Movemerk

Business travel management means keeping travellers safe and secure:

Businesses have a duty of care (DoC) to employees travelling on business. It’s important to keep a record of who’s travelling where at any time, in case of emergency. That might mean a situation at the destination, such as a fire or outbreak of disease, where the employer would need to alert the employee and advise them on how to stay safe and get home.

one of the most important aspects of business travel management is negotiating and managing travel suppliers:

This is an ongoing process, to ensure the best options and rates are available to employees. Gathering and analysing data about journeys and destinations can help travel managers spot trends in employee travel and make sure their changing needs are met. For example, strong growth in business in the Far East means checking there are hotels offering favourable rates in the areas where sales reps need to visit customers. Teams may benchmark rates to check they are getting a good deal and seek traveller feedback to make sure accommodation and travel facilities are safe and reliable.

4-10 World's Favorite Cities:
Tokyo

Despite earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons, Tokyo has long held on to its top spot as the safest metropolis on the planet. For the past six years in our global ranking, Tokyo ranked no lower than Top 3 in our Safety subcategory, including #1 last year. But in a year that has sideswiped Tokyo like few other cities, given the massive investment and subsequent uncertainty around the Summer Olympic Games, the Japanese capital has plummeted by 46 spots for Safety and now sits middle-of-the-pack among our Top 100.


The city remains incredibly safe, of course, even though the sight of young kids playing and walking to school unattended is today more rare given the wave after wave of COVID variants among a population that remains—at about a third as of August 2021—among the least vaccinated.

3-10 World's Favorite Cities:
Dubai

Dubai is a city of superlatives: you can ride the elevator to the top of the world’s tallest building for a bird’s-eye view, bet on the ponies at the world’s richest horse race and pose for photos in front of the world’s tallest choreographed fountains. These experiences are not by accident: the city reinvented itself yet again throughout the 2010s, growing from a sterile playground for a handful of ultra-rich Emiratis to an international tourism and business destination. That has helped attract the highest proportion of foreign-born population of any city worldwide, and they’re a sharp crowd, ranking #23 for Educational Attainment globally.

2-10 World's Favorite Cities:
Berlin

One of the many favorite outdoor pastimes of locals is to picnic on the banks of the river Spree. There is hardly a better place than the Insel der Jugend, and there might even be free live music if you’re lucky.

Keeping to the watery theme, you can also get a little of that Venice feeling without having to leave the city. Grab a kayak or canoe and paddle from Stößensee via Little Venice to the Havel Canal. Just don’t forget the sunscreen.

1-10 World's Favorite Cities:

New York City

It’s estimated nearly 800 different languages are spoken in NYC, so chances are you’ll hear a new accent around every corner. One of the best ways to celebrate the city’s diversity is by heading to Chinatown—one of the largest and oldest in the world.

For a flower-filled hideaway and colorful photos, visit the vibrant NYC Flower District in Chelsea. This hidden gem does require a reasonably early start to your day, but getting to spend a morning surrounded by plants and petals is sure to boost your mood for hours to come.

What is sustainable travel?

Travel that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.

UNWTO

Attach Purpose to your Travel Program with Purposeful Travel

Since the pandemic, the fate of the corporate travel industry has been hard to predict. Many businesses are still limiting travel to essential trips and relying heavily on video calls.

Travel managers around the world are now expected to take a closer look at why their people travel and are often operating from a zero-based budget.

The new role of the travel manager
The role of the travel manager has changed significantly. Responsibilities now include defining permissible travel, mitigating risk and supporting traveler wellbeing – all while optimizing spend.

Key Benefits of International Business Travel To Your Team:
4-4 Easier to deal with different time zones:
When in a face-to-face meeting, you tend to have the full attention of the people that you are speaking to. When on a video call, you might find that people in the meeting aren't paying as much attention. They could be looking at social media or answering emails and not be fully engaged. In a face-to-face meeting, the likelihood of this happening is significantly reduced.

