Best Travel Management Software for Businesses in 2023

What is Travel Management Software?

A travel management software is a specialized system to help travel companies and managers book, analyze, and track business travel. Using such software, organizations and their employees can free themselves from travel and expense management problems. Travel management solutions handle end-to-end business travel woes for companies and take care of flight and hotel searches, seat bookings, hotel reservations, etc.

A travel management software manages a company's strategic approach to business travel. It handles day-to-day corporate travel operations, manages negotiations with vendors, ensures traveler security, payments, and data management. Thus, with the use of such software, organizations can manage their travel needs better.

For many organizations, travel and expense costs represent their second-highest expense after salary and benefits. In many cases, travel costs are much higher than infrastructure or IT-related costs. The expenditures on travel & accommodation may also include cab fares, clients' meals, gifts, office supplies, and other charges incurred during meetings or client visits. Moreover, it contains expenditures made for travelers’ safety management, meeting management, transaction management, and management of overall travel data.

Many organizations have a designated Corporate Travel Manager (CTM) as a part of their HR, Administration, or Finance Team that handles all responsibilities regarding employees' travel needs and plans them in consultation with the management team. In the absence of a CTM, organizations often rely on travel management tools to streamline their corporate trips. Companies that do not use software or have a CTM usually delegate their travel management responsibilities to companies that specialize in global travel arrangements

How does a Travel Management tool work?

Travel management tools can differ vastly from each other. However, their primary goal is to make corporate travel more accessible, faster, safer, and cheaper. Such tools allow corporates to liaise with different vendors, schedule trips, and manage accommodation for their staff while ensuring that their organizational travel policies are adhered to. Modern travel management software provide easy access to business travel information for employees and guides them while they are on the go. They offer support in the form of web and mobile apps to ensure that employees can complete their travel objectives in accordance with organizational rules.

Travel management tools offer customizable approval workflows and extensive trip inventory so that business trips can be initiated round the clock without redirections or delays. Such tools help employees report travel expenses remotely and offer consolidated invoicing for all trips planned. Such tools help organizations review and share the status of all trips and help in easy bookings and cancellations of transport and accommodation facilities.

Features of Travel Management Systems

Travel management systems (TMS) offer the following set of features to make business journeys smooth and efficient:

1. Custom travel policies: There are several organizational, local, or international policies that often need to be adhered to. Even if travel managers book on behalf of travelers, there is a need for keeping administrators on the same page with the in-app policies. Such policies must be customizable to allow the following for travelers:

• Special policies for travelers from different departments or designations
• Global policies for nightly accommodation in different cities
• Global policies for maximum international and domestic flight costs
• Maximum flight/train charges for specific routes
• Minimum number of days needed for advanced bookings

Travel management systems should enable you to pre-set your travel policies so that they are live and working anytime you need them.

2. Custom approval workflows: A good TMS should also include approval workflows inside the platform. If anything falls out of company policies, employees can request approval for the updated itinerary and trip details. The approval workflows should be such that travel can be flexible yet compliant. The software should allow different approvers for different teams and departments with varying levels of strictness.

3. Extensive Travel Inventory: Most travel management tools offer different accommodation and trip plans for the same journey depending on the business need and individuals involved. This helps organizations make big savings and often helps staff to pick the ideal accommodation needed for them.

4. Free Support: When people are traveling for business outside their own city or country, it is normal for them to ask for support. Previously travel support had a hefty fee associated with it, which would add to the total cost for travel. However, modern systems provide free support and assistance to travelers round the clock to ensure better convenience and safety at no additional costs.

5. No vendor redirects: Many individuals on business trips have had to face a scenario in which they have been redirected to other vendors at the last minute, leading to added costs and inconvenience. In an unfamiliar territory, avoiding such redirects can be pretty expensive and even risky. Thus, it is important that your travel management tool does not redirect your vendors without advanced notice.

6. Travel Expense Reporting: One of the most pivotal features of travel management tools is the ability to report on business trip expenses. The software must be able to track the following:

• Travel expenses by depart/teams
• Travel expenses by time
• Travel expenses booked out of policy
• Travel expenses for hiring
• Travel expenses by event, clients, or projects

The solution should also enable you to generate and share reports and label or tag trips under multiple categories.

7. Consolidated Invoicing & trip status: For administrators overseeing trip expenses, it is highly essential to have all monthly travel invoices consolidated in one place for faster invoicing. The software must also have a database that allows managers/approvers to view the status of past, present and future trips, and the people associated with each. The travel management platform should also allow you to see:

• Staff who have booked trips within company policy
• Staff requesting out-of-policy booking & their reasons
• Staff with a trip in progress
• Staff who haven't booked their trips in time

The software must allow you to support staff remotely and provide them notifications regarding confirmations, itinerary information, cancellation notices, etc.

8. Easy & instant bookings: Another important aspect to keep in mind while choosing travel management software is the facility for quick and easy bookings. The solution must also allow you to add a few customizations to make the lodging experience better for employees. Also, the interface must be simple enough so that employees, if needed, can book accommodation for themselves directly through the application without waiting for approvals.

9. Personalized Transportation: A good travel management software also helps organizations customize transportation according to their needs. Whether it is group booking or of individuals or changing the mode of transport, the application must assist teams in traveling, keeping in mind their convenience and safety.

10. Mobile application: Nowadays, it is almost necessary for travel management tools to have mobile applications that are easy to use while on the go. This helps employees connect to their organization from anywhere and procure instant approvals. Thus it is wise to choose a provider with a mobile application so that teams can be assisted from far away.

11. Saving In-progress Information: Since there is a lot of research that companies have to do while booking, the software used must allow saving of in-progress bookings in the database. Organizations must be able to see the list of pending and in-progress bookings, notify the staff concerned and be able to take them forward anytime they please using the software. This can save huge amounts of time for any company and smoothen its travel operations.

12. Instant Policy Checks: Another desirable feature in travel management tools is the ability to instantly check if a particular booking is in compliance with the existing company policies. While providing search results, the software must highlight options that exceed the given budget or don’t comply with organizational rules. This will ensure that there are no additional payments or chances of policy violations.

Benefits of Travel Management System

There are several benefits of using a travel management tool, which is enumerated below:

1. Streamlined Process: Travel management tools integrate people, policies, and processes to offer a seamless experience in business journeys. It allows users to compare accommodations faster, boost savings, and improve travel autonomy.
2. Reduced Expenses: By allowing users to compare, liaise and book through several vendors, travel management solutions help companies stay within their stipulated budgets, get discounts and save costs. Such solutions offer real-time tariffs, comparisons, and reviews to help organizations save big on both local and international travel.
3. Saving Time: As discussed above, travel management software saves a great deal of time for companies by bringing all information under a single interface, easy scheduling, and saving of in-progress travel information.

Who can Buy Travel Management Software

Any organization that deals with many business trips and planning should invest in good travel management software. Usually, business conglomerates and MNCs that handle much global corporate travel utilize software to automate and streamline their business trip planning. However, any company where field marketing or client visits are involved can benefit from using such software.

Travel management solutions are available for businesses of all sizes and types. They help manage a gamut of aspects related to business trips and their expenses and help digitize transactions. Every company, from startups to large enterprises, can make their business trips safe, easy, and effective.