Corporate Booking Tool: Types, Benefits and Guide

Corporate booking tool

Everybody loves convenience. Feeling hungry? Open your phone. Order food. Too lazy to go to the grocery store? No problem, use an app and get groceries delivered to your home. Want to visit friends? Book a cab in no time. In today’s digital world, every task has a convenient tool you can use to get the job done.

It’s fair that you offer your employees the same level of comfort when it comes to corporate travel. You can now give your employees the best travel booking experience by using a corporate booking tool in your firm. This post breaks down everything you need to know about corporate booking tools before zeroing in on one. Keep reading to learn more. 

Must Read: 10 Best Travel Management Software

What is a corporate booking tool? 

A corporate booking tool or CBT is an online travel booking software using which corporate travelers can reserve tickets for their trips. Corporate booking tools are suited for enterprises because corporate booking tools offer your employees the best and most affordable travel options.

Types of online booking tools 

Here’s a list of online booking tools that your employees can use: 

1. Direct booking 

As the name suggests, it is the process of reserving tickets through the direct system. Employees can get on the online booking system of the airline, hotel, and cab operator and book their services directly. 

2. Corporate travel booking tool 

A corporate booking tool is your best bet if there are frequent travelers in your firm. Using a T&E system like Happay, you can now make the travel booking process and expense management process streamlined and hassle-free. 

Your employees do not have to wait for the travel admin or the travel agents for travel bookings. Using the corporate self-booking tool like Happay, they can now book flights, cabs, and hotels in no time. 

3. Travel management company (TMC) 

A Travel Management Company helps firms manage their entire travel program. They ensure the firm gets guaranteed and the best possible prices for all their travel plans. This includes providing software that tracks the travel expenses and itineraries of traveling employees, booking flights and hotels, arranging car rentals and other transportation, and providing customer service support. 

4. Travel agencies

Like TMCs, these agencies provide clients with travel options. Travel agencies sell and arrange transportation, accommodations, tours, and trips. However, this is best suited for small companies, where only a handful of employees travel.

Suggested Read: A Guide to Travel and Expense Management (T&E) Process

How does a corporate booking tool work?

The working of a corporate booking tool is pretty straightforward. The corporate booking tool provider will set up the CBT with your company’s travel policies, the preferred vendor, and the rates they offer. 

Now, all your employees need to do is search for the travel and accommodation options in the system and book flights or hotel rooms for their trips that don’t violate the company policy.

What are the benefits of a corporate booking tool?

From being flexible and easy to use to saving you money, there are multiple benefits that enterprises can enjoy while using a corporate booking tool. Here are some of the benefits of using a corporate booking tool: 

1. Increased policy compliance 

A corporate booking tool is the best way to implement your firm’s corporate travel policy. You can automate and configure the system with the travel policies of your firm that employees need to follow while booking. 

Even if your employees violate the policy, the tool will notify you of the violation. You can then approve the travel request or reject it. 

2. Higher flexibility

The world of business travel is filled with uncertainty. Meetings are fixed and canceled in an instant. Your employees are expected to travel and cut short the plan based on the situation. 

This is where a corporate booking tool comes into the picture. A flexible CBT will help you book tickets quickly. Also, the cancellation and refund processes are a breeze in good CBTs. 

3. User-friendly

Corporate booking tools are simple to use. Your employees can now book flights and hotels without hassle using their phones anytime, anywhere. Moreover, your employees can now access all travel options and travel-related details in one place instead of toggling between multiple apps. 

4. Higher cost savings

Most corporate booking tools will have partnerships with major hotels and airlines from whom they negotiate better rates. This means you can save big bucks using a booking tool for air tickets and hotel bookings. You could be saving lakhs of rupees by merely switching to a CBT. Let us explain how it’s done. 

Also, most corporate booking tools come with an in-built feature that will notify your employees about booking a ticket well in advance. This can help in saving travel costs in your firm.  

5. Duty of care

Traveling in a post-pandemic world is a risky business. Now, add the danger of the virus still lurking around to the other obstacles employees might face while traveling. As an employer, you are responsible for your employees’ safety while on a business trip. Corporate booking tools include traveler tracking, sending alerts to managers, and other safety features that you can use to protect your employees. 

6. Centralized spend visibility and analytics 

By centralizing travel booking using a corporate booking tool, you can now have a better view of all your firm’s booking plans and travel spending in real time.

This helps you give great control over your current and future travel plans. Also, on CBTs, you can get data on your spending, which you can use to forecast the forthcoming budget and negotiate better rates with vendors. 

Also, Read: A Guide to Corporate Credit Card Reconciliation

Image Credit: traveldailymedia.com

How to choose the best corporate booking tool?

