Navigating the New Norm: A Deep Dive into Corporate Travel Trends
In the wake of unprecedented global shifts and the reconfiguration of traditional workplace dynamics, the landscape of corporate travel has undergone a significant transformation. As businesses adapt to evolving norms and navigate the challenges of a post-pandemic world, a new trend has emerged: a surge of inner-company travel.
Today, organizations are rediscovering the value of internal collaboration, team building, and face-to-face interactions among employees. From team-building retreats to strategic planning sessions, intra-company travel has become a cornerstone of modern business operations, facilitating innovation, fostering creativity, and strengthening organizational culture.
In this article, we delve into the nuances of this burgeoning trend, examining the factors driving its rise, the distinctive characteristics that set it apart from pre-pandemic corporate travel, and the strategic implications for businesses navigating the new terrain of corporate travel in a rapidly changing world.
Pre-Pandemic Corporate Travel
Pre-pandemic, corporate travel often focused on client meetings, conferences, trade shows, and other external-facing activities aimed at business development, networking, and client acquisition. Inner-company travel, while still present, may not have been as prominent or prioritized. In contrast, the current emphasis on inner-company travel reflects a shift towards fostering internal collaboration, team building, and employee development.
Corporate travel volumes were generally higher, with companies frequently sending employees on trips for meetings, conferences, and other external engagements. The pandemic prompted a significant reduction in overall travel volume, with many companies implementing travel restrictions and adopting remote work policies. While overall travel volumes may still be below pre-pandemic levels, the increased emphasis on intra-company travel suggests a more deliberate and strategic approach to travel planning.
Companies typically allocated significant budgets for corporate travel expenses, including airfare, accommodations, transportation, meals, and entertainment. The decrease in overall travel volume during the pandemic resulted in cost savings for many organizations. While intra-company travel may still require expenses for accommodations, venue rentals, and other logistical considerations, the overall budget allocation may be more focused and strategic, with a greater emphasis on maximizing the impact of internal activities.
Increased Intra-Company Travel
Many companies have adopted hybrid work models, combining remote work with in-office work. As a result, there is a greater need for in-person interactions to foster team cohesion, collaboration, and communication among employees who may be working from different locations. Intra-company travel can play a crucial role in boosting employee morale, engagement, and well-being. Companies recognize the importance of investing in activities such as team-building retreats, offsite meetings, and training sessions to strengthen relationships and enhance the overall employee experience.
Building and maintaining a strong organizational culture is a priority for many companies, especially in distributed or remote work environments. Intra-company travel provides opportunities for employees to connect, bond, and align with the company's values, vision, and goals. In-person meetings, workshops, and strategy sessions are often more effective for strategic planning, decision-making, and problem-solving than virtual interactions. Intra-company travel may be driven by the need to bring together key stakeholders, decision-makers, and teams to collaborate on critical initiatives and projects.
Companies may also invest in inner-company travel to facilitate training and development initiatives, such as workshops, seminars, and certification programs. In-person learning experiences can be more immersive, interactive, and impactful, particularly for topics that require hands-on practice or group discussions.
While concrete statistics may vary depending on industry, company size, and geographic location, these factors illustrate why intra-company travel has become increasingly prevalent in the current business landscape. So how does this stack up with current sentiments of business travelers and more importantly, company’s budgets and current economic issues such as inflation?
Travel Smarter in 2024
According to an SAP Concur survey of 100 U.S. finance managers, a vast majority (88 percent) said that their company experienced a revenue loss as a direct result of employees’ inability to travel at pre-pandemic levels. To make matters a bit more complicated, inflation has led to a rise in the cost of business travel, with the average domestic flight ticket in Concur Travel during the 2022 holiday season costing $509, marking increases of 21% from 2021, 41% from 2020, and 7% from 2019. Given projections of economic downturn in 2023, travel managers should anticipate business trip expenses to maintain a similar trajectory to 2022. At the same time, according to a BTN survey, nearly two in five business travelers (39%) view business travel as integral to career advancement, with 23% of those not traveling at their preferred frequency expressing intent to seek new positions if their travel opportunities don’t increase.
So how do we reconcile these two seemingly dissonant issues? The simplest answer is to properly budget for employee travel. Because at the end of the day, it is a valuable investment into your own workforce and the benefits of travel cannot be denied.
Travel Policy Optimization
Develop and enforce a comprehensive travel policy that outlines guidelines for booking accommodations, transportation, meals, and other expenses. Set clear expectations regarding acceptable expenses and preferred vendors to streamline booking processes and control costs.
Leverage Technology
Utilize travel management platforms and expense management software to automate booking, expense tracking, and reporting processes. These tools can help identify cost-saving opportunities, monitor compliance with travel policies, and negotiate better rates with suppliers.
Investigate Hotel Programs
Those in the industry know all-too-well that hotel sourcing, hotel data and even hotel commission collecting can be messy, to say the least. Invest in technology that can help sharpen your sourcing techniques, give you clean and accurate data to report on, and even guarantee that you’ll be getting the commissions you are owed. If you have experienced issues around hotel sourcing such as sourcing manually, hotels responding to RFP’s, hotels not agreeing to requested rates, rate loading, or hotel contracts changing, then solutions by companies such as BTP Automation may help. BTP Automation is committed to transforming the hotel sourcing industry through adaptive and intelligent technology.
Travel Expense Audits
Conduct regular audits of travel expenses to identify potential areas of overspending or non-compliance with company policies. Analyze expense reports to spot trends, address discrepancies, and enforce cost-saving measures.
Monitor and Adapt
Continuously monitor travel expenses, review spending patterns, and adjust strategies as needed to optimize cost savings. Stay informed about industry trends, economic conditions, and regulatory changes that may impact travel costs.
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