Professional travel expense controlling strengthens your position when negotiating with travel companies. Savings of up to 30% are possible.

Every hour in Germany alone, some 17,000 company employees begin a business trip. Every year, German companies spend up to 50 million euros for these circa 150 million trips. The figures in nearly every other country in Europe and America are similarly impressive. But must costs really be this high? The significance and necessity of business travel is not being called into question. But in terms of the monies spent, there may be substantial savings potential: from 10 to 30% depending on the trip.

“A company that wants to save money cannot get around efficient, differentiated controlling,” emphasizes Andreas Wilbers, expert for cost reduction programs.  But that’s easier said than done. As a rule, costs come in “in dribs and drabs” from a variety of sources before they really can be grasped as a regular cost-flow. The bills from travel agencies, public transportation, car rental agencies, taxis, airlines, restaurants and hotels, or even small items like hospitality gifts end up as a chaotic mass of data that is hard to get a handle on. And whoever really wants to suitably control travel expenses must maintain an overview. This is the only way that economical prices can be negotiated with service providers.

For example: say a travel manager evaluates his or her company’s arrival and overnight accommodation statistics and determines that many colleagues are frequently on business in a particular trade fair city. This manager can certainly negotiate more economical hotel prices. As a rule, company rates can be agreed on as of 40 overnight stays. Generally, the “mathematics of mass” applies: the higher the volume, the lower the price. Consistent controlling such as this can save some 15% in the area of hotel costs alone, according to statistics from Feisel Consulting. Savings of between 5 and 10% are possible for train and rental car travel; up to 30% reductions in air fare can be reached as well.

But how can travel managers get the right data on the individual costs of a business trip (and ordered so as to be interpretable)? Above all, it is easiest when employees pay for their expenses using a company credit card. A good source of data can also be trips booked via a lodged account – an account set up with a travel agency. Lodged accounts are virtual accounts that can be used to pay for air and train tickets of all employees. In addition, transaction data can be supplemented with additional information such as cost centers or personnel numbers and then integrated into downstream systems such as SAP. Service providers such as AirPlus, for example, also handle booking processes, ensuring additional transparence in the data jungle. Travel managers thus obtain a solid foundation for detailed analyses and sustainable savings opportunities.