Key Benefits of International Business Travel To Your Team:
3-4 Improve focus and concentration:

When in a face-to-face meeting, you tend to have the full attention of the people that you are speaking to. When on a video call, you might find that people in the meeting aren't paying as much attention. They could be looking at social media or answering emails and not be fully engaged. In a face-to-face meeting, the likelihood of this happening is significantly reduced.

Key Benefits of International Business Travel To Your Team:

2-4 Building relationships:

Many customers prefer face-to-face meetings as business is often about more than what you can offer as an organisation—it's also about relationships and finding people and corporate philosophies that are in synergy together. This is much easier to do in person, where small talk and more natural interactions can occur between people and teams.

Key Benefits of International Business Travel To Your Team:

1-4 There are a number of benefits of face-to-face meetings with colleagues or clients, and these include:

Being able to read body language. It can be difficult to pick up on the non-verbal cues when speaking virtually. Humans have the ability to pick up on subtle micro expressions that people give off, and adapt accordingly. This can help with competitiveness and closing deals that might otherwise be lost if those micro expressions are not picked up on - which is hard to do virtually!

How Can You Protect Your Employees During Business Travel:

When travelling abroad it's always a good idea to have a travel insurance policy to cover potential issues. As a business traveller, your personal travel insurance policy might cover you for business trips, but it's worth double-checking the policy with your provider prior to travel to avoid expensive mistakes. The company you work for might also cover you under a business travel insurance scheme, but you should again check with your employer to find out what is, and what isn't covered. For example, it's never advisable to travel without a health care policy in case of illness or accident.

It's also a good idea to familiarise yourself with the location of the nearest U.S. embassies so that if the worst happens and you lose important documents like your passport, you'll know where to go to resolve the issue.

How to plan business events, corporate events and group meetings
4. Consider Event Travel Needs

Planning a corporate event and organising things like the venue, food and entertainment is only part of the picture.

Travelling to and from the event can play a major factor when it comes to preparation and planning. How are your attendees going to get to your venue? And if the event is going to run all day or over multiple days, what about accommodation?

If your event is ticketed, you might not have to worry about other people's travel arrangements. But if you're setting up an event for your colleagues or important customers, you might need to arrange transport to and from the venue as well as overnight accommodation. This adds an extra layer of complexity, and many different people will have different needs and requirements.

So, how do you organise an event while ensuring that all your attendees are taken care of properly? This is where specialist travel management companies come into play. They can take a lot of the workload off your shoulders. Even if you're planning a relatively small meeting or event, if there are over ten people, you're considered a group in the travel industry and different rules may apply.

Finding group bookings at hotels can be difficult, and appraising the quality of a hotel or deal that you're getting may be complicated. Organising travel to the event venue from multiple locations is also fraught with difficulties. This is why a specialist travel event planning service, such as the one offered by Egencia, is recommended.

How to plan business events, corporate events and group meetings
3. Think About Sponsorship

Depending on the target market, you might be able to set up some sponsorship deals. These can be used to offset some of the event's cost or, in some cases, help make it profitable. Often, events are non-profit-making activities, but that isn't to say that you can't make money from hosting events. A business seminar or conference is one thing, but some events are designed to be profitable. If that's the case, sponsorship can be part of the event's income alongside ticketing.

When considering a sponsor, you need to look at your target audience to find a good match for both your attendees and the sponsors in question. Ultimately, a sponsor will be looking to promote their brand and even make some money from the deal. So, before reaching out to sponsors, spend some time researching them to decide if they'll be a good fit. Then create a business case you can present to any potential sponsors to demonstrate how your type of business and audience are a good match. This shows you've done your research and, better still, increases the chance of a successful deal.

How to plan business events, corporate events and group meetings

2. Set an Event Budget and Stick to it

When planning an event, it's possible for things to get out of control and for costs to spiral. You might have a budget for an event, or the budget needs might be something that you have to estimate. Either way you'll need to keep a firm grip on the costs.

