Corporate travel manager, BCD Travel, says that enforcing adherence to company policy is reaping rewards.
Revealing its Annual Client Benchmark Survey at the National Business Travel Association's (NBTA) 39th Annual Convention & Trade Show in Boston today (23 July), BCD says that mandatory travel policy is now the number one initiative among travel managers.
”Business travel is at an all-time high, but increasing demand has sparked higher prices and shrinking availability in both air and hotel sectors,” said BCD independent consulting division Advito, general manager, Mary Ellen George.
”Companies are optimising usage of spend data during negotiations to secure effective deals and using differentiated pricing to push lower-cost transactions via online booking tools.”
BCD says that the number of companies having air programme compliance levels of greater than 80% increased 9% this year compared to 2006.
The Annual Survey represents the views of 219 BCD customers from major global markets and examines air, hotel, rail, meetings and other travel areas. It also discusses advances in expense automation, crisis management, payment cards and online booking adoption.
Key findings of the report include: 87% of respondents noting that cost is the most important driver for air programmes; 68% of respondents use an automated expense system (73% of North Americans and 58% EMEA); online booking adoption was 47%; mandates from corporate charge card use are up 7% and the top three departments with main responsibility for travel management are procurement, finance and corporate services.