Should the employee book their own business trip?

There is a great debate when it comes to business travel management: Should the company be solely responsible for carrying out the entire travel booking process for its employees? In recent years, the answer had been yes.

However, times are changing and there are those who debate this question. Is there a more optimal way to perform this function?

Many companies agree on the difficulty of this task and, above all, on the amount of time required to manage it.

The new generations of business travelers are young and adapted to technology, making it increasingly difficult for them to enjoy obsolete and stricter travel policies and methodologies.

Therefore, many companies consider delegating these functions to their own employees, who themselves are the ones who carry out the task of booking hotels, flights, etc.

This can create a lot of uncertainty for some companies who think that delegating this management can cause negative results for the company.

However, companies must understand the importance of keeping their employees happy, so delegating responsibilities is a symptom of trust and, therefore, can contribute to better performance.

Let's discuss some advantages of allowing employees to book their own trips.

1. Increase employee satisfaction

For the employee, it is a big problem every time they want to request a trip, since they hate the idea of having to go through different authorizations and having to detail absolutely everything they do manually, which is a simple task that they could do independently. This results in errors that can lead to much larger problems.

In addition, today's employees are asking for more flexibility at work and in their lives, in general. Business travelers like to research the best deals, discover where they are going to travel to and how they are going to do it.

Modern business travel no longer seems so strict and formal, but is getting closer and closer to leisure or pleasure. Most travelers today complement their business trips with leisure activities. They want to discover and explore the destination city and possible activities.

Granting travelers a flexible date range with a departure time that allows them to have greater freedom during the trip is a key point for their satisfaction, since they can organize their trip themselves.

This is because most business trips are stressful, with fixed schedules, so a high number of trips for the employee can be an uncomfortable situation that can affect their performance.

2. Employee finds his best options

When the employee requested a hotel, the company was responsible for finding the type of accommodation, based on the criteria of the travel policies.

As a result, the accommodation might not suit the traveler's taste, since he didn't have the option of being able to choose it himself.

In addition, traditional business travel booking management has a number of disadvantages. Some online travel agencies are non-refundable and customer support is not personalized.

The technology used in the software is also somewhat complicated for travelers and can become an unpleasant factor for the booking experience.

However, with this new idea everything changes. By freeing the travel manager from all this task, it allows the traveler to choose their own hotel within the limits of the travel policy, so that they can choose the choice that best suits their tastes.

As the traveler's choice will be within the spending limits, the company will not have to worry if its employee is choosing a higher option than allowed.

This creates a plus in employee satisfaction, since they have greater freedom when traveling and feel that the company places trust in them.

3. Travel automation

As mentioned, the time required to manage trips is one of the negative points that most administrators reflect, as it causes the person in charge of their control to “waste” too much time on tasks that should be automated.

The number of emails and permissions that are made each time an employee requests a trip is abundant, resulting in a waste of time that causes some hotel or flight offers to slip away.

Also, the task of controlling expenses is a big headache for many workers, as there are a large number of bills referring to multiple travelers on multiple trips that result in wasted time and errors.

In addition, if we use a corporate travel management tool, we will have the possibility automate the travel process, from authorizations to expense control, in addition to obtaining information on how employees travel and spend.

By allowing workers to organize their own trip, we save time that we can dedicate to other functions in our department. In addition, the traveler will also have more time and peace of mind during the course of the trip, since they will not have to be constantly aware of all the expenses that are incurred.

4. Travel management platforms for companies

When choosing the option of allowing employees to make their own reservations, a series of requirements must be taken into account, which will delimit all the expenses that the traveler may generate on their trip.

That is, the limit on hotel spending, transportation at the destination, diets, mileage, etc. Therefore, all expenses that employees make must be adjusted to travel policies.

Therefore, we need some technology or tool that manages expenses in an automated way. A simple way is a travel management platform for companies, which will provide us with autonomy for travelers in their reservations and will automate all types of expenses.

At first it may seem a bit chaotic, however, in this way, employees can book their own business trips just as they would on their personal trips, but always in a way that fits their company's travel policy, saving money.

Travel management platforms have come to revolutionize the sector and it is undoubtedly an option that companies are considering more and more, due to their ease of use and automation that they generate, freeing the company from slow and unnecessary management.