You must consider multiple things while choosing a corporate booking tool. Here are a few must-have features that you should look for in a CBT: 

1. Simplicity 

Always choose a CBT that is easy to use for your employees. The entire point of using a corporate booking tool is to make the whole booking process simple for your employees.

We are sure you don’t want to make the entire travel process stressful for your employees by employing a complicated tool. Ensure the CBY you choose has a simple and interactive user interface.

2. Highly customizable 

Pick a corporate booking tool that allows you to customize it according to your company’s travel plans and policies. Integrating your travel policy into the CBT is the way to go if you want to increase policy compliance in your firm. 

3. Multiple integrations 

Ensure the CBT you choose can be integrated into an expense management system. This way, you can have complete control over travel and expense management.

Using the expense management system, you can easily create expense reports, check compliance, and reimburse your employees quickly. Choose a CBT that offers other integrations such as ERP, HRMS, Tally, etc. 

4. 24/7 customer service

Choose a CBT that offers 24/7 customer support. If there are any issues, doubts, or advanced support that you need, you can always contact customer service to get the issue resolved. 

5. Mobile application 

There’s no doubt mobile phones have made our life a lot more convenient. Therefore, it’s always best to use a corporate booking tool that has a mobile-first approach. Using a mobile app, your employees can easily reserve travel and accommodation on the go. 

6. Advanced analytical reports

Select a CBT that can generate advanced travel reports for your firm. You can get company, employee, and project-wise data and use it to make strategic decisions like cost cutting, budget planning, price negotiation, etc. 

7. Affordable

Choose an affordable corporate booking tool that gives you the best features and travel inventory. Don’t overspend on a CBT that offers services your firm does not need.  

Get on the internet, search for CBTs, and check out the features, prices, and demos. Also, check if the CBT can be customized and implemented in your organization smoothly. If a CBT checks all the above boxes and is low-cost and within your price range, it is a decent option. 

Quick Read: How to Calculate and Minimise Business Travel Cost?

Things to avoid while choosing a corporate booking tool

Stay away from corporate booking tools that have the following features: 

1. Complex interface 

The last thing you want is a CBT with a complex interface for your organization. It can make the flight and hotel booking process stressful for your employees—the result: is unhappy employees and wrongly booked tickets.

2. Lacks a good inventory 

If a CBT does not have a partnership with your preferred air carriers and hotels, it is definitely not worth spending your money on. Choose a CBT that has an impressive inventory and offers the best rates. 

3. Poor customer support 

Your employees do not want to hear a recorded voice when they contact customer support while traveling. Avoid tools that do not offer human support whenever you need help. 

4. Higher implementation costs 

Choose a CBT that does not have high implementation costs. The implementation costs vary depending on the business’s size and requirements. Always choose a CBT that does the best work for the most affordable rate.

Suggested Read: A Guide to Business Travel Management

How to implement a corporate booking tool in your firm? 

After zeroing in on a couple of tools, arrange a demo session with each to better understand the product. After choosing a corporate booking tool, educate a small group of people about the tool. Check within the group how the tool works and its features. 

Once they have mastered it, the group can then help all the employees in the firm to learn the tool. Also, conduct frequent training sessions to help your employees learn more about the tool. Remember to use the educational materials provided by the CBT provider to understand the tool better. 

Top 5 corporate travel booking tools

1. Happay

Happay Travel is a modern-age travel management software and self-booking tool that automates large enterprises’ end-to-end corporate travel management. Happay’s superior technology helps save companies time and money. 

2. SAP Concur

SAP Concur is a travel management solution for companies looking for a trusted CBT. SAP Concur offers various features to make travel booking easier, faster, and more convenient.

3. Egencia

Egencia is a travel management platform that helps organizations optimize corporate travel programs through automated workflows, advanced expense tracking, mobile app, etc.

4. ITILITE

ITILITE is a widely known travel management solution that offers easy unique travel booking and approval features. It can streamline approvals, accelerates reimbursement processes, and help achieve higher policy compliance.

5. TravelPerk

TravelPerk is an all-in-one travel solution for corporate trips. Using TravlPerk, users can book flights, hotels, cars, etc., for their business travel. 

Why should you use Happay Travel?

On Happay, your employees can now manage their entire travel plan like booking flights, cabs and hotels under one platform, without any hassle. Employees can now search for available flights and hotels for specified dates and book easily – they don’t have to toggle between screens. 

You can now enforce your firm’s travel policy through the Happay system and increase compliance. This can help you save up to 8% on annual spending. There are other great features in Happay that will help you save big. 

Want to learn more about Happay? Schedule a demo with us today. 

Corporate booking tool FAQs