There are a lot of things you'll need to consider when it comes to event expenses. Two big ones are the venue costs and event staffing costs. However, there are many other costs to consider, including:

Venue Costs
Event Staff
Catering
IT Equipment Hire
Travel expenses
Entertainment
Marketing Costs

These are just a few, but the good news is you can find event planning software, templates, and tools to help you plan and cost up your event. These will help you plan your event more effectively. For a small event you probably don't need event management software, but if you're going to be planning larger events on a regular basis, the functionality that this kind of software provides is definitely worth looking into.

How to plan business events, corporate events and group meetings

1. Event Marketing

How will your audience find out about your event? Word-of-mouth is great, but might not be enough to fill seats.

If your event needs publicity, you'll need to allocate a marketing budget and work on a marketing plan. There are a multitude of ways to publicise an event, but picking the right one may prove to be a challenge.

You can even create an event website, designed especially for the event. Or, if targeting customers from your mailing list, work on an email newsletter to drum up some excitement. Understanding the 'who' and their motivation is really important to the event's success.

Business travel costs in the US
According to World Bank data, the US is a global leader in business tourism spending, with $322.42 billion spent on business travel in 2021.

A Runzheimer report from 2019 revealed that the average US business trip cost $1293. This report showed that business trip expenses had been increasing, and that the most expensive states for business travel were Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California. Of course, costs differ significantly between international travel and domestic travel. Research from that same year collated by Expert Market showed that the average cost of a domestic trip in the US was $990, while the average for an international business trip was $2525.

Travel expenses are different in various regions of the world. But you may be surprised to learn which countries spend the most on business travel, and which are the most expensive for business travellers.

5-5 Things to consider to an effective travel policy:
Defining your objectives.
These could include keeping costs down, ensuring employees are safe and comfortable and helping them make decisions on their travel.

4-5 Things to consider to an effective travel policy:
Making sure everyone knows what the travel policy is.
All relevant documents need to be readily available to everyone within your company whether via the intranet or a travel platform. The policy needs to be clearly communicated to all, including line managers so they can enforce it.

3-5 Things to consider to an effective travel policy:
Setting clear guidelines for all aspects of travel and more..
Your travel policy needs to be all-encompassing so it leaves no room for doubt – that includes everything from airline booking rules to the policy on areas such as additional expenses and the acceptance of gifts.

2-5 Things to consider to an effective travel policy:

Ensuring your travel policy reflects travellers’ needs.
Consider the most common destinations for your business travellers and the best way to get to them, are there specific needs or considerations related to your company’s activities?

1-5 Things to consider to an effective travel policy:
Giving your employees options.
Everyone likes to have a choice, so try to give your employees a selection of hotels or airlines. You can keep costs down by capping the hotel star rating or class of airline ticket.

When it comes to business travel, cost matters.
2. Transportation

How will travelers reach their destination city (plane, car, train, bus?) What should you budget for airfare, etc.? Once they’ve arrived will they need a car rental, or will they take taxis or public transit?

When deciding which types of transportation to use, consider:

Price point
Time spent in transit
Commitment to sustainability goals
Comfort and safety of travelers

When it comes to business travel, cost matters.
1. The top business travel expense comes from accommodation

When booking accommodation, you’ll need to consider:

- Price point
- Proximity to destination
- Amenities (such as internet, printing, 24-hour reception)
- Comfort of travelers
- Privacy (will individuals have to share hotel rooms or other spaces?)
Safety

5 ways to support business traveller well-being with Movemerk

1.Travel advisories concerning COVID-19 information – With entry restrictions and quarantine rules for countries, states and even cities still quite fluid, it’s important that travellers have a reliable source for pandemic-related restrictions and guidelines. Travellers can enter their origin and destination into the Movemerk® Travel Advisory for current information about travel restrictions, entry requirements, post-arrival quarantine mandates, and required PPE and health documentation. Having reliable details specific to their itinerary brings peace of mind to your travellers.

the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced that they are considering passing legislation that requires all businesses to evaluate and disclose their climate-related risk.

handling business travel can be expensive and time-consuming.
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