Corporate Travel Management App: Best Features

Corporate travel management software nowadays is a must-have for big and small companies. The old-school travel management algorithm of booking on consumer sites and then collecting and tracking down the invoices that can cause a waste of valuable time and resources are replaced by convenient digital solutions.  

Based on our experience, we've compiled nine of the most important features of such a software category that maximize the stress of company travel.

Must-Have Corporate Travel Management App Features

Source: Dribbble

 

A corporate travel management app is a digital platform for an all-around travel experience: planning, purchasing, and recording employee travel expenses. 

Employees can book flights and hotels for themselves. No need to look up and read the corporate policy, as the software already blocks or requires management approval for any bookings out of policy. And there’s no need for reimbursement. Employees don’t pay for the trip because the software submits the company’s payment details to the provider.

Those solutions are intuitive and advanced enough to deal with several issues associated with an incompetent expense managing system. For example, they can simplify and expedite flight and hotel booking procedures. 

Benefits of Travel Management Software for Businesses

• Saves time. This one-stop platform for managing travels allows automated bookings and expense management. Employees don’t waste time searching for optimal rates and comparing prices. The software database of inventory calculates everything automatically.
• Provides complete financial reporting due to digital receipts which won’t get lost in pockets.
• Saves money. Bookings are always accurate, which eliminates the possibility of change fees. What’s more, each employee can have their own profile and earn rewards according to loyalty policies.
• Supports compliance. Built-in corporate policy guards against forbidden bookings and notifies travel managers about such cases.

Must-Have Features

Even though each business has its own requirements when it comes to travel management and there can’t be an on-fits-all solution, there are several corporate travel management app features :

• User profiles
• Collaborative booking
• Extensive inventory
• Compliance with corporate travel policies
• Consolidated invoicing
• Integration with calendars
• Reporting
• Travel review
• Travel support

Features In Detail For Corporate Travel Management App

User profiles

Source: Dribbble

Every employee should fill in their personal data once and never need to enter it again (if nothing changes, of course). This rule concerns any corporate software, no matter if you create a custom online education platform, a travel management app, or HR software. When legal names, passport numbers, frequent-flier numbers, and personal or corporate card information are filled in automatically, it reduces the booking process to minutes.

User profiles also allow loyalty points. Every company treats reward systems differently. Some allow the travel to be credited to the employee’s account, others to the company’s account. In all cases, travel management software saves travel numbers and offers rewards.

Collaborative booking by travel managers and employees

Source: Netguru

Both travel managers and employees should be able to book business trips. In addition, the system should allow the process to be performed collaboratively. This feature provides various opportunities, for example:

• Several employees can agree on transportation and lodging options.
• A travel manager can review incomplete bookings and immediately approve or decline them.
• Employees can select the means of transportation and hotel, and let a travel manager finalize the bookings.

Extensive inventory

Source: Trip Actions

Extensive inventory includes variants of transportation (planes, trains, buses, etc.) and accommodation (hotels, hostels, rental housing). 

One of the coolest features of a corporate travel management app is AI-driven personalized results on inventory items.  In this case, the search results are based on past bookings and travel policy. AI technology finetunes the results with every booking as the system learns from experience.

Automatic compliance with corporate travel policies

Source: Proximity

 

One of the most important features of a corporate travel management application is policy compliance. The software should enable travel managers to customize the in-app policy through certain criteria. The most widely used are:

• Global policies for travel costs, hotel, and rental rates.
• Special policies for specific travelers (for example, executives).
• The minimum number of days for advanced bookings (reserving tickets in advance saves money).

Company policy compliance should also be reflected in searches. For example, an employee opens a page with hotel options and can see which ones are outside of company policy.

Consolidated invoicing

 

Source: Dribbble

A central billing option allows travelers to receive a single consolidated invoice with all the expenses during one trip: flights, hotel rent, taxi rides, business dinners, etc.

At the end of each month, the finance department should be able to view all the expenses for this period.

Integration with employees’ calendars

Source: Nice100Team

Once the booking is complete, an event is created in the traveler calendar which is integrated into the travel management application. The app should connect employees’ calendars so that people can see when a colleague is on a business trip and their date of return.

Corporate travel often involves several people in the same booking. Each calendar should be updated simultaneously if changes occur.

The app should also allow notifications about upcoming trips, as well as delayed or canceled flights.

Reporting

The application should please travel managers with a detailed trip spend report on each business trip. Usually, such reports include the following information

Source: Zoho Reporting

• Description of service (flight, hotel, baggage, seats, etc.)
• Trip ID and purpose
• Travel team (names, contacts)
• Consolidated invoice
• Booking dates, booking window (the number of days between the booking and the departure date)
• Departure dates for flights and check-in dates for hotels
• Arrival dates for flights and check-out dates for hotels.

Travel review

Source: Zoho

Corporate travel managers should be able to review the status of all company trips and coordinate team travels. A good app allows the manager to see successful bookings, out-of-policy requests, as well as in-progress, upcoming, finished, and canceled trips.

Travel support

Source: Rydoo

All corporate travelers need round-the-clock travel support via direct line, chat, or email. Your corporate travel management system should include support at no additional cost to employees.

Our experience

The Agente team knows the intricacies of business travel inside out. We’ve already designed a niche travel marketplace, a trip tracker mobile app, a worldwide traveling portal, and have risen to the challenge of delivering a complete rebranding of this portal.

When it comes to the travel management system we  in Agente know exactly what we are doing and are always happy to deliver the solution that will fully satisfy your business needs. 

Final thoughts

To sum up, a corporate travel management application is an essential tool that helps organizations effectively manage their travel needs. With the help of this software, employees can plan trips, make travel and hotel reservations, and keep track of their spending all on one centralized platform. It saves time and eliminates the need for paperwork by streamlining the entire travel process. Additionally, it allows managers to have better control and visibility over their company's travel expenses, ensuring compliance with corporate policies. Therefore, a corporate travel management application is a wise investment for any company trying to maximize productivity and streamline travel operations.

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