading around the world with a frequent flyer card and everything made easy. That can happen, of course. More power to you if that’s the case.
However, for most employees, a business trip is really rather rudimentary. Sure, there are some perks, like subsidised food or other reimbursed costs. Getting away from the office can certainly be nice. But most businesses will want to get value for money, and plan out a helpful route and plan that keeps you going at the lowest cost they can. They might have a preferred hotel chain they use with the rewards scheme building points for future savings, for example, or you might not fly business class unless you’re quite a significant firm and a higher up in the company.
As someone now in charge of planning business trips, you may wonder how to balance a good experience (so your presentative can do their best), while curating a healthy budget plan. Let’s consider some principles to use:
Consider Bulk Savings
Businesses can look at long term deals with hotels or airlines if their employees travel to the same places often, as booking flights and accommodation far in advance generally gains better pricing, which is just good management. Sometimes, you may also have the chance for a flexible corporate payment system, like using a Stablecoin corporate card, which can make managing various currencies and payments for bulk bookings easier to plan out.
It might not always be possible to prebook everything though, especially when last-minute client meetings are immediately necessary to close a deal. That said, putting a system in place that prioritizes more bulk savings as the default can save a healthy chunk of change over the year.
Be Clear About Business & Personal Spend
It’s easy to cause confusion and frustration by having blurry rules about what employees can spend on. It needs to be super clear when a meal or taxi is considered a business expense and when it’s something the person is paying for themselves – you don’t want that argument after an employee feels they were misled. A simple policy, discussed before someone is truly in the swing of things, can help prevent that.
This way, the employee doesn’t have to second-guess themselves whenever they take out their card. As ever, a purposeful business card can make this clearer, keeping personal and work finances totally separate from the moment of purchase.
Curate Clear Reimbursement Measures
If you’ve ever managed a business trip and then began waiting forever to get your money back after covering a business cost on your personal card, you know how frustrating that is. A drawn-out reimbursement process can easily cause cash flow problems for the employee, which isn’t a good look for the company. Perhaps that person will refuse to go next time. That’s why investing in a faster system for submitting and approving receipts is worthwhile, even if you use management apps for them to scan the receipts at the end of the day and securely send that to your financial department.
With this advice, you’ll be much more able to arrange your business trip budget plan and curate a better response for everyone there.
