Business Travel Tips

Despite softness in the economy and rising costs for both domestic and international trips, companies say that travel is a crucial element for their business.
According to the American Express Business Travel’s second annual Strategic Sourcery procurement practices survey, released today, 83 percent of companies expect their travelers to take the same or increase the number of trips this year as compared to last year.

- Companies continuously searching for ways for cost savings

62 percent of companies are looking to procurement activities to produce savings of five to 15 percent this year with another 19 percent expecting even greater savings. Over the past year, 67 percent of the companies surveyed credited procurement activities with creating savings for their travel budgets.

According to the survey data, meetings management continues to be a focus for savings opportunities. Nearly half of the surveyed companies reported the use of procurement practices in meeting planning with a four percentage point increase over last year’s results.

Frank Schnur, Vice President of Consulting for American Express Business Travel’s Advisory Services, says: “Along with the traditional areas of travel spend – air, hotel and car – companies are also scrutinizing their meetings programs for potential new areas for cost savings. Applying many of the same practices and strategies, companies are achieving meeting savings through strategic sourcing and other procurement best practices,”. (source)