More companies are relying on business travel agents to reduce corporate travel costs. Instead of employees self-booking their business trips, hiring experienced corporate travel agents to organise trips guarantees staying within the allocated budget. To ensure business travel savings, travel agents are using advanced travel management software.  

 

Investing in travel management software increases travel agent’s efficiency and saves time. Most importantly, it substantially helps with cutting operational costs and maximising business travel savings. 

 

4 Ways Travel Management Software Helps Cut Costs

As a corporate travel agent, your goal is maximising business travel savings for your clients while making a profit for yourself. The simplest way to accomplish your goal is to rationalise your operational costs. Travel management software such as TripMatrix, will help to optimise your monthly and yearly costs.  

 

Read on to learn more on how integrated CRM, customizable website template, commission-based plan and automated payment processing can help in cutting your costs.

 

1. Integrated CRM

Manually managing multiple clients is a daunting task. To keep track of all the clients, business travel agents opt for CRM software. Monthly CRM software price plans can range from $15 for a basic plan to over $1,000 for a monthly pro subscription. They’re usually more suitable for corporations with larger sales teams rather than individuals or smaller businesses. 

 

Moreover, the most popular CRM such as HubSpot and Salesforce are less intuitive and require extensive training. To top it off, they aren’t tailored for travel agent’s needs. Majority of CRM solutions are generic with options for customization. 

 

Unfortunately, customising CRM software entails hiring an expert and substantial costs. Plus, there’s a possibility that with all the resources invested in training, customization and subscription, chosen CRM software may still be too complicated and counterintuitive to use on a daily basis.

 

*Monthly Costs of the Most Popular CRM Software:

• HubSpot: $15 to $1,750 monthly (for individuals and small teams)
• Salesforce: $180 to $550 monthly 
• Monday.com: $40 to $90 monthly
• Zendesk: $55 to $115 monthly

 

*Prices are taken from official CRM websites in July 2024

 

In contrast, TripMatrix travel management software with integrated CRM is intuitive and doesn’t require additional training. Since it’s already a part of the travel management system, it’s tailored for travel agents. There aren’t any additional or hidden costs for using integrated CRM. Moreover, travel expense management is simpler with a products and services inventory prices overview. 

 

TripMatrix Customer Data Management:

• Easily create a new contact or update existing data
• View trip history and track customer preferences
• Use smart search to navigate through contacts
• Adjust the column view to filter through the data
• Add personalised comments for each client
• Track the status of all the trips and payments 

TripMatrix CRM – Contacts Module

 

2. Customizable Website Template

Creating a functional and professional-looking website requires resources many small businesses don’t have. If you want to present your offering or attract new clients, having a website is a necessity. With the growing number of DIY website builders, business owners are choosing to build their websites. 

 

However, these websites are usually not working or looking unfinished. Even if you attract potential customers through social media or in person, chances are they’ll look up your travel agency online. While not having a website might indicate lack of credibility, having a bad website will discourage potential clients from using your services. 

 

Website Cost Calculations

According to a Forbes Advisor article, building a website can cost over $6,000. 

 

Here is the breakdown of the estimated website costs:

• Domain name: $0 to $20 per year
• Web hosting: $30 to $500 per year
• Theme or template: $0 to $100 (one-time fee)
• Professional web design: $100 to $5,000-plus
• DIY website builder: $100 to $400 per year
• SSL certificate: $0 to $249 per year

 

TripMatrix travel management software includes a customizable website template.  Without the need for hiring web developers, you can professionally display your travel packages. Web booking engine allows your customers to browse and purchase all the trips by destination, interest or group types. 

 

Intuitive content management system makes adding and updating information effortless. Additionally, you can personalise your website with brand colours, logo, story behind your business and contact details. 

 

 

3. No Subscription Fee

If you’re starting as a corporate travel agent or work seasonally, paying a subscription fee presents a significant cost. Even with a subscription fee, travel management solutions usually have limited features for standard pricing plans. Except for subscriptions, some price plans include a limited number of users and additional commission fees. 

 

With all these expenses, it’s difficult to reduce corporate travel costs for your clients and make a profit for yourself.  To ensure travel agents can make a profit while catering to their corporate client’s needs, TripMatrix is fully commission-based with unlimited features and a number of users. 

 

*Subscription Costs of Travel Management Software: 

• TravelPerk: Ranging from free plan with first 5 bookings each month without commission, then 5% per booking to pro plan for $299 monthly and 3% commission per booking

 

• Ezus: Ranging from $80 monthly per user to $100 monthly per user

 

• TripMatrix: no subscription fee, only 2.5% commission per transaction with all the software features and unlimited users

 

*Prices are taken from official travel management software websites in July 2024

 

4. Automated Payment Processing 

Automated payment processing allows you to track payments from multiple clients at once within travel management software. Customers don’t need to manually type in their account number and other details into their online banking system. 

 

It’s a more straightforward, accurate and customer-friendly approach to payments. Plus, you’re cutting out transactional costs. If you’re working with global clients, an automated payment system is a convenient and secure solution for transactions in different currencies. 

 

TripMatrix has Stripe integration, ensuring a streamlined payment process. Within TripMatrix travel management software, there’s also a dedicated policy tab. You can adjust your costs policy with margin and manipulative costs, choose and optimise payment and cancellation policies. 

 

TripMatrix Payment Processing

 

Tips for Maximising Business Travel Savings 

After cutting your operational costs using travel management software, learn how to reduce corporate travel costs for your clients. 

 

We’ve shared 7 tips for better travel expense management:

 

1. More Affordable Transportation Options 

To maximise business travel savings, more companies are enforcing travel policies around using different means of transport. American pharmaceutical company Parexel counts 750 employees in Germany. With the introduction of the mentioned business travel policy, 96% of their domestic business trips in Germany happen by train. 

 

Research and present different transport options when organising business trips for your clients. Choosing trains or buses for domestic travel is usually much cheaper than flying. 

 

2. Perfect Timing for Cheaper Deals 

According to Deloitte, companies report higher flight and room rates are the main cause for growing corporate travel costs. However, there are certain time windows for booking a cheaper hotel room or a flight. Based on the 2022 NerdWallet study, there’s a 13% savings for those who booked 15 days before the trip compared to rooms booked four months prior to the trip. Savings are even higher for luxury hotels. 

 

When it comes to flight rates, avoid booking tickets five months ahead. The perfect timing for purchasing the most affordable flight is between 21 and 74 days prior to the client’s departure date.

 

3. Establishing Relationship with Suppliers 

Some clients prefer to use the same hotel chain for their business travel. There’s a potential to establish a long-term relationship and negotiate more affordable rates with a hotel chain. In contrast, some clients don’t have hotel preferences. This gives you an opportunity to recommend a hotel chain you’re already working with. Establishing relationships with different types of suppliers will open up more possibilities for negotiating rates. 

 

Start Cutting Costs with Travel Management Software 

Travel management software is a centralised system for streamlining your day-to-day activities. It saves travel agent’s time and increases efficiency. Instead of investing in multiple different tools such as CRM, TripMatrix has an integrated CRM. With TripMatrix you’re getting a customizable website template with a web booking engine and automated payment processing. Rather than paying substantial subscription fees for a travel management software, TripMatrix is fully commission-based. 

 

Want to cut your costs and maximise business travel savings for your clients? 

 

Request a demo and explore TripMatrix features today.