Self Booking Tool – Introduction
Before picking a self-booking tool, you must fully know its features and potential. Do not fret; we have done all the legwork for you. What a self-booking tool is, its importance, and how to find the best one – we have mentioned it all in the post.
If there’s anything our past has taught us, it is that path-breaking innovation and invention can change the course of history. For the automobile industry, it is the invention of the gasoline-powered engine by Karl Benz. And for telecommunications, it was the internet. Likewise, the next big thing for corporate travel is the ‘self-booking tool’. The self-booking tool is changing the landscape of business travel globally, and, trust us, it is here to stay.
What Is a Self-Booking Tool?
The self-booking tool or SBT is an online travel booking software that corporate business travellers use to plan their trips. A self-booking tool helps in simplifying business travel and accommodation for employees. Moreover, it can enable the employees to comply with the company’s travel policy while booking flights and hotels.
Happay – A New Age Self-Booking Tool for Corporates
Happay is a cloud-first, mobile-first, travel and expense management tool for business travellers. Using Happay, you can now bring the entire travel management in your organisation under one platform. Here are some of the unique features that Happay offers to make corporate travel a breeze:
- All under one platform: Travellers no longer have to toggle between multiple screens for bookings. Employees can now book flights, hotels and cabs easily, without any hassle, under one platform. Additionally, on Happay, travellers can raise VISA requests
- Auto policy compliance check: Happay’s self-booking tool will prevent travellers in your firm from booking non-policy-compliant options. This unique feature helps in ensuring 100% compliance in your company
- Missed saving alert: Happay’s missed saving alert will nudge travellers to book the lowest fare options
- Fare freeze: This feature allows the users to freeze the fare. Hold fare eliminates the last-minute fare increases. No more high fares because of delayed approvals
- Seamless approvals: With a single click, managers can approve employee travel approval on Happay. Also, Happay offers real-time visibility of the approval status. This makes the entire process fast and transparent
- GST compliant: The company GST details will get pushed while booking, and GST-filing ready reports will be generated in a single click
- Real-time travel spends visibility: Thanks to consolidated data from 40 different platforms, you can now make better budgeting process improvements and data-driven decisions
Also read: Guide to Travel And Expense Policy
What Are The Benefits of Using a Self-Booking Tool?
From making business travel easy to increasing the policy compliance rate in your organisation, there are multiple advantages to using a SBT for corporate travel:
1. Easy and accessible
Business travellers in your organisation no longer have to wait for the travel admin or the agency to book their tickets. With a few clicks on the self-booking tool, they can now book flight or train tickets without hassle. What’s more, most SBTs use artificial intelligence that uses previous bookings and references of the user to offer a personalised experience.
2. Increases policy compliance
Most corporate booking tools like Happay can be fully customised based on your company’s travel and expense policies. This means the SBT will only push your employees to book policy-compliant travel options. Even if they make an out-of-policy booking, the system will flag the booking as a violation and will ask the employee to make a rebooking.
3. Better spend visibility and data
Using the consolidated reports you get from the self-booking tool, you can view your spending pattern and better control your expenses. The data from SBT can help you negotiate better rates with vendors your company has a higher travel volume.
What’s more, all decision-makers can now access the spend data quickly, which means no more data silos.
4. Save time and money
The policy-compliant features on most SBTs make sure that you don’t overspend wherever it is not necessary. Also, T&E systems like Happay nudge the low-cost options first and nudge the employees to book them.
Another significant advantage is the amount of time your employees can save while using an SBT. They do not have to spend multiple emails and wait anxiously for confirmation. Instead, they can book tickets using an SBT in no time.
Also read – All You Need to Know About Corporate Travel Management
How To Pick The Best Self-Booking Tool?
You must consider multiple things when choosing a self-booking tool for your firm. Here are some of the must-have features in a corporate booking tool:
- Mobile-first approach: Always pick a self-booking tool that has a mobile-first approach. This will give your employees the flexibility to book flight tickets anytime, anywhere, hassle-free
- Customisable: Choose an SBT that is easy to customise according to your company’s policies. This feature helps increase the policy compliance rate in your firm. Also, choose a self-booking tool that allows you to integrate with your preferred vendor and service providers
- Affordable: Invest in a self-booking tool that offers all the services you are looking for within your budget. Never end up overspending on a self-booking tool
- Best user experience: The whole idea of using SBT is for your employees to have a great user experience. Therefore, always pick one that is simple and easy to use for your employees. Do not cause more trouble by implementing a complicated SBT
- Generate reports: Ensure the self-booking tool you use has the capability to generate powerful analytical reports that can help you in better budgeting. Furthermore, these reports can help you make important strategic decisions for your firm
Bottomline
If you are a large organisation with frequent travellers, the right self-booking tool can significantly help your business. With more organisations using SBTs for corporate travel, it is no longer an alternative option but a must-have feature. Before choosing a SBT, research all the options available in the market, look at their features and prices, and finally pick the one that best suits your organisation.
Worldwide business travel is changing rapidly, and to be part of the growth, you must adapt quickly. With Happay, you can now bring your entire travel management under one platform. To know more about us, schedule a demo today.
Discussion about this post